Kyiv: Defending champions Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen, both strolled into the third round of the European Championships in Kyiv, Ukraine on Wednesday, while Anders Antonsen remained a major threat to Axelsen by reaching round three.
Carolina Marin who is looking for her fifth consecutive women’s singles European Championships title, was untroubled by Anastasiya Cherniavskaya of Belarus in the second round, needed just 22 minutes to see off Cherniavskaya 21-2, 21-11. Marin will take on Soraya De Visch Eijbergen of the Netherlands on Thursday.
“I am not feeling that good. I am focusing on playing with what I’ve been doing in my practice. I tried to control the shuttle, that’s why you are seeing some long rallies,” said Marin.
“My goal is to win my fifth European Championships title here. I know all my opponents wanted to beat me, but my focus is just to try and enjoy the match and play one game at a time,” added Marin.
The top-ranked men’s singles player Axelsen eased to a 21-11, 21-12 win over Milan Ludik of the Czech Republic and will face Max Weisskirchen of Germany next.
The men’s singles No. 2 seed, Anders Antonsen was struggling a little bit in the opening set, but the Dane still found a way to win by beating Kai Schaefer of Germany 21-18, 21-14 in 51 minutes. Antonsen will next meet Emre Lale of Turkey.
The European Badminton Championships is a tournament organized by Badminton Europe (BE). The first of these competitions were held in 1968. The 2020 edition in Kyiv, Ukraine, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine managed to keep the hosting rights of the 2021 edition.
