Seven days to go till Kazan. Players from different countries are making themselves up for the 2018 European Men & Women’s Team Championships. Also Ieva Pope, women’s doubles and mixed doubles champion of Latvia.
The women’s team of Latvia is in group four with Russia, Turkey and Estonia. Pope is aware of their difficult position in the group.
‘I think Russia and Turkey will be very tough but still we'll put our best fight against them. It is also tough because we will play against the home favourites.’ However, Pope has good hope for the other match against Estonia.
‘We could try to win against Estonia. They also have young players who are not very high in the ranking, so we have the most chances there.’
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Separate preparation
Latvia’s women’s team has players who train and play in different countries in Europe. For example, Pope stays in The Netherlands, but others are in Denmark and in France. Therefore a separate preparation is necessary.
‘We train our singles separately. Only our second doubles pair are both in Latvia and training and playing together.’
As for the individual matches Pope believes that their singles are the strongest points in their team. ‘But all the teams have good first or even first 2 players so still it's difficult’ Pope states realistically.
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Good opportunity for small nation
The Latvian federation has another goal with the 2018 European Men & Women’s Team Championships: ‘Our federation sees the championships more as a way to popularize badminton in Latvia by providing opportunity to go there and play’ Pope commented
Even though Pope is not sure how participation to the several European Championships contributed, she definitely sees a growth in popularity of badminton in Latvia.
‘It could also be because Niks Podosinoviks is in the COE. Nevertheless, it is always cool to see the biggest nations play’.
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