MX23RW : Thursday, November 21 10:34:06| >> :600:3338053:3338053:

Spanish gold medal hopeful Pablo Abian: I had to recover from "stupid mistake"

Pablo Abian admits that he had to 'change his mindset' following a costly error in the first set of his semi-final against Kestutis Navickas.

Spain's Pablo Abian has admitted that he made a "stupid mistake" during his semi-final clash against Kestutis Navickas which could have cost him a European Games medal.

The 30-year-old saw the first set slip away from him at the Baku Sports Hall, but he soon bounced back to record a 20-22 21-16 21-13 victory over his Lithuanian opponent.

Abian, who was ranked number one in Europe last year, claims that the first-set error helped him find focus for the remainder of the semi-final clash.

"I made a stupid mistake," he told reporters. "It was 20-18, I came back to 20-20 and then there was a ball which I thought would go out, but it fell in.

"That was stupid judgement mistake, you shouldn't take risks like that at 20-20. After the first set, I changed my mindset. I told myself to forget about it, and play as if the score was still 0-0 in sets."

Switzerland's Emil Holst now awaits in Sunday morning's gold-medal final.

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Scott Evans of Ireland competes against Gergely Krausz of Hungary in the Badminton Men's Singles Group A match during day twelve of the Baku 2015 European Games at the Baku Sports Hall on June 24, 2015
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