Finland made the quarter-finals of the women’s team event at the 2016 European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships in Kazan yesterday.

Finland were the beneficiaries of France and England knocking each other out of the contest. France and England were vying for one of the three group runner-up spots to accompany the five group winners to the quarter-finals. The winners needed a comfortable victory margin to qualify, but the tie went down the wire.

England took the tie in the fourth match but needed to win the fifth as well. Miu Lin Ngan had two game points but her opponent Yaelle Hoyaux recovered from 18-20 down to clinch the match 21-16 22-20 and put both teams out of the contest.

Finland, who had beaten Belarus 4-1, thus made the quarter-finals as the third best qualifier along with Turkey and Spain. Finland were 0-1 down as Airi Mikkela lost her opening match, but Sonja Pekkola (featured image) and Jenny Nystrom won their singles before combining to make it 3-1 in the Women’s Doubles. Mathilda Lindholm and Airi Mikkela then made it 4-1 winning the final doubles.

Women’s team quarter-finals: Denmark vs Finland; Spain vs Ukraine; Turkey vs Bulgaria; Germany vs Russia.

In the men’s team event, Ukraine narrowly went down to Russia but were able to clich a quarter-final place. Ukraine were 2-1 up but the Russians won both Men’s Doubles comfortably. They will, however, face powerhouses Denmark in the quarter-finals.

Men’s team quarter-finals: Denmark vs Russia; Poland vs England; France vs Ukraine; Germany vs Sweden.

Click here for full results.