Jonassen wins European gold as Danes dominate

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Dane Kenneth Jonassen won his first European championship on Sunday in front of his hometown fans as Denmark dominated the tournament, winning four gold medals from the six on offer.

The 33-year-old top seed thoroughly outplayed team mate Joachim Persson in Herning in western Denmark to win the final 21-13 21-16.

Earlier in the day, Danish duo Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Lena Frier Kristiansen beat favourites Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg from Britain 21-18 21-18 to take the women's doubles gold.

The Danish dominance was dented by Germany's Xu Huaiwen, who inflicted a stunning defeat on All England champion Tine Rasmussen. The 28-year-old Rasmussen easily won the first game 21-12 but lost the second by the same margin.

She then jumped to a 7-3 lead in the final game, but Xu levelled at 9-9 and gradually pulled away to win the title 12-21 21-12 21-17.

"At the beginning, my game was going well," said Rasmussen, a big Olympic hope for Denmark. "But later I could feel my legs get heavy. Now I need to recharge my batteries."

Denmark, who also won the European team championships on Tuesday, were sure to add another gold later on Sunday in the men's doubles final when top seeds Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen were meeting countrymen and second seeds Jens Eriksen and Martin Lundgaard Hansen.