EUROPEAN SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: European Club Championships, Odense, Denmark

Men's semi-finals:
PADERBORN SC, Germany 4  ODENSE SC, Denmark 0 (Alex Gough bt Mikkel Korsbjerg 9-6 3-9 9-4; Tim Garner bt Michael Hansen 9-3 9-1 9-4; Stefan Leifels bt Anders Yeo 9-4 6-9 4-9 9-0 9-7; Edgar Schneider bt Mark Burmeister 9-4 9-1 9-3)
COLETS, England 3  BELGICA, Belgium 1  (Scott Handley bt Stefan Casteleyn 1-9 9-6 9-4 9-4; Mark Cairns lost to Jean-Michel Arcucci 4-9 7-9 9-5 2-2 ret; Danny Meddings bt Fabian Kalaitzis 2-9 9-6 9-7 9-0; Clive Ewing bt Gilles Roger 9-0 2-9 9-2 9-1)

Final:
PADERBORN SC 2  COLETS 2 [Paderborn win 8/6 on games countback] (Peter Nicol bt Scott Handley 9-4 9-0 9-0; Tim Garner bt Mark Cairns 9-3 9-1 9-4; Stefan Leifels lost to Danny Meddings 3-9 4-9 3-9; Edgar Schneider lost to Chris Clare 10-8 5-9 10-8 4-9 5-9)

Third place play-off:
ODENSE SC 2  BELGICA 2 [Belgica win 78/71 on points countback] (Mikkel Korsbjerg bt Stefan Casteleyn 9-4 9-4 9-3; Michael Hansen lost to Jean-Michel Arcucci 7-9, default; Anders Yeo bt Fabian Kalaitzis 9-7 9-5 9-1; Mark Burmeister lost to Gilles Roger 1-9 5-9 4-9)

Women's final:
PONTEFRACT SC, England 2  ISC COURT-WIESEL, Germany 1 (Sarah Fitz-Gerald bt Linda Charman 9-5 1-9 9-2 0-9 9-1; Janie Thacker lost to Cassie Jackman 0-9 0-9; Rebecca Botwright bt Simone Korell 9-5 9-0 9-2)

Third place play-off:
ODENSE, Denmark 3  INDOOR SPORTSCENTER, Belgium 0  (Ellen Hamborg bt Katline Cauwels 7-9 9-3 4-9 9-6; Line Hansen bt Michou Cauwels 3-9 10-8 9-2; Bonnie Barr bt Ankie Nedee 9-0 9-1 9-4)

Paderborn & Pontefract In Revenge European Club Championships Wins

Paderborn of Germany and Pontefract from England celebrated victories in the men's and women's European Club Championships in Odense, Denmark, to make up for disappointments in 2002.

Paderborn claimed a narrow victory over England's Colets club after world No1 Peter Nicol and fellow Englishman Tim Garner secured straight games wins over the English club's Scott Handley and Mark Cairns, respectively.

Though the tie was level 2-2 in matches, the squad's fourth string Edgar Schneider's two games in his 3/2 defeat by Colets' Chris Clare gave the German club victory by an 8/6 games countback margin.  Paderborn, also with Nicol and Garner, lost out in last year's semi-finals.

Pontefract's women's team returned to the European Championships' final with the same line-up which saw them finish as runners-up in 2002.  This time Australia's record five-times world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald clinched a 2/1 victory for the Yorkshire club over Germany's ISC Court-Wiesel with a 9-5 1-9 9-2 0-9 9-1 victory over England's world No4 Linda Charman.

It was a courageous win for former world No1 Fitz-Gerald who is still unbeaten since August 2001 despite having retired from the world circuit at the beginning of this year.