Denmark beat Scotland at European Juniors
Scotland’s run in the team event of the European Junior Championships came to an end today, but Robert Blair’s young squad can hold their heads high despite defeat to top seeds Denmark.
Scotland were originally scheduled to play second seeds France in today’s quarter-final but mistakes in the live draw procedure meant Badminton Europe had to conduct a re-draw late last night.
A strong Danish team were always going to be a difficult challenge to overcome as Christopher Grimley found out in the opening tie of the match.
Although Grimley won the first game of his singles match against Magnus Johannsen, the Dane hit back, winning the match 16-21 21-19 21-15 to put Denmark on the front foot.
Rachel Sugden lost out to Line Christophersen 21-11 21-19 in the women’s singles before Christopher and Matthew Grimley gave Scotland hope by winning their doubles encounter with Mads Muurholm and Mads Vestergaard 21-19 30-28.
With the score line 2-1 to Denmark, Scotland’s hopes were resting on Lauren Middleton and Sarah Sidebottom but despite a spirited performance the Danes proved too strong, winning 21-15 21-16 to round off a 3-1 win for Denmark.
Speaking afterwards, coach Robert Blair was proud of the achievements of his team: “Everyone in the team played very well today. The match was very competitive and it was a shame that we didn’t quite take it to the deciding rubber.
“They whole team should be proud of their performances over the past few days. They’ve shown they are competitive with the top players in Europe and should look forwards with confidence to the individual event.
“While we just missed out on a medal today, there will be more opportunities if they continue to play at that level.”
The Scots will now turn their attention to the individual events, from 11-16 September.
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