Estonian women's badminton team one game away from Euro championships final
Estonia's women's badminton team is just one win away from topping its group and reaching the BWF European team championships finals for the first time ever.
This follows a 4:1 home victory over the Netherlands.
The team on Wednesday had beaten the top-seeded Spain 3:2 in their group and with the win over the Netherlands to add to that, Estonia is now one step away from winning the group and reaching the European Championships finals — the top eight.
In the Netherlands clash, Estonia's top women's singles player Kristin Kuuba earned a hard but very valuable win over Novi Wieland. Kuuba had to fight through three games but, to the great joy of the home crowd, prevailed 15:21, 21:9, 21:16.
"My legs were very stiff after yesterday's long competition day. Mentally it was really important to get this point from the first match for the team," Kuuba said post-match.
In the second match, the Netherlands leveled the score when Flora Wang defeated Helis Pajuste 21:17, 21:13. Next up and for the second day in a row, Catlyn Kruus delivered a win for Estonia, beating Mandy Duijndam 21:14, 21:14 in the third singles match.
In the first of the two doubles matches, Estonia fielded Kuuba together with the country's longtime top doubles specialist Helina Rüütel. The pair played more solidly against their young Dutch opponents and secured the decisive third point for Estonia with a 21:13, 21:18 win.
The matches were all played at the Kalev Sports Hall in Tallinn and have now concluded.
Estonia's women's badminton team has never before reached the top eight in a team competition.
Meanwhile the men's team went one and one, beating Israel 3:2 but heavily losing to England 5:0.
They face Luxembourg on Friday evening — a win would secure second place in the qualifying group for Estonia's men.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
