England Reclaim European Junior Title

In a tense final of the European Junior U19 Team Championships in Brussels, top seeds England beat No2 seeds France 2/1 to reclaim the title they lost to Germany for the first time in 20 years last year.

Joe Lee, the 17-year-old from Walton-on-Thames in Surrey who was runner-up in the earlier individual event, faced France's Gregoire Marche in the opening rubber. Marche had lost to Lee in the individual quarter-finals, in straight games - but the 17-year-old from Aix-en-Provence fully tested the Englishman in the team opener, fighting back from 0/2 down to force a fifth game decider.

Lee, however, stuck to his task, and after 89 minutes secured a crucial 10-8, 9-7, 3-9, 6-9, 9-1 win which put the favourites ahead.

In the second match, France's 17-year-old Camille Serme, from Creteil, displayed the talents which took her to her second successive individual women's title only days before when she beat Victoria Lust, from Maulden in Bedfordshire, 9-1, 9-8, 9-3 in 36 minutes to level the tie.

There were wide smiles in the England camp when Adrian Waller, the British Junior champion from Enfield who failed to make the individual final as expected, made amends in the most decisive manner when he beat Frenchman Lucas Vauzelle 9-4, 9-1, 9-3 in 36 minutes to clinch the title for England.

In the play-off for third place, fourth seeds Netherlands beat defending champions Germany, the third seeds, 2/1.

Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] FRANCE 2-1
Joe Lee bt Gregoire Marche 10-8, 9-7, 3-9, 6-9, 9-1 (89m)
Victoria Lust lost to Camille Serme 1-9, 8-9, 3-9 (36m)
Adrian Waller bt Lucas Vauzelle 9-4, 9-1, 9-3 (36m)

3rd place play-off:
[4] NETHERLANDS bt [3] GERMANY 2-1
Sander Kock bt Norman Junge 9-0, 9-0, 9-3 (31m)
Milou van der Heijden bt Sina Wall 5-9, 9-6, 1-9, 9-7, 9-0 (41m)
Charles Veerkamp lost to Florian Silbernagl 6-9, 0-9 (27m)

5th place play-off:
[7] WALES bt [8] DENMARK 3-0
Alistair Mutch bt Kristian Frost Olesen 9-1, 9-0, 9-1 (19m)
Natalie Pritchard bt Sally Skarrenborg 9-1, 9-4, 9-6 (28m)
Hywel Robinson bt Philip Tran 9-3, 9-7 (22m)

7th place play-off:
[6] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [5] SWITZERLAND 2-1
Petr Martin lost to Nicolas Mueller 4-9, 5-9, 1-9 (36m)
Lucie Fialova bt Agapi Kazamia 9-5, 8-10, 9-2, 9-5 (36m)
Jakub Kosinka bt Reiko Peter 9-6, 3-9, 9-5, 9-1 (47m)

9th place play-off:
[9] FINLAND bt [12] SPAIN 3-0
Henrik Mustonen bt Pedro Espeleta 9-2, 9-6, 9-4
Laura Aalto-Setala bt Carla Fernandez Vazquez 10-8, 4-9, 9-3, 10-9
Pyry Poikolainen bt Diego Lopez 9-5, 9-5, 9-1

11th place play-off:
[11] SCOTLAND bt [10] BELGIUM 3-0
Lyall Paterson bt Mats Raemen 9-6, 9-4, 9-5 (31m)
Lisa Aitken bt Toke Vanwesemael 9-0, 9-0, 9-2 (26m)
Garry McKay bt Arnaud Dedecker 5-9, 9-2, 9-4 (39m)

13th place play-off:
[13] ISRAEL bt [14] IRELAND 2-1
Ido Avron bt Gordon Harpur 9-0, 7-9, 5-9, 9-1, 9-3 (31m)
Mor Berkovsky bt Sarah McCracken 8-10, 10-9, 9-6, 4-9, 9-5 (39m)
Nir Zisman lost to Sean Caheny 7-9, 10-8, 9-10, 6-9 (39m)

15th place: [15] SWEDEN