For the first time, the Estonian women’s team is taking part in the European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships.

Currently, their highest-ranked players sit just outside the world’s top 100, in mixed doubles with Mikk Õunmaa and Ramona Üprus. So while Estonia is not yet a nation we see regularly at the very top of world badminton or as consistent participants in the biggest tournaments, it is still a great step for them to compete at the 2026 European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships.

Estonia’s national coach Robert Kasela said:
“Being here is definitely one of the highlights for our country as a team event.”

Estonia’s first presence at a major championship fits well with the positive development Estonian badminton has been going through in recent years if you ask coach Kasela.
“It is going up for sure (the level). We are developing new players quite often recently; we just haven’t had a real breakthrough yet. Although we had a European Junior Championship where we got third place in the team event in 2020.”

Even though this is Estonia’s first appearance at the European Men’s & Women’s Team Championships, they have not come just to take part. The team has clear ambitions and believes things could go their way.
“Our minimum goal is one win in the group, but if we get two wins that would be perfect for us. Three is probably too crazy, but we will fight for every win.”

In their first tie today, Estonia suffered a narrow defeat to Germany, which makes their chances of advancing smaller, though not impossible. Tomorrow they face Ukraine before taking on Denmark in their final group match.

One thing is certain: they will fight with everything they have — whether that will be enough to reach the semi-finals remains to be seen.