May 18, 2011
England scored a notable junior squash double in Germany, winning both
titles in the European U15 & U17 Team Championships in Germering in
commanding style - for the fifth year in a row.
The favourites faced second seeds
France in the U15 final. England debutant Adam Turner survived a
five-game battle against Adrien Grondin in the opening match, winning
12-10, 11-5, 10-12, 6-11, 11-6 to put the defending champions ahead.
British U15 champion Lucy Beecroft then clinched victory by beating Marion Andriamifidy 12-10, 15-13, 6-11, 11-4.
In the best-of-three 'dead rubber',
James Peach beat Adrien's twin brother Mathias Grondin 11-7, 11-7 to
give England a 3/0 victory.
Top seeds England also faced the No2
seeds in the U17 final - Czech Republic celebrating their first time in
the final. In his fourth successive European junior championships
appearance for his country, Nottingham's Oliver Holland defeated Martin
Svec 11-8, 11-6, 11-2 to put England ahead.
But the Czechs fought back when
Kristina Alexova beat the top English girl Victoria Temple-Murray 11-7,
11-7, 7-11, 11-9 to draw level.
However, Matthew Sidaway restored
England's pride with a confident 11-7, 11-6, 11-2 victory over Jan Ryba
to keep the trophy in English hands.
England Junior High Performance
Coach Fiona Geaves was delighted with her players' success: "I'm so
pleased that we've retained the titles - the team has worked so hard
and the spirit amongst the group has been excellent. It was a little
tense during both finals but full credit to the players for their
professionalism and commitment to bring both titles home!
"It's fantastic for England Squash
& Racketball to have a clean sweep of all European titles from U15
through to senior level," added the former world No5.
Wales were surprise bronze medal winners in both events - in the U17 play-off upsetting third seeds Switzerland.
RESULTS: European Junior U15 & U17 Team Championships, Germering, Germany U15 Final: [1] ENGLAND bt [2] FRANCE 3/0 Lucy Beecroft bt Marion Andriamifidy 12-10, 15-13, 6-11, 11-4 Adam Turner bt Adrien Grondin 12-10, 11-5, 10-12, 6-11, 11-6 James Peach bt Mathias Grondin 11-7, 11-7
3rd place play-off: [3] WALES bt [12] DENMARK 2/1 Elin Harlow bt Matilde Lauridsen 11-8, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7 Callum Davidson bt Jens Christian Wegeberg 8-11, 11-2, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5 Ralph Pompeus lost to Casper Kloster 8-11, 9-11, 12-14
5th place play-off: [8] IRELAND bt [4] FINLAND 2/1 Fiona Power bt Riina Koskinen 14-12, 11-9, 11-6 David Ryan bt Miko Aijanen 11-3, 11-2, 11-4 Ryan Luther lost to Matias Hanninen 6-11, 2-11, 9-11
7th place play-off: [11] SPAIN bt [10] BELGIUM 3/0 Christina Gomez bt Tinne Gilis 6-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 Edmon Lopez bt Menaud Swartenbroeckx 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 Miguel Gonzalez bt John Atyeo 11-3, 11-7, 14-12
9th place play-off: [5] GERMANY bt [6] SCOTLAND 2/1 Saskia Beinhard lost to Kirsty Lobban 6-11, 12-10, 5-11, 12-14 Lucas Wirths bt Rory Stewart 11-3, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5 Yannik Omlor bt Findlay MacDonald 11-9, 4-11, 11-3, 10-12, 11-7
11th place play-off: [7] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [16] SWEDEN 2/1 Eliska Jiraskova bt Linnea Wallsten 13-11, 11-8, 11-7 Marek Lapacek lost to Tor Christoffersen 11-6, 14-12, 3-11, 7-11, 7-11 Vit Lipovsky bt Nils Marnfeldt 11-9, 11-8, 12-14, 9-11, 11-7
13th place play-off: [15] PORTUGAL bt [13] NETHERLANDS 2/1 Catarina Nunes lost to Beatrijs Kuipers 10-12, 4-11, 5-11 Tomas Silva bt Tess Jutte 11-3, 11-6, 11-7 Alfonso Silva bt Peter Fritsche 11-9, 11-6, 11-3
U17 Final: [1] ENGLAND bt [2] CZECH REPUBLIC 2/1 Victoria Temple-Murray lost to Kristina Alexova 7-11, 7-11, 11-7, 9-11 Oliver Holland bt Martin Svec 11-8, 11-6, 11-2 Matthew Sidaway bt Jan Ryba 11-7, 11-6, 11-2
3rd place play-off: [4] WALES bt [3] SWITZERLAND 2/1 Fiona Murphy bt Kate Gadola 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 Jordan Davies bt Manuel Wanner 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-6 Joel Makin lost to Remo Handl 9-11, 6-11
5th place play-off: [5] ISRAEL bt [11] PORTUGAL 2/1 Eden Yona bt Sara Neves 11-3, 11-4, 11-1 Daniel Poleshchuk bt Claudio Pinto 11-3, 11-4, 11-1 Roee Avraham lost to Pedro Pinto 6-11, 11-8, 9-11
7th place play-off: [7] GERMANY bt [8] HUNGARY 2/1 Maike Paschke lost to Csenge Kiss-Mate 10-12, 6-11, 5-11 Andre Ergenz bt Nandor Papp 8-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 Felix Auer bt Daniel Kiss 13-11, 11-7, 11-7
9th place play-off: [6] FRANCE bt [16] SPAIN 2/1 Marie Stephan lost to Marina Lopez 9-11, 2-11, 10-12 Baptiste Masotti bt David Antolin 11-9, 11-2, 12-10 Antoine Poulaine bt Iker Pajares 12-10, 5-11, 19-17, 11-5
11th place play-off: [12] FINLAND bt [15] IRELAND 2/1 Emilia Soini bt Breanne Flynn 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 Tommi Ekholm lost to Sean Conroy 11-5, 11-13, 0-11, 4-11 Jami Aijanen bt Gillian Dunne 11-6, 11-7, 11-9
13th place play-off: [14] DENMARK bt [9] NETHERLANDS 2/1 Christine Christoffersen lost to Tessa ter Sluis 0-11, 4-11, 7-11 Thomas Laursen bt Roshan Bharos 11-2, 11-9, 11-9 Emil Gross Jeppesen bt Christoph Winzer 11-13, 11-5, 15-13, 11-7
15th place play-off: [10] BELGIUM bt [13] SCOTLAND 3/0 Nele Gilis bt Claire Gadsby 11-3, 11-1, 11-2 Toon van Baekel bt Fergus Richards 11-9, 11-4, 11-5 Thomas Mahieu bt Douglas MacMillan 11-5, 11-6
17th place play-off: [17] SWEDEN bt [19] ITALY 2/1 Linnea Gronlund Bengtsson bt Laura Cibiroli 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 Pontus Rengbo bt Yuri Farneti 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 Nils Lindgren lost to Michael Cecchini 11-9, 5-11, 10-12, 8-11