Portuguese Tiago Berenguer qualified today for the semi-finals of the individual competition at the European under-19 badminton championships, while Santiago Batalha reached the round of 16 in Ibiza, Spain.
Absolute national champion, at just 16 years old, Tiago Berenguer started by beating the Lithuanian Domas Paksys 2-1, with 21-16, 18-21 and 21-14, later beating, in the ‘quarters’, the German Luis Pongratz, fourth favorite , by the same score, with 18-21, 21-12 and 21-9.
The Madeiran under-15 European champion, eighth seed in Ibiza, will now face the Polish Mateusz Golas, who is the main favorite to win the competition, in which he has not yet conceded a set.
In the round of 16, Santiago Batalha caught Sweden’s Romeo Makboul, who prevailed 2-0 (21-13 and 21-15).
In the men’s doubles, Santiago Batalha joined Dinis Maia in the pair that was eliminated in the quarterfinals against the British Benjamin Horseman and Jia Bin, who triumphed 2-0, 21-10 and 21-19.
In the women’s singles, Maria Wilkinson and Mafalda Avelino were eliminated in the first round of the 128 bracket, just as happened when they participated together in the women’s doubles.
Santiago Batalha and Maria Wilkinson did not pass the first round in mixed teams, as had already happened with Alexandre Bernardo and Isabella Wilkinson.
