Mariana makes successful senior England debut
14th October 2008TeamBath badminton player Mariana Agathangelou made a successful senior England international debut in Germany.
The University of Bath Coach Education and Sports Development student was a member of the eight-strong senior England squad that secured a 2-1 series win over Germany.
Agathangelou partnered Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympian Anthony Clark in the mixed doubles in the opening tie of the series. The pair beat Kristof Hopp and Birgit Overzier 18-21, 21-19.
It was the only win that England secured in an opening fixture that saw them go down 1-4, a scoreline that included a women’s doubles defeat for Agathangelou and Samantha Ward.
But Agathangelou and Ward won the decisive women’s doubles contest in the second match of the series, beating Carla Bott and Michaela Peiffer 21-15, 21-15. That was the last contest of the second match, and their victory gave England a 3-2 win in the match to level the series overall at 1-1.
Twenty-year-old Agathangelou was in the thick of it in the deciding match, again joining Clark in the mixed doubles – the pair beat Roman Spitko and Hannes Kasbaur 21-15 21-18.
Agathangelou and Ward couldn’t stop the more experienced Juliane Schenk and Sandra Marinello levelling the match by taking the women's doubles 21-10 21-17.
But Clark and Marcus Ellis then won the men’s doubles to ensure a 3-2 win in the third match – and an overall 2-1 series win for England over Germany.