A Deserved Win

Hi All,

After three days of competition and a weeks hard training in Denmark the Irish team finally got the win we deserved in the European Mixed Team Championships. In our final match against Estonia we got off to the worst possible start when Chloe lost to Helen Reino 21-15 21-19 and I then lost to Raul Must 21-17 21-15. In the second set we were tied at 15-15 but he rolled of 6 straight points to take the match. That left us with a massive uphill battle to try and even just get back into the game.
In the men’s doubles Matthew and Sam played an excellent match and were never really troubled in a 21-12 21-13 win. Like the men’s doubles before Sinead and Donna were excellent and won in 2 sets. The first by 21-12 and their opponents retired in the second set. The scores were now tied at 2 each and all hinged on the last match. This was now an opportunity for Chloe and me to undo the damage of loosing our opening singles as we were to play together in the final mixed doubles. We lost the opening set 23-21 after trading point for point with our opponents. We seemed top find a grove then in the second set but at 16-16 the match could have gone either way. We rattled off 4 straight points to take a 20-16 lead and eventually won the second set 21-18. The match now hung on the last set of the last game and Chloe and I were determined to close this one out. At 5-4 up we won 9 points without reply and though the Estonian pair did their best to rally we matched them shot for shot and took the set 21-14. This gave us the win over two of Europe’s in form players in Kati Tolmoff and Raul Must but more importantly it gave us our first team win at these European Championships.
Well done to all the team and hopefully we can continue to build on this tournament as we move to the future. Tomorrow I start my individual competition and luckily I have a days rest as my game is not until late in the evening.