Ukraine & Denmark Share European Titles
by Howard Harding
April 22, 2012 - Ukraine and Denmark triumphed in the second staging of the European Team Championship (Division 3), the European Squash Federation event at Marsa Sports Club in Marsa, Malta.
Led by Line Hansen, the world No25 from Odense, Denmark won the women's title with a comprehensive win over Sweden in the final tie in the round robin event.
In an exciting climax for hosts Malta, their women defeated Croatia 3/0 in front of a packed and partisan crowd, thus finishing third and winning the Bronze Medal.
Undefeated throughout the qualifying rounds, top seeds Ukraine went on to beat Poland 4/0 in the men's final - with individual wins by Ruslan Sorochynskyi, Kostiantyn Rybalchenko, Denys Podvornyi and Valeriy Fedoruk.
Seventh seeds Norway defeated Luxembourg in the third place play-off to secure the Bronze Medal.
There was a courageous display in the play-off for ninth place where sixth seeds Turkey took on Lithuania, a nation making its debut on the international squash stage.
Lithuania took the first two matches, but points gained by wins in the second two matches gave Turkey the narrowest victory of the tournament, by 125-120 on points countback!
RESULTS: European Team Championship (Division 3), Marsa, Malta
Men's Final:
[1] UKRAINE bt [5] POLAND 4/0
Ruslan Sorochynskyi bt Wojciech Nowisz 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-5
Kostiantyn Rybalchenko bt Marcin Karwowski w/o
Denys Podvornyi bt Kamil Dominiak 11-7, 11-2, 11-2
Valeriy Fedoruk bt Konrad Tyma 11-8, 6-11, 11-5 ret.
3rd place play-off:
[7] NORWAY bt LUXEMBOURG 4/0
Kim Are Killingberg bt Sanjay Raval 11-6, 11-6, 11-3
Kristian Solhaug bt Niall Woodger 12-10, 11-8, 11-6
Ronny Aasbo bt Daniel Kaiser 11-6, 11-7, 11-4
Edvard Hegbom bt Daniel Hutchines 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-6
5th place play-off:
[3] CROATIA bt [2] GIBRALTAR 4/0
Manuel Fistonic bt Anthony Brindle 11-5, 11-8, 13-11
Robert Petrovic bt Christian Navas 11-7, 2-11, 11-7, 11-7
Srdan Maksimovic bt Stephen Shacaluga 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4
Ivan Dolovcak bt Colin Davis 11-5, 11-2, 11-7
7th place play-off:
[4] MALTA bt CYPRUS 4/0
Bradley Hindle bt Yiannis Eftychiou 11-2, 11-4, 11-1
Mark Lupi bt Andreas Tsouris 11-4, 12-10, 11-9
Carl Camilleri bt Nearchos Hadjimitsis 11-7, 11-2, 11-9
Nigel Dunkerley bt Sofoklis Panayides 11-4, 11-6, 11-5
9th place play-off:
[6] TURKEY bt LITHUANIA 2/2 (Turkey win 125-120 on points countback)
Huseyin Gumus lost to Mantas Kociunas 11-3, 8-11, 10-12, 4-11
Uzay Aysev lost to Martynas Pempe 10-12, 2-11, 3-11
Ergul Yilmazel bt Andrius Voisnis 11-9, 11-8, 11-13, 11-5
Burhan Atasoy bt Gediminas Saudargas 11-9, 11-5, 11-0
Women's event final positions:
1 DENMARK, 2 SWEDEN, 3 MALTA, 4 NORWAY, 5 GREECE, 6 CROATIA, 7 TURKEY
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