England finished strong for seventh in the mixed team event at the BWF World Junior Championships in Santander.
A landslide 3-0 win over hosts Spain saw the fledgling group end the team competition on a high and rise to the highest placing of any European nation.
They didn’t drop a game in the process of beating Spain, with Samuel Jones and Estelle van Leeuwen setting the tone with a dominant 21-10 21-9 mixed doubles win.
Nadeem Dalvi downed Basilio Porto in the men’s singles rubber before Lisa Curtin finished the job with victory over Cristina Teruel, 21-19 21-15.
Here we go… 🏴🌍🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/fOJVWo0Gru
— Ross Reid MKBA (@MiltonKeynesBA) October 22, 2022
Carrying the eighth seeding, England were drawn into Group D and emerged with four wins from four.
They began with a dramatic triumph over Canada that went down to the third game of the deciding women’s doubles match, with Lisa Curtin and Van Leeuwen getting their team over the line.
England then claimed a landmark victory over Singapore, also 3-2, and then dispatched Tahiti and Netherlands with 5-0 clean sweeps.
Another superb performance by Nadeem and Team England who are now through to the last 8 at World juniors after beating the Netherlands 5-0. Play Chinese Taipei tomorrow. Come on England 🏴 💪👏 pic.twitter.com/MJLebIGE0K
— Nadeem Dalvi (@nadeemdalvi34) October 19, 2022
They found going tougher in the final stage to decide first to eighth placings, going down 3-0 to a strong Chinese Taipei squad and then 5-0 to powerhouses China.
But an impressive team performance against Spain saw the group gather vital momentum ahead of the start of individual events on Monday.
