The Finnish surprise
The Finnish surprise
Three pairs events were on the program at the European Championships: Women’s, Senior, and Mixed. The finals were played over three sessions, with ten qualifiers each time.
In the Women’s event, surprisingly, Finland’s Pia Erkila and Raija Tuomi came out on top, ahead of the favorites, Poland’s Cathy and Sophia Baldysz. Another pair tipped for victory made it onto the podium: Croatia’s Marina Pilipovic and Nikica Sver.
In the Senior category (only 16 pairs at the starting line), the podium was dominated by very strong players. The title went to Tor Bakke and Peter Marstrander, ahead of Poland’s Michal Kwiecien and Wlodzimierz Starkowski, who in turn edged out Italy’s Andrea Buratti and Giuseppe Failla.
In the Mixed, the least shunned of the three events (37 pairs entered), England’s Claire Robinson and Daniel McIntosh came back from the brink in the final session to win fairly comfortably, ahead of the Polish pair Danuta Kazmucha and Maciej Hutyra, with the Turkish pairing of Arda Dagcioglu and Esra Oztemir rounding out the podium. Belgium’s Dewasme and Caputo, who led after the first two sessions, oddly collapsed down the home stretch.



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