Badminton: Nielsen hits medal trail

James Leigh
Monday 11 April 1994 18:02 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

ANDERS NIELSEN produced one of his best performances for England by beating Oliver Pongratz, the German champion, to help his country to a 3-2 victory in the European Championships in 's Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, yesterday.

Nielsen was taking the place of Darren Hall, the former European champion who has been laid low by a bad back, and he looked in better form than in the Thomas Cup in Glasgow two months ago. Then, his opening defeat against Finland set England on the path towards elimination.

This time, in a match of long rallies, Nielsen was quick and tenacious and his 17-14, 11-15, 15-11 win over Pongratz put England 2-0 up. The winning lead was supplied by Suzanne Louis-Lane, who beat Nicole Baldewein 11-1, 12-9.

Equally important was the opening success in the mixed doubles by Chris Hunt and Gillian Gowers, the surprise late substitutes for Nick Ponting and Joanne Wright, who is suffering from a cold.

Later, England lost 4-1 to Denmark, the top seeds, with only Simon Archer and Chris Hunt winning a dead match in the men's doubles. It left England to contest the bronze medal with Russia today.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in