KUALA LUMPUR (MAY 12, 2010): Denmark may have bowed out in the quarter-finals of the Uber Cup competition but the doubles combination of Lena Frier Kristiansen-Marie Ropke believe the Europeans will be able to give their rivals a tough fight soon.

Missing the injured Tine Rasmussen, who won the All-England title in March as well as All-England semi-finalist, Denmark crashed to a 3-1 defeat to Japan at Putra Stadium today.

Rasmussen, who is 31, has proven herself on the world stage while 26-year-old Jensen is beginning to emerge from behind Rasmussen's shadow.

Denmark also have the up and coming Mette Poulsen, who is only 16 while Kristiansen is 27 and Ropke 22.

"The future looks bright as we have many young players in the team," said Ropke. "I believe we will be stronger in the next Uber Cup as Tine will still be around while peoplelike Mette would have benefitted from playing this year."

She added they could have beaten China today if Rasmussen and Jensen were not injured.

“Tine could have made a difference. She would have won the first singles and things would have been in our favour instead," said Kristianse.

“We had a good start (in the tournament) against Australia and didn’t expect to beat them 3-2. We’re happy to be in the quarter finals although personally, I felt we could have gone further,” said Kristiansen.

When asked about the team’s future, Ropke said: “The women’s team have many young players and yeah, there is a good future for Danish badminton.

“We have a small population and train half as much as the Asian countries. It’s not enough to be a strong contender among the Asians but we’re doing all we can to be there.”

Kristiansen-Ropke played well before going down 13-21, 21-19, 19-21 to Mizuki Fuji-Reika Kakiiwa in a match which lasted over an hour. Earlier Eriko Hirose beat Camilla Sørensen 21-17, 21-11 to give Japan the lead.

Satoko Suetsuna-Miyuki Maeda then lost 21-13, 21-15 to Kamilla Rytter Juhl- Christinna Pedersen but Ai Goto edged Karina Jorgensen to make it 2-1.