JERSEY badminton player Mariana Agathangelou’s new partnership with Scotland’s Jillie Cooper is going from strength to strength, with another gold medal to their name after victory in the Welsh International at Cardiff.
Yesterday’s victory for the No 4 seeds, over unseeded Dutch pairing of Rachel Van Cutsen and her new partner Isle Vaessen, was done the hard way after losing the first set 21-17. Battling back against Van Cutsen – ranked 32nd in the world – the British pair levelled in the second 21-19 then, with confidence increasing, they took the decider 21-16. The gold follows their victory in the Scottish Open final last weekend – also against Van Cutsen – when Elizabeth Cann had made it a double victory for Jersey by taking the singles.
Agathangelou, who won her first senior England cap recently, had a disappointing exit from the mixed doubles when she and partner Dean George were knocked out in the second round by Welsh pair Sarah Thmas and Richard Vaught, 22-20, 21-18.
She and Cooper more than made up for that with a run to the final that included a convincing semi-final win over the No 1 seeds, the Irish pairing of Chloe Magee and Huang Bing, 21-12, 21-9. The tournament attracted players from Europe, Asia and New Zealand.
