EURO CHAMPS 2010 – Rytter Juhl and Laybourn add European to World Title; Tine claims Gold

Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Thomas Laybourn bounced back from their All England defeat last month to cement their place as Europe’s top mixed doubles pairing with a 3 set win over Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk  to claim gold at the European Individual Championships.

Images, article and video by Mark Phelan (Live in Manchester)

The current World Champions added the European crown to the title they won in India last year but were pushed to three sets by Hong Kong Super Series champions from Poland.

The Danes got out of the blocks quickest and stormed into a 6-1 lead in the opening set and at 19-14 ahead looked to be cruising to the opener. However some first set nerves set in as the Poles fought back to pressurise the Danish defence and at 20-19 Laybourn and Rytter Juhl (pictured) realised they had a fight on their hands.

Befitting of their World Champions status, the Danes settled their nerves once more to take the single point needed for the first set, which was to set them up for their assault on the title.

The second set was much closer with Mateusiak and Kostiuczyk equalling the World Champions in every department and at 18-18 it was the Poles who made their move to take three points in a row to send the match into a deciding rubber.

Some uncharacteristic service errors by Mateusiak allowed the Danes get the upper hand as nerves clearly began to be a factor on the Polish side of the net.

Rytter Juhl and Laybourn went on a scoring frenzy while leading 13-12 and unbelievably the Poles never managed to score another point as the World Champions deservedly added the European Championship to their world crown.

Hot on the heels of a Denmark’s mixed doubles success Tine Rasmussen (pictured right) claimed the European title that has eluded her for so many years. The All England Champion overcame a second set scare against the Germany’s Juliane Schenk before closing out the match narrowly in the third set. Tine won 21-19, 14-21, 21-18.

Hear what Tine Rasmussen, Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl have to say about their gold medal performances in the video interviews below.

In the men’s singles it was king versus crown prince and history was wade as Peter Gade became the first player to claim 5 European men’s singles title after his two set win over Jan O Jorgensen. Remarkably Gade has not lost a single match in the European Championships since his debut in 1998. ‘Not bad for an old guy’ Gade commented after his victory.

In the men’s doubles Paaske and Rasmussen continued to defy father time as they rubbed salt in the All England wounds of compatriots Boe and Mogesen as they proved yet again in 2010 that they are the kings of European men’s doubles. The All England Champions took the opening set 24-22 and remarkably tied up the title with a 22-20 win in the second after trailing 20-28.

Finally the women’s doubles title went to Russia as Vislova and Sorokina were dominant in seeing off top seeds Nedelcheva and Russkikh the number 1 seeds.

Denmark head home to Copenhagen with four gold medals a feat they last achieved 10 years ago and once again prove that they are head and shoulders above everyone else in European badminton. Both Germany and Russia can hold their heads high while England will spend many long hours asking where has it all gone wrong with no participants on finals day to accompany their failure at the team championships in Warsaw in February.

With the Championships wrapped up the hard work now beings for everyone…Getting home!!!

Badzine’s video interview with Tine Rasmussen:

Badzine’s video interview with Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Juhl:

Badzine’s European Championship coverage is brought to you in association with our partner hotel for the tournament, The Palace Hotel, Manchester.