By Tom Degun

Mariana Agathangelou_and_Heather_Olver_10-10-11October 9 - The women's English badminton pairing of Mariana Agathangelou and Heather Olver continued their superb run of form as they were crowned the Bulgarian International women's doubles champions in Sofia.


The European bronze medallists and top seeds, who were runners-up at last month's Yonex Belgium International, held off India's Pradnya Gadre and Prajakta Sawant in a tense three-game final.

The England pair, who are currently ranked 23rd in the world, will move up the rankings list after coming from behind to win 18-21 21-7 21-10.

Their aim is to climb back into the top 20 to maintain their push for London 2012 Olympic qualification, having been as high as 18 in February.

But despite the stunning victory for Agathangelou and Olver, England's hopes of a second major international title in Sofia were dashed in the mixed doubles final after unranked Gary Fox and Samantha Ward's fine run in Bulgaria came to an end.

The pair were edged out in three close games by Ukraine's experienced Valerij Atrashchenkov and new partner Anna Kobceva as they were narrowly beaten 21-18 19-21 21-14.

This week, the badminton action moves to Almere and the Yonex Dutch Open, followed by the back-to-back Yonex Denmark Open in Odense and Yonex French Open in Paris.

In Almere, Carl Baxter starts his men's singles bid against eighth seed Dmytro Zavadsky of Ukraine, while Elizabeth Cann will resume her race for Olympic qualification in the women's singles where she faces a tough first round against German star Karin Schnaase.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]