EUROPEAN SQUASH NEWS

Netherlands & England Book Semis Doubles In Amsterdam

Favourites England and hosts Netherlands claimed places in the semi-finals of both the men's and women's events in the European Team Championships for the third successive year after victories in Thursday's final qualifying ties at the Frans Otten Stadion in Amsterdam.

In the men's event, defending champions England swept to their third successive 4/0 triumph in the event - beating fifth seeds Ireland without dropping a game to finish at the top of the Pool A in the Premier Division.  Netherlands, the fourth seeds, finished in second place in the Pool after a 3/1 victory over eighth seeds Finland - the hosts' No1 Tommy Berden going down in five games to flying Finn Olli Tuominen, the world No21 from Helsinki.

Second seeds France, runners-up to England for the past five years, also claimed their third 4/0 win in a row in Pool B when they despatched sixth seeds Spain to set up a semi-final against the hosts.  National champion Alex Gough made his first appearance for third seeds Wales - and led his country to a 4/0 victory over Germany, the seventh seeds, to ensure runners-up position in the pool.

Wales will celebrate their ninth successive appearance in the semi-finals by meeting British rivals England.

In the first year of the promotion/relegation play-offs, the lower-placed teams in the top two pools - Finland, Ireland, Germany and Spain - will fight to maintain their places in the Premier Division in ties against the winners of Pools C, D, E & F - Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and Scotland, respectively.

England and Netherlands appear to be heading for their third successive meeting in the women's final after winning the Premier Division Pools A & B, respectively.  But there were surprises in the runners-up positions in the two pools after eighth seeds Scotland upset fourth seeds Belgium 2/1 to finish in second place in Pool A, and seventh seeds Ireland brushed aside France, the third seeds, 3/0 in Pool B to earn a place in the semi-finals for the first time since 1994.

Title-holders England will meet Ireland while Netherlands will face Scotland.

Men's semi-finals: 
    [1] England v [3] Wales; [2] France v [4] Netherlands
Men's promotion/relegation group: 
    [8] Finland v [11] Sweden; [9] Denmark v [6] Spain; [12] Scotland v [5] Ireland; [7] Germany v [10] Switzerland
Men's 1st Division semi-finals:
    [13] Belgium v [16] Czech Republic; [19] Hungary v [15] Israel
Men's 2nd Division semi-finals:
    [17] Italy v [21] Ukraine; [18] Greece v [14] Austria
Women's semi-finals: 
    [1] England v [7] Ireland; [2] Netherlands v [8] Scotland
Women's promotion/relegation group: 
    [5] Germany bye; [10] Switzerland v [6] Denmark; [4] Belgium v [9] Spain; [3] France bye
Women's 11th - 14th place play-offs:
    [14] Czech Republic v [12] Italy; [13] Finland v [11] Austria


Official website: www.etcsquash2005.com/