Amanda Madsen and Kasper Antonsen had a much better start of the second set, and at one point they were ahead 12/8. But then Mette Poulsen started to get better control of the net, while Frederik Colberg was worked hard at the back court. After a strong comeback they managed a rather safe win 21/17. After the match the players were presented with the gold and silver medals, while France’s Lea Palermo/Joris Grosjean and Wales’ Georgia Hughes/Oliver Gwilt were presented with bronze medals.

 

The second final was the only one of the day without Danish participation. The match was between the Spanish favourite Carolina Marin Martin and the big Turkish surprise, Neslihan Yigit. Yigit had had an impressive week so long winning most of her matches in the team event and eventually qualified for two finals in the individual events.

 

However, on this day there was only won player on the court – and she was from Huelva, Spain. Carolina Marin Martin is for sure one of the coming stars of European badminton, and on this finals day of the European U17 Championships she had decided to give it her very best. Her poor Turkish opponents was given absolutely no chance in this very one sided which ended with a very safe 21/9 21/3 win in a match lasting only 19 minutes.

 

After the final the two finalists were presented with their medals by Tom Bacher and Dane Alic, Presidents of Badminton Europe and the Badminton Association of Slovenia respectively. Along side the two were Line Kjærsfeldt from Denmark and Ebru Tunali from Turkey. Two medals for Turkey in one event – what a fantastic achievement by the southern country.

 

While Turkey proved their strength in women’s singles, Denmark had completely taken over the show in the men’s singles event. The final was an all Danish encounter between the two rivals, Viktor Axelsen and Kim Bruun. Viktor Axelsen was the clear favourite going into the match, but Kim Bruun wanted to steal the gold medal from his team mate.

 

The two Danish youngsters gave each other and the Slovenian crowd a long and tough match, ending after 48 minutes of impressive men’s singles. Viktor Axelsen proved to the stronger of the two in the end – but it could might as well have been the other way around, as Kim Bruun showed great stamina and skills all the way. 21/19 17/21 21/17 the dramatic match ended in the favour of Viktor Axelsen, who after the final was accompanied on the podium by not only Kim Bruun, but also by Emre Lale from Turkey and Anatoly Yartsev from Russia, who both were given a bronze medal for reaching the semi finals.

 

Frederik Colberg had already won one gold medal – and now he back on court to try and get another one. Together with Kasper Paulsen he was up against the two Frenchmen Lucas Corvee and Joris Grosjean. The two pairs have during the week shown great strength, and there was no doubt that it was the right two pairs who were in the final.

 

The first set became a close one – and after both pairs had missed a couple of game points, it was the Danish combination who clinched the opening set, winning it 24/22. The Frenchmen however wanted more in this game, and after playing a fantastic set, they levelled the score with a safe 21/11 win.

 

The third set was therefore played in order to decide where to place the gold medal. The two pairs were very close all the way to 13/12 where the Danish pair then had a streak of five points in a row giving them the winning lead. Despite a good fight of Grosjean/Corvee in the end, it was Frederik Colberg and Kasper Paulsen who could celebrate after winning the decisive set 21/16. The bronze medals were presented to Russia’s Anatoly Yartsev/Ivan Nikitin and to Denmark’s Mathias Mundbjerg/Kasper Antonsen.

 

The final match was the women’s doubles – a match between two players who had already been on the court once this day. Mette Poulsen and her partner Celine Juel took on the Turkish pairing of Neslihan Yigit and Neslihan Kilic.

 

Maybe it was the fact that Mette Poulsen had already knew how it was to win a final, while poor Neslihan Yigit had been run over by a Spanish train earlier on the day that made the difference in this match. The Danes took an early lead and after this never looked back. Mette Poulsen and Celine could after only 27 minutes of play celebrate their 21st point of the second set, and thereby the title as European Champions. After the final the proud champions were awarded with the gold medals, while their Turkish opponents were given the silver. The two pair of bronze medals were awarded to Denmark’s Amanda Madsen/Josephine van Zaane and to young Bulgarian sisters Gabriela and Stefani Stoeva.