The 15-year-old had been picked to play doubles and mixed doubles, but she was promoted to the singles and doubles slots after UK No 1 Michelle Cheung was injured, and the No 2 was not playing well.In her first match, against the Netherlands, Mariana won her singles match 11-2, 11-7, the England team winning 8-1 overall.In the rubber against tournament favourites Germany, she was beaten in the singles, 11-3, 11-6, but won the doubles 15-11, 17-14 with partner Liz Brett.Against Sweden, Mariana had a shaky start and lost the first set 11-2, but she composed herself and won the next two 11-6, 11-6, then went on to win the doubles 15-3, 17-14.That left France and Denmark still to play, and England had an easy, 9-0 ride past the French players, with Mariana winning her singles match 11-6, 11-2.With the matches against Denmark still to come, it had been hoped that Mariana, who had played in every game, might be rested for a while, but injury to other players meant she had to play on without a break.Against Denmark, England led 2-0, but were pegged back to 2-2 before pulling away to lead 4-2 – with one game more needed for victory.Mariana lost her singles 2-0, then she and Brett, who took the lead after the first set, lost the advantage, and then the match, 3-2, soEngland’s fate rested on the performance of their boys in the final doubles game – which they lost to give Denmark the gold medal.In the individual events, Mariana played doubles and mixed, but lost in straight sets in the mixed.
However, she and Brett played well in the doubles and progressed to the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by the Danish No 1 pair in the third set, 15-11.
