European Championships

[The Expert]

Semi-finals Germany v Danmark and England v Nederlands!

England v Denmark final?

Individuals start tomorrow!

[Markymark]

Well England are in trouble at the moment. It's 2-2 with the ladies' doubles left to play and England are 15-21 4-7 down!

[The Expert]

They lost, it's a shame because the Netherlands were there for the taking.

Netherlands v Denmark final

I think Denmark will win MS, MD, MXD the WS and WD are weaker!

Denmark is suffering with a relative lack of world class strength in the girls at the moment.

[Markymark]

England should have won the men's singles here. And the ladies' doubles was winnable also.

I think if England had reached the final, they would have a better chance of beating Denmark than Netherlands do.

[The Expert]

I don't think Ghaffar can beat Palyama or indeed Eric Pang Netherlands No.2 but he had his chance and went close. I expected England to win the womens doubles. In an England v Denmark scenario I think it would be impossible for England in MS, highly unlikely in MD, problematic in WS and wins in MXD and WD!

If any other country can produce world class in MS then the playing field is level. WS in Denmark needs a big boost.

Denmark now have Joachim Persson and Jan Ø Jørgenson coming through faster than their European contemparies so MS is the absolute key area. The aspiring countries like Germany, Netherlands and England must keep the singles boys close to this pair.

[Markymark]

I think it would have been more than likely that England would have won WS, WD and XD against Denmark. Netherlands will win WS and WD probably but can't see them picking up any of the others.

Some good results for Scotland, given the youth of the team. Scotland beat Czech Republic and Ukraine to come 9th, one better than last time. Also lost 3-2 to the Netherlands - not too bad!

[Markymark]

And just saw that Aamir was a set and 14-8 up in the MS singles. Ouch!