Having beaten Sweden 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the European stages of badminton’s Uber Cup competition, the England ladies finished fourth after being knocked out in the semi-finals, 3-0, by the strong team from the Netherlands, in the play-off for third place.
Jersey badminton star Elizabeth Cann was among the England squad and ready to play against her Dutch counterpart on Saturday, but after the No 1 and No 2 singles players, and the No 1 doubles pair were beaten, she didn’t get to play.’Once you get through to the quarter-finals the winner is the first team to win three matches - unfortunately after that, it was out of my hands,’ Cann said.She said that the squad was very disappointed, although she was pleased with the way she had played overall - she won all her matches in the earlier stages in straight sets.’It would have been nice to have got through to the finals in Jakarta later in the year, but we were beaten in the end by the Netherlands, who always have a very strong team.’The squad has now returned to Milton Keynes and will get straight back to regular training.Cann’s next competition is in a fortnight’s time, when she plays in Sussex at an England élite tournament, then begins preparations for the big All-England competition in Birmingham.
Article posted on 16th February, 2004 - 12.00am
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