It was a big day for Sweden as they went into the semi-finals as the underdog, with one goal: making it to the final again. The Swedish team has won the 8 World Cup finals, but their last title was in 2014.
The Swedes took the lead in table-tennis and never let go. Kanonenberg took the table tennis victory beating Lindberg 11-2, but Ahlmer, Fagerström/Tay and Hedlund all took the win putting Sweden ahead.
Badminton was a battle. Lindberg came from 6-2 down to win badminton 11-8 against Kanonenberg which sparked huge celebrations in the team. Fischer claimed some points back for Germany, winning badminton 13-11 but Fagerström/Tay played the crucial points well in the doubles match against Oldehaver/Wiessnier taking it 14-12. Radermacher almost evened the score in the MS2 against Hedlund, after losing table tennis 11-1 he won badminton quite comfortably 11-3).
A big battle in squash between Kanonenberg and Lindberg, which saw the German player take it 13-11 after long and intense rallies. Ahlmer returned the favour, taking squash 13-11 for Sweden before the Germans almost got themselves out of a deficit with Oldehaver/Wiessner winning squash 11-5 and Radermacher also took squash with the same score.
Sweden still went into tennis with a small lead, which was strengthened by both Lindberg and Ahlmer who won tennis 11-7 and 11-5 for Sweden. Fagerström/Tay sealed the match, winning tennis 11-3 which resulted in a +13 (122-109) overall victory for Sweden and a first final in ten years.
Great Britain won their semi-final in a rematch of last year’s final against Denmark. A very exciting match on paper and one that did not dissapoint. World Champion Luke Griffiths was up first for GB against Kresten Hougaard and played very well to win table-tennis 11-5. Parslow produced a big win in table-tennis against Jacobsen, taking it 11-7, before Steinmetz/Thyregod got the first win for Denmark taking the doubles 11-6 against Davidson/Stahl. Morten Jaksland leveled the score for Denmark, taking it 11-6 against Men’s B Champion Jonathan Ritter.
The Danes won badminton, creating a lead for themselves going into squash. Griffiths took the only GB victory in badminton by 11-4, as Jacobsen beat Parslow 11-1, Steinmetz/Thyregod took it 11-5 and Jaksland edged out an 11-9 score against Ritter.
Squash went to Great Britain, with Griffiths taking it 11-4 against Hougaard which was by no means an easy match. Very long rallies with both players giving it their all and some epic dives from Hougaard. Parslow won squash 11-3 against Jacobsen, and Davidson/Stahl took squash 11-8 against Steinmetz/Thyregod. Ritter played a solid game against Jaksland in the MS2, taking it 11-6.
Great Britain went into tennis with a small lead. Griffiths took the first win in tennis taking it 11-7. Jacobsen managed to take tennis 12-10 for Denmark, but by now Great Britain only needed 9 more points to seal the victory. Davidson/Stahl did so in the doubles, winning it 9-6 and claiming a +17 (134-117) win over last year’s Champions.
This will be a fourth final for Great Britain.
The final starts at 11:15AM today.
