altFEBRUARY 16 - ENGLAND'S head badminton coach Ian Wright said tonight that he hopes the experience of pushing Denmark so close in the final of the European Team Championships yesterday will prove invaluable for some of his younger players.

 

The hosts let slip a 2-0 lead at the Echo Arena in Liverpool to eventually lose 3-2 as the Danes collected their eighth successive title in this event.

 

Victories for Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg in the mixed doubles and Andrew Smith in the singles had put the hosts into an unexpected 2-0 lead against the favourites.

 

However, world number one Tine Rasmussen beat Liz Cann and defeats for doubles pairs Clark and Nathan Robertson and Kellogg and Jenny Wallwork meant England finished with the silver medal for the second successive year.

 

Wright said: "What I'm really pleased with is we have been able to play the younger players and they have stood up in key matches and played some great games for us.

 

"There is a changing of the guard and I think the younger ones really learned a lot in the week.

 

"It was a good performance but at the end of the day we are second not first.

 

"We created the opportunity to beat Denmark but we were not clinical enough to take it.

 

"We are getting there.

 

"It was good to get into the final but we really should have finished it off.

 

"If you look at world rankings and results this year they were always favourites and although we had the opportunities we maybe didn't have the confidence."