Leuven: Top seeds and tournament favorites Denmark defeated Poland 5-0 in a tie that was held earlier on Thursday, but they had to fight until the very end to cruise past Netherlands in the evening.
In the tie against Netherlands, world number two men’s singles Jan Ø. Jørgensen of Denmark beat Eric Pang in straight sets and Line Kjaersfeldt managed to keep the momentum going for Denmark when she knocked out Soraya De Visch Eijbergen 21-12, 23-21 in the women’s singles match.
Nonetheless, the resilient Dutch were not ready to back down. Jacco Arends and his partner Jelle Maas were keeping their cool under pressure, overcame Danish pair Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-15, 21-15 in 38 minutes. Then, European’s number two women’s doubles pair Selena Piek/Eefje Muskens levelled the score at 2-2 after they triumphed over scratch Danish pair Anna Thea Madsen/Sara Thygesen 21-9, 21-17.
However, world number two mixed doubles pair Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen stepped up to halt Netherlands’ chances of winning the tie, they edged past Dutch pair Jorrit De Ruiter/Samantha Barning in 35 minutes, and led Denmark to a 3-2 victory.
Despite losing 5-0 to England, Ireland still qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships. Their place was confirmed after England also beat the hosts 5-0 on Thursday night.
Ireland will play Denmark, while England will clash with Netherlands in the last eight on Friday.
