After two editions in Turkey, the European Cup will stay in Eastern Europe for 2014. Again, a young organization gets the responsibility for the nineteenth WDF Europe Cup; Romania. From 23 to 27 September, the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest is the royal setting for this Cup.
For the first time there are four ladies per team, until 2014 there were always two. This means that an extra day of play is added to the schedule. From now on, the teams will play over four days and the opening ceremony is the day before. Men from 30 countries come to the Romanian capital and 25 countries also bring their ladies. It was a very cosy and friendly European Cup. No debutants at this Cup, but Cyprus does return for the first time since 2000.
The quarterfinals are all fairly one-sided in the ladies singles. Irina Armstrong, playing for Germany since 2012, wins 5-2 against the Polish Jolanta Rzepka. The other three quarterfinals all end in 5-0. Deta Hedman beats Norway's Ramona Mostad-Eriksen, Lorraine Winstanley wins against France's Carole Frison and Anastasia Dobromyslova beats Sweden's Maud Jansson.
The semi-finals and the final are a lot more exciting. The English battle between Deta Hedman and Lorraine Winstanley is won 6-4 by Hedman. The former teammates Dobromyslova and Armstrong, who won gold together for Russia in 2007 in the WDF World Cup pairs, are producing an exciting match. In an eleventh and deciding leg it is Dobromyslova who takes the victory.
It is the third WDF Europe Cup singles final that Deta Hedman reaches. She previously reached the final in 1994 and 1996. As in 1996, she has to settle for silver. Anastasia Dobromyslova takes the gold with a 7-5 victory. Never before has Russia won gold at a WDF Europe Cup.