16 September, 2024
Martha Ng and Shraddha Gopalakrishnan took home a sensational women’s doubles title as English shuttlers impressed at the European U15 Championships.
Ng and Gopalakrishnan had the edge in their final against Danish duo Alva Jacobsen and Simone Aoki Pihl, winning 22-20 21-14 to claim gold in Suwalki, Poland.
It capped off a stellar European Championships campaign for ninth-seed Ng in particular, who also produced an impressive performance in the women’s singles.
She progressed as far as the quarter-finals after superbly defeating third-seed Ada Kececi in straight sets, but could not get past Ukraine’s Varvara Poperezhai in the last eight, losing 13-21 21-15 18-21 in a valiant effort.
Elsewhere, Yixiang Hou started Saturday with hopes of glory in the men’s singles but was unable to overcome Lenny Hubert to progress to the final.
The number six seed was defeated 13-21 7-21 in straight sets, with Hubert setting up an all French final against top seed Mady Sow later in the day.
Hou also enjoyed a commendable run in the men’s doubles alongside Oliver Wu, reaching the quarter-finals before suffering an exit at the hands of Denmark’s Axel Boesen and Marvin Jakob Galan Mogensen.
It was the second doubles quarter-final Wu competed in, also reaching the last eight alongside Sawoni Talati in the mixed doubles.
Wu and Talati were only just denied a place in the semis after a hard-fought contest, being edged out 18-21 19-21 by the pair of Tim Bregar and Maja Pranic.
Staying with doubles action, Hubert Ceglinski and Tejas Singh reached the last 16 in the men’s doubles, a welcome improvement for Singh after he suffered a first round exit in the mixed category alongside Gopalakrishnan.
