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EURO CHAMPIONSHIPS: DENMARK, ENGLAND GAIN FINALS

April 19, 1998 (NEW SHUTTLENWS) - Mighty Denmark steamrollered both of their opponents today at the European badminton team championships being held in Sofia, Bulgaria and moved into tomorrow's finals without having dropped a single match. The Danes defeated Ukraine 5 matches to 0 in the early session and then whitewashed Russia 5-0 in the evening session.

England surprised Sweden, despite being handicapped by an injury to their men's singles number one, Darren Hall, earlier in the day. The English side won their meeting with the Swedes this evening 3 matches to 2 and joined Denmark as finalists in the team competition.

The English banked on their doubles pairs, coached by Korean great Park Joo Bong, to take them to victory against the Swedes. Simon Archer and Joanne Goode started the English side off with a victory in the mized doubles. The Swedes then took both singles with ease - Thomas Johansson beating substitute Colin Haughton 15-3 and 15-4 and Margit Borg dismissing Julia Mann 11-0 and 11-1.

The fourth match was the men's doubles. On paper, the Swedes were odds-on favorites to win the match and a place in the finals, because Peter Axelsson and Par-Gunnar Jonsson had not lost to England's Simon Archer and Chris Hunt before.

Today, however, the English pair played very well against Axelsson and Jonsson and defeated their Swedish nemeses 15-8 and 15-9 to keep England alive.

In the fifth match, the women's doubles, England's Joanne Goode and Donna Kellogg were too good for Margit Borg and Catrine Bengtsson. The English women won 15-7 and 15-6 to put England into the team finals against Denmark.

The Netherlands won both of their meetings today to finish in second place in Sub-Group A. They will play Sweden for the team bronze medal tomorrow.

In Group 2, host Bulgaria beat Wales 3-2 to finish on top of their subgroup. They move into a promotion playoff to decide who moves into the top group in the next European championships, and will play Finland, winners of their subgroup by way of a 3-2 victory over Switzerland today.

Other playoffs scheduled for tomorrow:
Group 1 Fifth-Place - Ukraine versus Germany
Group 1 Relegation - Russia versus Scotland (the loser drops out of the championship group in the next European championships)
Group 2 - Third-Place - Switzerland versus France
Group 2 - Fifth-Place - Poland versus Wales
Group 2 - Seventh-Place - Ireland versus Portugal

Results of the Group 1 (championship group) early session:
Sub-Group A
Denmark beat Ukraine 5-0
Mixed Doubles - Jon Holst-Christensen/Ann Jorgensen (Denmark) beat Dmitri Miznikov/Natalia Golovkina 15-5 15-2
Men's Singles - Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen (Denmark) beat Michail Mizin 15-5,15-2
Women's Singles - Mette Sorensen (Denmark) beat Ganna Khomenko 11-2,11-7
Women's Doubles - Ann Jorgensen/Majken Vange (Denmark) beat Natalia Golovkina/ Natalia Esipenko 15-2,15-4
Men's Doubles - Jon Holst-Christensen/Michael Sogaard (Denmark) beat Dmitri Miznikov/Michail Mizin 15-6, 15-12

Netherlands beat Russia 3-2
Mixed Doubles - Quinten van Dalm/Nicole van Hooren (Netherlands) beat Nikolai Zuev/Marina Yakusheva 15-13, 15-10
Men's Singles - Jeroen van Dijk (Netherlands) beat Victor Malutin 15-12,15-1
Women's Singles - Elena Suchareva (Russia) beat Brenda Beenhakker 11-8, 7-11, 11-5
Women's Doubles - Nicole van Hooren/Lotte Jonathans (Netherlands) beat Marina Yakusheva/Ella Karachkova 15-9,15-8
Men's Doubles - Nikolai Zuev/Sergei Melnikov (Russia) beat Quinten van Dalm/ Dennis Lens 15-10,15-12

Sub-Group B
Sweden beat Scotland 4-1
Mixed Doubles - Par-Gunnar Jonsson/Catrine Bengtsson (Sweden) beat Alastair Gatt/Kirsten McEwan 10-15, 15-2, 15-3
Women's Singles - Margit Borg (Sweden) beat Gillian Martin 11-5,11-1
Men's Singles - Rikard Magnusson (Sweden) beat Jim Mailer 17-14,15-0
Men's Doubles - Par-Gunnar Jonsson/Peter Axelsson (Sweden) beat Alastair Gatt/ Craig Robertson 15-7, 15-2
Women's Doubles - Kirsten McEwan/Jillian Haldane (Scotland) beat Johanna Holgersson/Jenny Karlsson 8-15, 15-7, 15-11

England beat Germany 4-1
Mixed Doubles - Simon Archer/Joanne Goode (England) beat Michael Kech/Karen Stechmann 15-11, 15-5
Men's Singles - Oliver Pongratz (Germany) beat Darren Hall Pongratz 17-14, 15-9
Women's Singles - Julia Mann (England) beat Heidi Dossing 11-1,11-5
Men's Doubles - Simon Archer/Chris Hunt (England) beat Michael Kech/Bjorn Siegemund 15-4, 15-4
Women's Doubles - Joanne Goode/Donna Kellogg (England) beat Kerstin Ubben/ Anika Seitz 15-5, 15-6

Results of the Group 1 (championship group) evening session:
Sub-Group A
Denmark beat Russia 5-0
Mixed Doubles - Michael Sogaard/Rikke Olsen (Denmark) beat Nikolai Zuev/Marina Yakusheva 15-1, 15-1
Men's Singles - Peter Rasmussen (Denmark) beat Vadim Itskov 15-8,15-0
Women's Singles - Camilla Martin (Denmark) beat Irina Yakusheva 11-6,11-6
Men's Doubles - Jim Laugesen/Thomas Stavngaard (Denmark) beat Nikolai Zuev/ Sergei Melnikov 15-1, 15-4
Women's Doubles - Rikke Olsen/Marlene Thomsen (Denmark) beat Nadezda Cherbakova/Natalia Djachkova 15-2, 15-4

Netherlands beat Ukraine 5-0
Mixed Doubles - Quinten van Dalm/Nicole van Hooren (Netherlands) beat Vladislav Druzchenko/Victoria Evtoushenko 15-7, 17-15
Women's Singles - Judith Meulendijks (Netherlands) beat Elena Nozdran 4-11, 11-3, 12-9
Men's Singles - Jeroen van Dijk (Netherlands) beat Vladislav Druzchenko 9-15, 15-9, 15-5
Women's Doubles - Nicole van Hooren/Lotte Jonathans (Netherlands) beat Natalia Golovkina/Natalia Esipenko 15-6, 15-8
Men's Doubles - Quinten van Dalm/Dennis Lens (Netherlands) beat Konstantin Tatranov/Valeri Strelkov 11-5, 15-9, 15-3

Sub-Group B
England beat Sweden 3-2
Mixed Doubles - Simon Archer/Joanne Goode (England) beat Par-Gunnar Jonsson/ Catrine Bengtsson 15-2, 15-3
Men's Singles - Thomas Johanson (Sweden) beat Colin Haughton 15-4, 15-3
Women's Singles - Margit Borg (Sweden) beat Julia Mann 11-0, 11-1
Men's Doubles - Simon Archer/Chris Hunt (England) beat Peter Axelsson/ Par-Gunnar Jonsson 15-8, 15-9
Women's Doubles - Joanne Goode/Donna Kellogg (England) beat Margit Borg/ Catrine Bengtsson 15-7, 15-6

Germany beat Scotland 3-2
Women's Doubles - Elinor Middlemiss/Sandra Watt (Scotland) beat Kerstin Ubben/ Karen Stechmann 15-10, 15-10
Men's Doubles - Michael Helber/Bjorn Siegemund (Germany) beat Kenny Middlemiss/Russell Hogg 15-8, 15-11
Women's Singles - Anne Gibson (Scotland) beat Nicole Grether 11-4, 12-10
Men's Singles - Oliver Pongratz (Germany) beat Bruce Flockhart 15-13, 15-6
Mixed Doubles - Michael Keck/Nicole Pitro (Germany) beat Kenny Middlemiss/ Elinor Middlemiss 15-2, 15-4

Group 2 Results:
SubGroup C - Finland beat Switzerland 3-2, Poland beat Ireland 3-2
SubGroup D - Bulgaria beat Wales 3-2, France beat Portugal 3-2

(aplayer/dsimmons)