February 13, 2022
England will send a 15-strong team to Aire-sur-la-Lys for the European Mixed Team Badminton Championships, which takes place from 14-18 February.
Having sealed qualification for the Championships at the back end of 2022, England are one of eight teams taking part and are drawn in a group alongside defending champions Denmark, Scotland and Ukraine.
The English team will face all three in matches with rubbers across all disciplines, with the top two nations progressing into the semi-finals.
England have been boosted by the return of Marcus Ellis, who will be competing for the first time since recovering from hip surgery.
Playing mixed doubles alongside Lauren Smith, it will be the first time Ellis has played since winning a silver at the Commonwealth Games last summer.
“It has been the most challenging six months of my career, with many doubts and hesitations along the way,” he said.
“But returning to my first competition was my main objective and I’ve achieved that. For me, everything else from here is a bonus.”
5️⃣ DAYS TO GO! 🚀
Jenny and Greg are here to join the team training before they depart for Aire-sur-la-Lyse for 2023 European Mixed Team Championships 🏸🔥
Who’d love to see these two pairs play? ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/FQsOF3G2aa
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) February 9, 2023
Also in the squad is Chloe Birch, who will play women’s doubles rubbers alongside Smith, while Ben Lane and Sean Vendy also feature.
Mixed doubles stars Greg Mairs and Jenny Moore have been selected, with the men’s singles rubbers set to be spearheaded by Johnnie Torjussen, Cholan Kayan and Harry Huang.
Callum Hemming and Ethan van Leeuwen are in men’s doubles selection, while Abigail Holden, Freya Patel-Redfearn and Georgina Bland will lead the women’s singles rubbers.
England start their campaign on Tuesday against Scotland, before playing Ukraine on Wednesday and then Denmark the following day.
Should they progress as one of the top two teams from their group, they will have a semi-final clash on Friday before a potential final on Sunday.
Hosts France lead the teams in Group B, alongside Germany, Netherlands and Bulgaria.
Badminton England Performance Director, Morten Frost, said: “Players and staff are all looking forward to the Euro meet in France.
“England is coming in as one of the four top seeds and anything but a semi-final as a minimum would be disappointing.
“However, being drawn against Scotland in the first match is not an easy one. ‘The battle of Britain’ is always an interesting one and the teams are very well matched. It will all come down to the doubles departments and it is a very close affair.
“We are all looking forward to seeing our top mixed doubles pair, Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, back in action, and hopefully, we will see some good performances from National Champion Johnnie Torjussen, who has been training in Dubai with former world No. 2 Anders Antonsen.”
Full England squad
Abigail Holden
Ben Lane
Callum Hemming
Chloe Birch
Cholan Kayan
Ethan van Leeuwen
Freya Patel-Redfearn
Georgina Bland
Greg Mairs
Harry Huang
Jenny Moore
Johnnie Torjussen
Lauren Smith
