3 repeat as continental team champions

Australia, Denmark, and Canada, all repeated as mixed team champions in their respective continents on the weekend, with only Australia being made to work for it in their final tie.

Live photos: Badmintonphoto and Badminton Oceania

Oceania was the first to crown a new mixed team continental champion for 2019.  It was also the longest coming, as the continental confederation last held this type of event back in 2016.

Hosts Australia kept the Whyte Trophy for the fifth consecutive time by finishing atop the 7-team round robin group with a 6-0 record.  Australia and New Zealand came together for their final tie each having won 5 straight ties by scores of 5-0.

Australia played the entire tournament this year without 5-time continental men’s doubles champion Sawan Serasinghe.  The 24-year-old, who won one of two finals in the individual event on Thursday, did double duty in every single tie for Australia in the 2017 Sudirman Cup competition but was not on the roster for the continental team event on the weekend.

Double duty instead fell to team captain Matthew Chau, who was Serasinghe’s partner for the first 4 of those 5 men’s doubles titles but who did not compete in the individual event last week.  Chau faced off twice against New Zealand’s Abhinav Manota, first successfully with Setyana Mapasa (pictured) and then dropping the men’s doubles point with Simon Leung.

Newly crowned Oceania men’s singles champion Oscar Guo got New Zealand back on even footing by beating Anthony Joe but it was Australia’s continental women’s champions who delivered the 2nd and 3rd points for the defending champions.

“The team spirit has been high all week and having a home advantage is always a good thing,” Australian Team Captain Matthew Chau was quoted as saying in a Badminton Oceania press release.  “I’m really happy with our team’s performance today.  It really came down to the wire so we did well to hang on and we were confident that our experienced women’s doubles pair would deliver going on for that last game.”

New Caledonia had already clinched 3rd spot in the standings prior to the final day of competition, while Tahiti beat Fiji to claim 4th place overall.  Oceania also held their junior mixed team championships over the weekend, with Australia enjoying a parallel 3-2 win in that final over New Zealand.  Angela Yu repeated her doubles double performance from the individual event finals on Thursday.

Deciding tie result: Australia 3, New Zealand 2
XD:  Matthew Chau / Setyana Mapasa (AUS) beat Abhinav Manota / Anona Pak (NZL)  21-12, 21-15
MS:  Anthony Joe (AUS) lost to Oscar Guo (NZL)  16-21, 10-21
WS:  Wendy Chen (AUS) beat Sally Fu (NZL)  19-21, 21-11, 21-14
MD:  Matthew Chau / Simon Leung (AUS) lost to Abhinav Manota / Dacmen Vong (NZL)  19-21, 21-18, 10-21
WD:  Setyana Mapasa / Gronya Somerville (AUS) beat Erena Calder-Hawkins / Alyssa Tagle (NZL)  21-9, 21-11

No second upset for Germany

The last time Germany was in the final of the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships, back in 2013, they denied Denmark the title for the first time in nearly two decades.  This time, it was not to be, however, as the defending champions won handily, 3-0.

In fact, the Danes lost only two matches all week, conceding one point each in their ties against France and the Netherlands in the group stage.  Both of those losses were in women’s doubles, and came only after Denmark had clinched 3 points to secure the tie.

Christinna Pedersen was named to the line-up for women’s doubles for the final, after specializing in mixed in each prior tie, but she did not have to play again after she and Mathias Christiansen (pictured) won the opening match in two straight games.  Line Kjaersfeldt clinched the tie for Denmark when she beat Germany’s Yvonne Li in two.

Final result: Denmark 3, Germany 0
XD:  Mathias Christiansen / Christinna Pedersen (DEN) beat Isabel Herttrich / Mark Lamsfuss (GER)     21-12 21-12
MS:  Anders Antonsen (DEN) beat Max Weisskirchen (GER)  21-9 21-13
WS:  Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt (DEN) beat Yvonne Li (GER)  21-16 21-17
MD:  Kim Astrup / Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (DEN) vs. Mark Lamsfuss / Marvin Seidel (GER)  [not played]
WD:  Maiken Fruergaard / Christinna Pedersen (DEN) vs. Linda Efler / Isabel Herttrich (GER)  [not played]

11 straight for Canada

Canada also won in 3 straight matches against the United States to take the Pan Am Mixed Team Championship for the 11th straight time.  The U.S. were in the final for the first time since 2014 but Pan Am Games double gold medallist Phillip Chew and new partner Breanna Chi were unable to get the Americans on the board in the opening mixed doubles match and Canada’s singles aces then ran away with the tie for the northerners.

The deciding point came courtesy of 17-year-old Brian Yang (pictured right), who was crowned national champion for the first time earlier this month.  Notably absent from the Canadian line-up all weekend was Jason Ho-Shue.  Ho-Shue had played both men’s singles and doubles in nearly all of Canada’s ties at the last Thomas Cup, the Sudirman Cup, and at the last two Pan Am team men’s’ and mixed championships.  With youngster Yang looking so strong – including in taking down 2-time Pan Am Champion Osleni Guerrero – Ho-Shue can clearly be expect to be under less pressure in the future.

Final result: Canada 3, U.S.A. 0
XD:  Joshua Hurlburt-Yu / Josephine Wu (CAN) beat Phillip Chew / Breanna Chi (USA)  15-21 21-18 21-13
WS:  Brittney Tam (CAN) beat Natalie Chi (USA)  21-14 21-14
MS:  Brian Yang (CAN) beat Andrew Zhang (USA)  21-7 21-9
WD:  Catherine Choi / Talia Ng (CAN) vs. Chen Kuei-Ya / Jennie Gai (USA) [not played]
MD:  Nyl Yakura / Duncan Yao (CAN) vs. Phillip Chew / Ryan Chew (USA) [not played]