Denmark defeat England in Euro badminton final

DENMARK continued their dominance of European badminton as they captured an eighth consecutive team title against England in Liverpool.

Hosts England, who beat Poland in the energy-draining semi-final, had raced into an early lead in the five-rubber final.

Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg - who recently retained their national mixed doubles title - beat Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen 21-10, 23-21.

Then Andrew Smith cruised past Joachim Persson 21-16, 21-19 in men's singles.

However, Tine Rasmussen, silver medallist at last year's European Championships, started the comeback with a 21-14, 21-10 win over Jersey's Elizabeth Cann in the women's singles.

Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen then overcame Clark and Nathan Robertson 21-17, 16-21, 21-15 in men's doubles.

And Kamilla Rytter Juhl and new partner Marie Roepke beat Kellogg and Jenny Wallwork 21-14, 21-15 in the decisive women's doubles - securing a 13th European title in 20 years.

"We got a good start but we need to be finishing off matches like this," said England head coach Ian Wright

"We showed a lot of guts in the way we played against Poland but I am very disappointed that we couldn't finish off Denmark. We came here for the gold medal, we had the chance, but we didn't take it.

"We have the talent coming through, we have the coaches and the facilities but we need the team to be tougher - like Denmark were tonight.

"For us Jenny Wallwork has been excellent this week and Andrew Smith played well today but he needs to be more consistent and he knows that."

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