Pi did a knee surgery a month ago and can only get back to court earliest in April. I am pretty sure she won't play until later this year. http://www.badzine.net/news/pi-hongyan-undergoes-surgery-out-for-3-months/11761/ I am actually waiting to see if Russia and Poland can spring a surprise or two here. With the addition of Olga Kanon to Germany, I am positive that Germany will go far this time. By the way, some of the superstars from Denmark are plagued by injuries. If they did not recover in time, there's a chance that we might see a different country winning this mixed championship. http://www.badzine.net/news/danish-nationals-injury-strikes/12452/ Interesting to say the very least.
*** BADMINTONEUROPE.TV will cover the European Mixed Team Championships from Amsterdam. The tournament in the capital of the Netherlands is one of the years highlight in international badminton. We will show you the best pictures of this top event from 15 - 20 February 2011. Watch some of the best Europeans in action! *** http://www.badmintoneurope.tv/?id=1
The honourable thing to do A group of badminton fans have joined to make an honest appeal to Yonex Japan. They want to avert the current travesty of excluding the four best Dutch badminton players from the European Championships for mixed teams to be held in Amsterdam next week. Please read their letter on badmintonline.nl. The group also asks you to cast your vote about the issue by using the poll in the article. Badzine.net writes: "APPEAL - Dutch fans plea for their top stars to play"
Team Finland Nieminen, Anu / Rautala, Sanni / Vainio, Nanna / Heino, Eetu / Kaisti, Anton / Lång, Ville / Vikman, Mikko
Team Scotland: MS: Kieran Merrilees, Gordan Hoggan WS: Susan Egelstaff, Linda Sloan WD: Jillie Cooper, Emma Mason MD: Jamie Neill, Keith Turnbull XD: Paul Van Rietvelde, Imogen Bankier
Interesting ... no Blair. I now see he wasn't entered in the first place so I'm guessing he wasn't elligible. Likewise no Olga Konon for Germany yet: Team Germany Das deutsche Aufgebot Sandra Marinello (1. BC Düren) Birgit Michels geb. Overzier (1. BC Beuel) Carla Nelte (TV Refrath) Juliane Schenk (EBT Berlin) Karin Schnaase (SC Union Lüdinghausen) Marc Zwiebler (1. BC Beuel) Marcel Reuter (1. BC Bischmisheim) Michael Fuchs (1. BC Bischmisheim) Oliver Roth (PTSV Rosenheim) Ingo Kindervater (1. BC Beuel) Johannes Schöttler (1. BC Bischmisheim) Team France Liste des athlètes : Baptiste CAREME Laura CHOINET Laurent CONSTANTIN Audrey FONTAINE Sylvain GROSJEAN Perrine LE BUHANIC Emilie LEFEL Brice LEVERDEZ Matthieu LO YING PING Marion LUTTMANN Marie MAUNOURY Sébastien VINCENT Not sure what the thought is here: you can still only play 2 ladies max in one match . Gotta keep the opponent guessing eh ... Wonder why no Rasidi and Palermo?
Basically, they have went for all the winners from the National Championships at the weekend. AFAIK Blair is ineligible for this event, and probably so will Olga (how come Olga has managed to play for 3 countries ?) the team is weaker without Blair, but sometimes Blair can get bored and lose concentration, so it might be better to put in a youngster with something to prove instead of a well established player. I can see why France have put so many girls in, basically they know that Scotland are strongest in WS & WD events therefore they need to keep them guessing which pair they will line up against Scotland on the day.
Choinet/Rasidi is the strongest WD pairing they have, just became national champs again this weekend. So no idea why one isn't there, could've beaten a Cooper/Mason pairing if playing well ... Le Buhanic is their #1 WS so little to no chance there.
Yeah, France aren't going to win any WS matches in the group (Susan, Carolina and Maja are too strong) so France are 0-1 down in their group matches. I think team Scotland's chance have increased with France's team selection
> video about Mubarak talking about the European Championships for Mixed Teams This video was just posted online. It's a parody of a Mubarak speech in which he discusses the Dutch situation. The top four players are kept from participating in Amsterdam by their own national association. [video=youtube;P9QyEyKo4dY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QyEyKo4dY[/video]
I will just say one thing : FORZA ITALIA et vive la Belgique !!! Well, we've got saying here: where there is live, there is hope..... I would be happy if we finishe second in each group
Team Russia (from 14 entries to a final 10) Evgeni Dremin, Vitali Durkin, Vladimir Ivanov, Aleksandr Nikolaenko, Stanislav Pukhov, Ivan Sozonov, Ella Diehl, Anastasia Prokopenko, Valeria Sorokina, Nina Vislova.
Wow, Lithuania in a good position to deliver a defeat to the hosts Netherlands after surprisingly stealing the XD. Could end 3-2 in favor of Lithuania ... making things extremely interesting in Group 5 .
