RESULTS: European Junior U19 Team Championship, Oporto, Portugal
Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] BELGIUM 3/0 Declan James bt Tom de Mulder 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 Emily Whitlock bt Nele Gilis 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 Tom Ford bt Jan van den Herrewegen 11-6, 11-7
3rd place play-off:
[3] FRANCE bt [11] SCOTLAND 2/1 Damien Volland lost to Douglas Kempsell 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 8-11 Julia Lecoq bt Rosie Allan 13-11, 11-5, 11-4 Alexandre Cogno bt Christopher Leiper 11-8, 11-9, 11-8
5th place play-off:
[5] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [8] SPAIN 2/1 Martin Svec bt Aitor Zunzunegui 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 Kristina Alexova bt Marina de Juan 11-6, 12-10, 11-5 Jakub Solnicky lost to Pascal Gomez 5-11, 9-11
7th place play-off:
[7] WALES bt [4] PORTUGAL 2/1 Jordan Davies lost to Rui Soares 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 10-12, 9-11 Fiona Murphy bt Camille Lanier 8-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-6 Joel Makin bt Pedro Pinto 11-9, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7
9th place play-off:
[6] GERMANY bt [9] FINLAND 2/1 Sven Lemmermann lost to Jaakko Vahamaa 6-11, 11-13, 8-11 Caroline Sayegh bt Emilia Soini 13-11, 11-2, 11-4 Felix Auer bt Kristian Rautiainen 11-6, 11-6, 11-5
11th place play-off:
[10] ISRAEL bt [12] HUNGARY 2/1 Daniel Poleshchuk bt Benedek Sebok 11-9, 12-10, 11-6 Ronny Kesten lost to Gabriella Csokasi 7-11, 2-11, 2-11 Roee Avraham bt Lenard Puski 11-9, 4-11, 11-2, 4-11, 11-7
15th place play-off:
[16] SWEDEN bt [14] NETHERLANDS 2/1 Bjorn Angtoft bt Tom Lucas 12-10, 11-3, 11-5 Linnea Wallsten lost to Tessa ter Sluis 2-11, 8-11, 9-11 Jesper Skarman bt Nick Kuys 11-2, 13-11, 11-5
17th place play-off:
[18] AUSTRIA bt [17] NORWAY 2/1 Florian Mader lost to Hakon Standal 4-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 8-11 Jacqueline Peychaer bt Alvilde Sonju 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 Paul Mairinger bt Trym Akerstrom Aasness 11-6, 11-9, 11-3
19th place: [19] POLAND
England Retain European Junior Crown
England successfully defended their title in the European Junior U19 Team Squash Championship, beating second seeds Belgium in the final for the second year in a row to win the mixed European Squash Federation event inOporto, Portugal.
The triumph marks the third successive win for England and their 26th overall since the inaugural competition in 1983.
Newly-crowned men’s individual champion Declan James led the team to their 3/0 result. The 18-year-old from Nottingham beat Tom de Mulder 11-9, 11-6, 11-8, before team-mate Emily Whitlock despatched Belgian Nele Gilis 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 to clinch the title.
Whitlock was rounding off her junior career in stunning style. The 18-year-old world No31 from Colwyn Bay won the women’s individual title for the second year in a row last week and came through nine matches in Oporto without dropping a single game.
In the final match, Cheltenham’s Tom Ford beat Jan van den Herrewegen 11-6, 11-7 to ensure a clean sweep.
After celebrating their first appearance in the semi-finals since 1988, 11th seeds Scotland went down 2/1 to third seedsFrance in the play-off for third place. It was France’s best finish for two years, but Scotland’s most successful for 24 years.
Hosts Portugal, appearing in the championship for only the third time, celebrated their best ever finish. The fourth seeds took on Wales, the No7 seed, in the play-off for seventh place, losing 2/1 to record a highest ever eighth finish.
