DENMARK dominated finals day at the Yonex European Badminton Championships in the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester this afternoon.

Peter Gade won his fifth men’s singles title, Tine Rasmussen won her first and the mixed doubles and men’s doubles also went to the Danes as they matched their four golds from the 2000 event in Glasgow.

Just as in Glasgow, the only title that eluded them was the women’s doubles where they had to settle for bronze.

But in total in Manchester they won eight medals with:
• gold and silver in men’s singles
• gold in women’s singles
• gold, silver and bronze in men’s doubles
• bronze in women’s doubles,
• gold in mixed doubles

World champions Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl got the Danes off to a winning start by beating Polish second seeds Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk 21-19 18-21 21-12 in 60 minutes.

Then Tine Rasmussen, runner-up two years ago, added the European women’s singles title to her second Yonex All England crown by beating 2008 bronze medallist Juliane Schenk of Germany 21-19 14-21 21-18 in 55 minutes.

Peter Gade produced his best form of the tournament to defeat team-mate Jan O. Jorgensen 21-14 21-11 in 42 minutes.

The Danes were assured gold in the men’s doubles as they produced a repeat of the Yonex All England final with holders Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen once again beating Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 24-22 22-20, the top seeds surrendering an 11-5 lead in the second game. Kasper Faust Henriksen and Anders Kristiansen took the bronze.

The women’s doubles featured top seeds Petya Nedelcheva of Bulgaria and Russia’s Anastasia Russkikh against Russians Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova. And Sorokina and Vislova won 21-18 21-14.

Denmark’s Line Damkjaer Kruse and Mie Schjott-Kristensen took one of the bronze medals.

England had to be content with three bronze – for Rajiv Ouseph (Middx) in the men’s singles, Nathan Robertson (Notts) and Jenny Wallwork (Yorks) in the mixed doubles and Mariana Agathangelou (Avon) and Heather Olver (Sussex) in the women’s doubles.

The Championships were promoted by BADMINTON England in conjunction with Manchester City Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, UK Sport, Badminton Europe and title sponsors Yonex. Liverpool City Council were key partners in last year’s European Team Championships at the Echo Arena.

For results and reports check out www.europeanbadminton.com