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(Photo: Badminton Photo)
There we have it, France make history!
Date: 2/14/2020 1:56 PM
Published by : Alan Raftery
Leading into this week, the French women were yet to medal at the European Men’s and Women’s Team Championships. In Kazan 2018, they reached the quarterfinals, falling 3-0 to a strong German team who went on to win the silver medal. Palermo and Delphine were fourth in the match schedule, so they did not have the chance to play. Before Liévin, they said.

- It is always tough not to have the opportunity to express yourself on the court, especially when you feel you had the chance to do something good for the team. Besides from this, our team has developed from Kazan, and it can change a lot of things about our chances to get a good medal here in Liévin, Palermo said.

And today they delivered on just that, as they defeated Sweden 3-1 to enter into tomorrow’s semifinal to decide which colour medal they would like to be recorded in the badminton history books. 

We believe in them
Qi Xuefei, who has been faultless all week, gave France great momentum with a 21-15, 21-16 victory against Ashwati Pillai. Following her match, Qi said. 

-It was very exciting to play this match, and I am happy that many French people have come to cheer for us. 

The second win followed shortly after, also in straight games, with Marie Batomene winning against Rebecca Kuhl, 21-18, 21-14. France at this point were only one match away from the medals. Commenting on this, Batomene said. 

-We will be supporting our teammates now, we believe in them and I am sure we can win. So we will be going crazy for them. 

Although, Edith Urell dug in for Sweden and defeated Yaelle Hoyaux 21-14, 21-13, to make it 2-1. However, France were still just one away from doing what no team before them had done. 

We are proud of this moment
Into the women’s doubles, Anne Tran partnered up with Delphine Delrue as a strong scratch pairing against the world number 39 Swedish pair, Emma Karlsson and Johanna Magnusson. The crowd certainly played their part in this moment for France, as Tran and Delphine managed to secure the win 21-15, 21-17. After the match, the thrilled Tran said.

-It is a very good day today for France. We are happy about this result and want to go for the highest possible now. We go for the gold. 

-We have a really good team that can win against all the teams now. Playing in front of this home crowd is really great because it pushes us to want to win for them, Delrue added.

In the semifinal tomorrow they will face Denmark who, despite an early scare with a tough match between Mia Blichfeldt and Neslihan Yigit, came through against Turkey 3-0. Looking ahead to this challenge, Delrue says. 

-We just expect to play our best and try to win as many matches as possible, but I think we have a chance to win. We are proud of this moment and we will enjoy it. 

For the full list of fixtures and results, click here.

Watch all courts on www.badmintoneurope.tv.

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