With just one more sleep until the 2021 European Mixed Team Championships, we take it in turns to look at each of the eight teams competing to be crowned the best in Europe.
England’s Group 2 opponents: Russia, France and the Netherlands.
England has brought a young squad to Finland, with a number of big names absent. Upon announcing the squad, which aims to give players who have not had competitive badminton for a prolonged time a chance, Coach Graham Hurrell stated.
- Our approach is to try and give all players a match to give them an opportunity to play. This will be the first caps for many of the squad going. It will be a very good learning opportunity to play against three very strong teams.
Harry Huang, 19, and Frey Redfearn, 20, played in two out of the three qualification matches in December, getting England to the finals. The young singles duo now have been granted the chance to represent their country in the finals.
England’s number two women’s doubles pair, Jenny Moore and Victoria Williams featured in two tournament finals in 2019, coming away with the Slovenia International title. Williams also plays with Gregory Mairs in the mixed doubles and together they reached the quarterfinal for the Denmark Open, losing in a tight three-game match against Chris and Gabrielle Adcock.
Max Flynn, 2017 European Junior silver medalist, plays with Matthew Clare in the men’s doubles. Together they recorded promising performances at the SaarLorLux and Denmark Open’s last year.
England’s #EMTC trophy cabinet
9 x BRONZE. 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2017.
9 x SILVER. 1976, 1980, 1986, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2015.
5 x GOLD. 1972, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1984.
Strongest lineup based on squad and world ranking as of 09.02.21.
MS – HARRY HUANG (327)
WS – FREYA REDFEARN (227)
MD – MATTHEW CLARE/ MAX FLYNN (75)
WD – JENNY MOORE/ VICTORIA WILLAMS (52)
XD – GREGORY MAIRS/ VICTORIA WILLIAMS (53)
To watch all of the live-action from the 2021 European Mixed Team Championships, 16-20 February, visit badmintoneurope.tv