Denmark won the team event which hardly seems to be a surprise, but they lost the mix double.

Who will win in the respective chategories...?

And is there any chance that Denmark will win all ..5?

I should of course add my personal opinion.

I think there is a good chance of Denmark winning all 5.

But it might also be that Denmark ends up with only 2 or 3 gold medals.

It seems to me all of the Danish favourites are threatened.

Camilla Martin has to deal with Mia Audina to whom she has previously lost.

Kenneth Jonassen and Anders Boesen.. well neither of them are that used to being in front.. on the other hand it seems that Peter Gade's adsence give them the chance of a lifetime... so anything can happen pretty much between and against anybody..

And then there are the new mens and ladies doubles.. Even though they apparently were quite convincing in the team event, my guess is that the internal rivalry between both the ladies and the men could end up in a pressure which is counter productive..

Finally there's the mix double.. where Denmark did not even win in the team event final.. and where on the other hand Michael Soegaard has the chance of winning for the 4th of 5th consecutive time.. 3th or 4th time with Rikke Olsen (I've forgotten which of the two it is).. that will be interesting to follow.. but.. most recently Jens Eriksen and Mette Schjoldager have won the most often when the two teams have met.. that will give them a psychological edge.. but.. as already mentioned.. they did not even win in the final of the team event..

I think Denmark will take all 5 gold medals. I don't think Jens Eriksen/Mette Schjoldager are going to let that happen again, and in the remaining categories there are no real threats.

The interesting fight will be for the silvers and bronze medals (Denmark is probably going to take most of those too, though).

The Dutch seem to have a strong lineup. I was actually quite surprised they beat Germany in the team competition, so maybe they are going to make themselves noticed.

Sweden had its worst result in the team competition since the 1970's I think. Other nations have improved, but Swedish badminton is going through a crisis... and there is no light in sight.

Mag, maybe it's time for you to step up and save Swedish badminton. :)

A little bit late for that, I'm afraid. I'm about as old as the national coach, hehe... But of course my goal is to make it to the national squad in time for Athens...

;)

Seriously, there are some promising juniors, especially in the doubles disciplines. But it'll be another 5 years until they are ready to take off! What are we gonna do meanwhile? Emigrate to Denmark? Or just concentrate on the tennis and the golf?

Concentrate on handball. Sweedish national team produces the best game I have ever seen. Simply amazing!

Yes, I'd better focus on that. I just saw that Marina Andrievskaya lost in the first round. And with her goes Sweden's only realistic hope of a medal. Oh well, maybe next year? ;)

Peter Rasmussen looks strong! He obliterated Colin Haughton in the first round, in just 18 minutes. I hope he does well -- otherwise this could be his last international appearance, according to himself...

Mag,

Rasmussen's win yesterday was indeed an impressive win.

And Rasmussen has told Danish newspapers that this could be his last tournement unless he is satisfied with his own performance.

However, Rasmussen has a very "golden" agreement with a Danish municipality according to which he is paid handsomely for participating in team matches for the local club and for encouraging the youth to play badminton or do other sports in stead of doing nothing.

Contrary to a very few other Danish pro athletes who have the same agreement wuith the same municipality, Rasmussen seems to be taking this obligations quite seriously, and unless he is injured, I would expect him to fulfil his obligations and at the same time continue his fight to return to the very top of international badminton - even if he should not be able to keep up yessterday's level in the matches to come later this week.

But it sure will be interesting to see, how he will perform.

So it's goodbye Sweden... last remaining Swedes Bergström/Karlsson just lost in the quarters to Søgaard/Olsen. Anything else would have been a sensation, I guess...

Actually it wouldn't surprise me if we see 4 Danish pairs in the mixed semis...

Eriksen/Schjoldager and Søgaard/Olsen went through to the semis, along with Robertson/Emms and Bruil/Jonathens.

(Oh, and once again I was overly pessimistic -- Rasmus Wengberg is still in the men's singles... he's up against Richard Vaughan. Could go either way.)