Alex & Eleanor grab silver lining Motherwell star earns mixed doubles prize
Motherwell’s Alex Dunn grabbed a silver medal from the European Junior Championships in France, but was disappointed to lose the mixed doubles final.
Dunn and Eleanor O’donnell’s brilliant performance in reaching the final in Mulhouse ended in disappointment when they fell to Russian second seeds Rodion Alimov and Alina Davletova, 21-16, 21-14, in just 24 minutes.
However, the unseeded 18-yearolds can be proud of their silver medal after their run to the final included a 17-21, 21-10, 21-14 win over the Slovenian fourth seeds Miha Ivancic and Petra Polanc in the second round, and a nail-biting 19-21, 21-14, 22-20 win against the Polish top seeds Pawel Smilowski and Magdalena Swiercynska in the semi-finals.
Dunn has now added a silver medal to the bronze he won with Adam Hall in the men’s doubles in Lubin two years ago, while O’donnell will get a big boost from her performances in France over the last week, as she looks ahead to the senior European Championships in the Danish city of Kolding at the end of this month, and her Scotland international debut at the Sudirman Cup in Australia’s Gold Coast next month.
In the final on Saturday morning they came up against a strong Russian pair and kept in contention up to 10-10 in the first game, before the Russians applied pressure and surged ahead 17-11.
A strong start to the second game, where they swept into a 9-1 lead, put Alimov and Davletova in control, and although Dunn and O’donnell recovered from 15-6 down to within four points at 1511, the Russians remained strong and closed out the contest.
Despite missing out on gold the pair were understandably delighted with their achievement.
Alex said: “I am extremely happy and proud of how we played this week.
“It has been a fantastic tournament and I will take a lot from the experience we have had.”
Eleanor said: “I’m very proud of our performances. It’s a lovely way to end our junior careers.”
Coach Robert Blair said: “It is obviously a disappointing result, but should not be a dampener on what has been a wonderful week for Alex and Eleanor.
“They have performed very well and risen to all the challenges that faced them. They needed to be very disciplined as the Russians were powerful and good on the net.
“This should be a good experience for them.”