Congratulations to the winners especially Rajiv ouseph. His hard work for so many years , paid off at the end. Representing England and becoming European champion , really speaks his perseverance towards his goal. Wonderful . Keep going Rajiv. Sent from my SM-G600FY using Tapatalk
European badminton powerhouse Denmark bagged two titles also England as well and WS crown is sealed by Spaniard sensation. Carolina Marin had no serious threat to defend European crown as her regular tough opponents are coming from Asia, hat-trick for the Olympic Champion. The most surprising result is men's singles, Rajiv Ouseph was surrounded by three home players. Anders Antonsen paved the way for the Englishman to clinch MS title as Danish teenager knocked out top-seed and strong contender Viktor Axelsen in semifinal but credit to Ouseph who performed well along tournament particularly against HK Vittinghus at last four, he almost ousted but stayed calm at crucial stage. A tight contest of two high profile mixed doubles pairs, Adcocks denied more-favoured Fischer/Pedersen to create hat-trick here in a tense final. But Christinna Pedersen paired up with Kamilla Juhl is the best WD once again in this championships. It's all Denmark pairs to top MD podium, their regeneration process is running well.
And especially since they are now relying on Crowd-funding to even get "sent" to these Regional/ World Championship competitions (the Super Series is purely professional-- so if your National Badminton Association can't/ won't fund you, then you get to keep all sponsorship proceeds and winnings...so it still works out on the books; whereas Regional/ World Championships will get you medals and maybe sponsorships, but no prize money) And it was always a pleasure to watch the Adcocks (as well as Fischer/ Pedersen) play-- they always look so "hungry/ eager" to play/ win Come to think of it, the fact it was their fans who "sent" them to the European Championships probably made Ouseph and the Adcocks fight harder-- against home players no less-- now they have something to show their fans; which clearly do not include their "Team GB" Sports Council...
I watched it a few days ago and I can say that this event is really good. Plenty of exciting matches especially in MD, XD and MS. The arena is beautiful and the lighting is colourful enough. I am eager to see it again next year.
Their crowd funding target is only 20.000 GBP it's hardly their only income. For a sport with such low prize money I'd say they have been living pretty luxuriously the past decade (compared to say the USA where many Olympic athletes have to pay their own way sometimes even down to having to live in their car), no need to pitty any of them (they've been having their cake and eaten it too). The most well-funded underperforming program in Europe ... (on top of the federation paying their way, they have had opportunities for individual sponsorship income, league play salary income [many played in the German league, flying in only to play the match and contributing nothing else really], clinics and whatnot)
