Germany Win First European Junior Title

Favourites Germany avenged last year's final defeat to beat title-holders England 3/0 in the final of the European Junior U19 Team Championships in Langnau, Switzerland, to not only win the crown for the first time, but also end England's 20-year grip on the title.

It was a notable and long-awaited triumph for Germany, who had reached the final seven times since 1988, only to lose to England each time!

Squad No2 Jens Schoor made a strong start for the top seeds, beating England's second string Chris Tasker-Grindley 9-2, 9-3, 9-2. It was a morale-boosting victory for the 18-year-old from Koblenz who was seeded to reach the European Junior individual final, but crashed out at the last sixteen stage.

The next match was a repeat of the individual final, in which Germany's Simon Rosner beat the English No1 Joel Hinds in straight games. After the 18-year-old from Wurzburg took the opening game, Hinds delighted the England camp when he fought back to draw level. But the Derbyshire teenager was unable to extend his run as Rosner regained control of the match to win 9-2, 4-9, 9-0, 9-5 to clinch an historic win for his country.

In the dead rubber that followed, England's Rachel Willmott was unable to produce the magic that saw her beat Pamela Hathway in the semi-finals of the women's individual competition. Inspired by the achievements of her team-mates, the German 18-year-old wrapped up a 9-3, 9-4 best-of-three-games win to give the new champions maximum points.

Netherlands, the third seeds, beat sixth seeds France 2/1 in the third-place play-off - and in the play-off for fifth place, Czech Republic beat hosts Switzerland 2/1as both countries claimed their best finishes in the event since 2002.

Final:
[1] GERMANY bt [2] ENGLAND 3-0
Jens Schoor bt Chris Tasker-Grindley 9-2, 9-3, 9-2
Simon Rosner bt Joel Hinds 9-2, 4-9, 9-0, 9-5
Pamela Hathway bt Rachel Willmott 9-3, 9-4

3rd place play-off:
[3] NETHERLANDS bt [6] FRANCE 2-1
Sander Kock bt Florent Pontiere 9-1, 9-4, 9-2
Tom Hoevenaars bt Gregoire Marche 9-2, 9-0, 9-5
Melissa Meulenbelt lost to Camille Serme 0-9, 8-10

5th place play-off:
[4] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [5] SWITZERLAND 2-1
Lukas Jelinek bt Reiko Peter 4-9, 9-3, 9-0, 7-9, 9-5
Ondrej Ertl lost to Nicolas Mueller 2-9, 2-9, 0-9
Lucie Fialova bt Jasmin Ballman 5-9, 9-7, 9-2, 9-1

7th place play-off:
[7] SPAIN bt [8] WALES 2-1
Eduardo Gonzalez bt Jonathan Davies 9-1, 9-3, 9-4
Pedro Espeleta lost to Ben Hardwidge 2-9, 3-9, 3-9
Chantal Moros-Pitarch bt Gemma Davies 4-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-5

9th place play-off:
[10] SCOTLAND bt [12] IRELAND 2-1
Lyall Paterson bt Chris O'Kane 6-9, 10-8, 9-6, 8-10, 9-5
Greg McArthur bt Rory Byrne 9-5, 9-0, 9-1
Zoe Neilson lost to Ciara Moloney 7-9, 1-9

11th place play-off:
[11] DENMARK bt [9] BELGIUM 2-1
Thomas Harding Pilak bt Sam van Brusselen 5-9, 9-3, 7-9, 9-2, 9-4
Kristian Frost Olesen bt Giel Kreemers 9-3, 9-2, 9-5
Sally Skarrenborg lost to Toke Vanwesemael 9-7, 6-9, 7-9

13th place play-off:
[14] FINLAND bt [13] SWEDEN 2-1
Roni Berg lost to Pontus Olsson 3-9, 3-9, 4-9
Henrik Mustonen bt Ahmed Abdel Aziz 9-0, 9-2, 9-5
Saara Valtola bt Lovisa Forstadius 9-7, 9-3, 9-3

15th place play-off:
[16] ISRAEL bt [15] HUNGARY 3-0
Ariel Lewis bt Aron Balogh 4-9, 4-9, 9-0, 9-5, 9-4
Ido Avron bt David Lukacs 9-7, 8-10, 9-1, 9-0
Mor Berkovsky bt Fanni Gyori 6-9, 10-8, 9-3