Estelle Van Leeuwen and Lisa Curtin narrowly missed out on lifting the women’s doubles title at the Danish Junior Cup after a fine run to the final.
The English youngsters were up against Emilie Drouin and Tea Margueritte of France in the final and looked to be on course for the title in Gentofte when they eased to victory in the opening game, 21-9.
But their opponents edged a tight second to force a decider, where they marginally took a 9-21, 21-18, 21-18 victory.
It was a disappointing ending to what had been a fantastic run for two of our best young doubles players, who had fought back when a set down in the quarter-final, before strolling through their semi against Clemence Gaudreau and Elsa Jacob, 21-13, 21-10.
Leona Lee and Tashvi Parab were also flying the flag high for England in Denmark and reached the last eight of the same draw.
They then ran into eventual champions Drouin and Margueritte and despite a brave effort which included winning the second set, they couldn’t stop the French pair from taking a 22-20, 18-21, 21-16 win.
Over in the mixed doubles two of our pairs reached the last eight. Harry Wakefield and Sophie Watson won a thrilling game with Denmark’s Amanda Abildgaard and Daniel Roger 21-19, 14-21, 21-17.
They then bowed out in the quarters after a 21-16, 21-12 defeat to Herveline Crespel and Natan Begga.
Oli Butler and Chloe Dennis matched their run with some good performances before exiting to Emma Irring BraĂĽner and Hjalte Johansen, 21-16 21-16.
Meanwhile, in the men’s singles Nadeem Dalvi gained some valuable court time after navigating the first two rounds.
His run was ended by French shuttler Yohan Barbieri in the round of 16 with the final scoreline reading 21-15, 21-16.
Dalvi’s teammates Ben Hammond and Michael Pang also reached the last 16 of the draw before being eliminated.
#ThrowbackThursday to the @YonexAllEngland Championships 🏸
Can’t wait to see more action like this in 2022! pic.twitter.com/calCCoDQt3
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) June 2, 2022
Meanwhile, over in the women’s singles both Van Leeuwen and Curtin showed their ability as individuals by progressing to the quarter-final stage.
Van Leeuwen hadn’t dropped a game going into her clash with Sophia Noble, but it was the Irish shuttler who reached the final four after a 21-7, 21-19 win.
And in Curtin’s clash with home favourite Benedicte Sillassen, it was the Dane who advanced following a 21-16, 21-11 success.
