Team England’s dream of winning the European Team Championship turned into a nightmare last night as they saw a surprise 2-0 lead turn into a 3-2 defeat by Denmark in the final at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.

European champions and world No 4 pair Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg gave England a flying start by winning the mixed doubles then World No 21 Andrew Smith got the better of world No 6 Joachim Persson for the first time in eight men’s singles meetings.

Smith had lost to Persson in the 3-0 defeat in last year’s final in Denmark but in the Echo Arena he turned in a tenacious display.

Although world No 1 and Yonex All England champion Tine Rasmussen put Denmark’s first point on the board when she defeated Elizabeth Cann, the Center Parcs supported Team England squad still had high hopes going into the men’s doubles.

But Clark and Nathan Robertson, winning his 98th cap, could not quite get the better of Carsten Mogensen and Mathias Boe.

That left it at 2-2 and Kellogg and Jenny Wallwork were left with the task of winning the deciding rubber just as they had done the night before in the semi-finals against Poland.

But Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Lene Koppen’s daughter Marie Roepke were too strong for them and won 21-14 21-15 to complete the fightback.

England head coach Ian Wright was clearly dispirited. “We got a good start but we need to be finishing off matches like this,”he said.

“We showed a lot of guts in the way we played against Poland but I am very disappointed that we couldn’t finish off Denmark. We came here for the gold medal, we had the chance, but we didn’t take it.

“We have the talent coming through, we have the coaches and the facilities but we need the team to be tougher – like Denmark were tonight.

“For us Jenny Wallwork has been excellent this week and Andrew Smith played well today but he needs to be more consistent and he knows that.”

Results

European Mixed Team Badminton Championships

Semi-Finals

England 3 Poland 2

(England names first)

Men’s Singles

Andrew Smith lost to Przemyslaw Wacha 21-11 22-20

Women’s Singles

Elizabeth Cann bt Kamila Augustyn 11-21 21-4 21-9

Men’s Doubles

Anthony Clark & Nathan Robertson lost to Michal Logosz & Robert Mateusiak 21-18 21-12

Women’s Doubles

Donna Kellogg & Jennifer Wallwork bt Kamila Augustyn & Malgorzata Kurdelska 21-12 17-21 21-12

Mixed Doubles

Anthony Clark & Donna Kellogg bt Michal Logosz & Natalia Pocztowiak 21-15 21-9

Denmark 3 Russia 0

(Denmark names first)

Men’s Singles

Joachin Persson bt Ivan Sozonov 21-14 21-12

Women’s Singles

Tine Rasmussen bt Ella Diehl 21-18 21-7

Mixed Doubles

Thomas Laybourn & Kamilla Juhl bt Vitaly Durkin & Nina Vislova 21-13 21-16

Final

Denmark 3 England 2

(Denmark names first)

Men’s Singles

Joachim Persson lost to Andrew Smith 21-16 21-19

Women’s Singles

Tine Rasmussen bt Elizabeth Cann 21-14 21-10

Men’s Doubles

Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen bt Anthony Clark & Nathan Robertson

21-17 16-21 21-15

Women’s Doubles

Kamilla Juhl & Marie Roepke bt Donnna Kellogg & Jennifer Wallwork 21-14 21-15

Mixed Doubles

Christinna Pedersen & Joachim Fischer Nielsen lost to Anthony Clark & Donna Kellogg 21-10 23-21.

It is the first time the European Team Championship has not been played concurrently with the European Individual Championships. Instead, Manchester’s MEN Arena will host the European Individual Championship in April 2010.

The European Team Championship in Liverpool and the European Individual Championships in Manchester are being staged by BADMINTON England, Badminton Europe, Liverpool City Council, Manchester City Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and UK Sport.

The home side will be supported at the Team Championships by official Team England partner Center Parcs, who recently became part of the BADMINTON England family.

Yonex, who are already long-standing partners and sponsors of the All England Open Championships (to be staged at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena from March 3-8) will be the equipment suppliers after recently renewing their partnership with Badminton Europe. Yonex will supply shuttles, court equipment and stringing services for 2009-2012 under the new agreement.

To view the full results view: www.tournamentsoftware.com