England Reign Supreme In Europe

England Reign Supreme In Europe

England maintained their continental supremacy in squash today (Saturday) with victories in the men's and women's events in the European Team Championships at the Frans Otten Stadion in Amsterdam.

Whilst the men's was a straightforward affair - their sixth successive win over France in the final - the England women were taken to the wire by hosts Netherlands before securing a 2/1 victory and the title for the 28th year in a row.

Jenny Duncalf, the world No10 from Harrogate, put the defending champions into the lead with a 9-0 9-2 9-2 win over Dutch team newcomer Margriet Huisman.  To the delight of the jubilant local crowd, already in a celebratory mood in honour of Queen's Day, world champion Vanessa Atkinson brought the underdogs back into contention by beating England's top string Linda Elriani 9-2 10-8 9-6 - marking the British National champion from Sussex's first ever defeat in the tournament.

Just eight world ranking positions separated the two players In the decider - England's Vicky Botwright, the seventh-ranked England No2 from Manchester, and Annelize Naude, the world No15 from Amsterdam.

Botwright had two game balls before clinching the opening game, then sped to a two-game lead after Naude went into "panic mode" in the second, according to Dutch coach Ellie Pierce.  However, Naude mounted a mighty fightback in the third to reduce the deficit, but Botwright ultimately clinched the match, and the championship for England, 10-8 9-0 9-10 9-5 in 77 minutes.

"That was undoubtedly the most pressure I've ever been under," said the near-tearful England star afterwards.  "I was just thinking of all those years that England has won this title, and I didn't want to be the one to end that incredible run.  I definitely nearly cried when I won - it was such a relief," added 27-year-old Botwright.

England National Coach David Pearson was full of praise for Botwright:  "When you play for your country, things happen which don't happen when you're playing for yourself on the WISPA World Tour.  Vicky really showed her strength in that match - she showed she could do it."

Pearson's opposite number Ellie Pierce is confident that Netherlands success is not far away in this event:  "We are much more of a team than we've ever been before - and we're a young team too - and we will make it for sure sometime in the next three years.  Vanessa played fantastically, and Margriet put in a brave performance in her debut.  And, to Annelize's credit, she put in a Herculean effort to win her third game - but Vicky simply didn't make any mistakes!"

The men's finale was almost resolved after the first two matches when squad No4 James Willstrop and third string Nick Matthew swept to straight games wins over Frenchmen Laurent Elriani and Renan Lavigne, respectively.  When Yorkshireman Lee Beachill clinched the first game against world No1 Thierry Lincou - disappointingly, on a stroke - the title became beyond France's reach.

Beachill went on to overcome Lincou 9-4 7-9 9-4 in a 56-minute 'best-of-three' match and team-mate Peter Nicol beat Gregory Gaultier 9-4 4-9 10-8 in a 'dead rubber' which entertained the packed Frans Otten Station crowd as England strode to a 4/0 triumph - the 13th European men's title in a row, and England's 30th crown since the inaugural event in 1973.

Local organisers were delighted with the host nation's performance.  In addition to  finishing as runners-up in the women's competition for the third consecutive time, Netherlands beat third seeds Wales 3/1 to clinch third place in the men's event - their highest ever finish.

"We did as well as we could have hoped for in the event here - and can now look forward to carrying this success through to the Men's World Team Championships later this year," said Dutch men's team manager Peter Berden.

Fair Play awards were made by the European Squash Federation to Denmark's Ellen Petersen and Ukraine's Roman Dolynych.  The men's 1st Division final was won by Hungary, 4/0 winners over Czech Republic in the play-off for 13th place, while the women's 1st Division title was claimed by Austria, who also beat Czech Republic 2/1 in the 11th place play-off.
 

RESULTS: European Team Championships, Frans Otten Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Men's final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] FRANCE 4-0
Lee Beachill bt Thierry Lincou 9-4, 7-9, 9-4 (56m)
Peter Nicol bt Gregory Gaultier 9-4, 4-9, 10-8 (37m)
Nick Matthew bt Renan Lavigne 9-4, 9-3, 9-0 (48m)
James Willstrop bt Laurent Elriani 9-3, 9-2, 9-5 (51m)

    3rd place play-off:
[4] NETHERLANDS bt [3] WALES 3-1
Tommy Berden bt Alex Gough 9-6, 10-8, 9-2
Laurens Jan Anjema bt David Evans 5-9, 9-2, 5-9, 9-7, 9-4
Lucas Buit lost to Gavin Jones 9-10, 8-10, 8-10
Dylan Bennett bt Ricky Davies 9-5, 3-9, 9-6, 9-3

    5th place play-off:
[12] SCOTLAND bt [11] SWEDEN 4-0
John White bt Badr Abdel Aziz 9-10, 9-1, 9-7, 9-5
Martin Heath bt Christian Drakenberg 9-6, 9-1, 9-4
Stuart Crawford bt Joakim Karlsson 9-5, 9-2, 9-3
Harry Gordon Leitch bt Johan Jungling 3-9, 9-3, 8-10, 9-4, 9-3

    7th place play-off:
[7] GERMANY bt [6] SPAIN 3-1
Stefan Leifels lost to Borja Golan 8-10, 3-9, 9-5, 1-9
Simon Rosner bt Iago Cornes 9-3, 9-4, 9-4
Johannes Voit bt Constantino Casas 4-9, 5-9, 10-8, 9-2, 9-0
Oliver Post bt Albert Codina 9-7, 9-1, 9-2

    9th place play-off:
[8] FINLAND bt [5] IRELAND 3-1
Olli Tuominen bt Liam Kenny 10-8, 9-1, 0-9, 9-3
Matias Tuomi lost to Derek Ryan 6-9, 1-9, 0-9
Juha Raumolin bt Niall Rooney 9-6, 2-9, 6-9, 9-7, 9-0
Tatu Murronmaa bt Arthur Gaskin 9-2, 9-2, 9-2

    11th place play-off:
[9] DENMARK bt [10] SWITZERLAND 2-2 (Denmark win 8-6 on games countback)
Morten W Sorensen bt Marco Datwyler 9-3, 9-4, 9-2
Mads Korsbjerg lost to Andre Holderegger 0-9, 3-9, 2-9
Michael Frilund lost to Marcel Straub 2-9, 3-9, 9-3, 10-8, 9-10
Rene Jepsen bt Benjamin Fischer 9-4, 9-1, 9-0

    13th place play-off (Division 1 final):
[19] HUNGARY bt [16] CZECH REPUBLIC 4-0
Mark Krajcsak bt Jan Koukal 9-4, 9-6, 3-9, 5-9, 10-8
Andras Torok bt Martin Stepan 9-0, 9-0, 9-0
Sandor Fulop bt Milos Pokorny 9-4, 9-4, 9-7
Shakeel Khan bt Pavel Sladecek 9-6, 9-2, 9-6

    15th place play-off:
[13] BELGIUM bt [15] ISRAEL 4-0
Steve Dries bt Ilan Oren 9-3, 9-3, 10-9
Wim van Asten bt Dove Haruzi 9-0, 9-3, 9-2
Rik Smet bt Nadav Wilensky 9-4, 9-1, 7-9, 1-9, 9-2
Ben Vandezande bt Nir Arkin 9-0, 10-9, 9-3

    17th place play-off:
[14] AUSTRIA bt [17] ITALY 3-1
Andreas Fuchs bt Simone Rocca 9-7, 9-0, 8-10, 9-6
Gerhard Schedlbauer lost to Andrea Torricini 5-9, 6-9, 9-3, 5-9
Aqeel Rehman bt Giacomo Marotta 9-6, 10-9, 9-1
Andreas Freudensprung bt Paolo Buglioni 9-5, 9-4, 9-1

    19th place play-off:
[18] GREECE bt [21] UKRAINE 4-0
Fabian Kalaitzis bt Roman Dolynych 7-9, 9-5, 9-4, 10-8
Paul Gregory bt Dmytro Shcherbakov 9-3, 9-1, 9-5
Petros Tzamaloukas bt Oleksandr Molodukha 9-6, 9-4, 9-0
George Vafakos bt Ilya Onishko 7-9, 2-9, 9-0, 9-0, 9-4

    21st place:  [20] RUSSIA

    Women's final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] NETHERLANDS 2-1
Linda Elriani lost to Vanessa Atkinson 2-9, 8-10, 6-9 (40m)
Vicky Botwright bt Annelize Naude 10-8, 9-0, 9-10, 9-5 (77m)
Jenny Duncalf bt Margriet Huisman 9-0, 9-2, 9-2 (28m)

    3rd place play-off:
[7] IRELAND bt [8] SCOTLAND 3-0
Madeline Perry bt Pamela Nimmo 9-1, 9-3, 9-2
Aisling Blake bt Louise Philip 9-5, 9-2, 9-3
Laura Mylotte bt Frania Gillen-Buchert 9-7, 5-9, 9-5, 9-3

    5th place play-off:
[3] FRANCE bt [5] GERMANY 2-1
Isabelle Stoehr bt Karin Beriere 9-7, 9-6, 7-9, 9-3
Celia Allamargot lost to Kathrin Rohrmueller 3-9, 7-9
Laurence Bois bt Sandra Kruger 5-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-1

    7th place play-off:
[6] DENMARK bt [9] SPAIN 2-1
Ellen Petersen bt Olga Puigdemont Sola 10-8, 9-4, 9-4
Line Hansen bt Margaux Moros-Pitarch 9-2, 9-3, 9-7
Ditte Nielsen lost to Elisabet Sado 3-9, 1-9, 2-9

    9th place play-off:
[4] BELGIUM bt [10] SWITZERLAND 2-1
Charlie de Rycke bt Gaby Schmohl 9-2, 9-6, 9-1
Katline Cauwels lost to Olivia Hauser 7-9, 0-9
Michou Cauwels bt Gabi Hegi 9-7, 1-9, 10-8, 10-9

    11th place play-off (Division 1 final):
[11] AUSTRIA bt [14] CZECH REPUBLIC 2-1
Pamela Pancis lost to Jana Smeralova 7-9, 9-5, 2-9, 6-9
Birgit Coufal bt Olga Ertlova 9-3, 9-1, 10-8
Sissi Colli bt Lucie Fialova 9-0, 9-1, 9-4

    13th place play-off:
[13] FINLAND bt [12] ITALY 2-1
Elina Kononen lost to Manuela Manetta 2-9, 5-9, 2-9
Eevamaria Vuolo bt Evelyn Panizzi 9-1, 9-1, 9-2
Jutta Tuunanen bt Maria Lucia Cantarini 9-3, 9-1, 9-2

Official website: www.etcsquash2005.com/