England Celebrate European Double In Riccione

Already men's and women's champions of the world, England maintained its status as the leading squash nation in the region by retaining both titles in the European Team Championships in the Italian resort of Riccione in some style - beating Netherlands in both the men's and women's finals without dropping a single match.

Yorkshireman James Willstrop, the England number one ranked seven in the world, put the favourites ahead with a powerful 9-7, 9-6, 7-9, 9-5 victory over Dutchman Laurens Jan Anjema in 95 minutes - fittingly, the longest match of the tournament. Team-mates Adrian Grant, Lee Beachill and Nick Matthew wrapped up the comprehensive 4/0 victory without conceding further games to give England its 15th successive men's win.

Dutch disappointment was made up for the fact that the Netherlands squad was celebrating its first ever appearance in the final.

England faced second seeds Netherlands in the women's final for the fifth year in a row. But after Londoner Alison Waters beat Margriet Huisman 9-0, 9-4, 9-0 in just 25 minutes, England No1 Tania Bailey overpowered former world champion Vanessa Atkinson 9-2, 9-2, 9-2 to clinch the title for the top seeds. In the dead rubber, Vicky Botwright beat Annelize Naude 9-0, 10-8 to deny the Dutch a consolation point.

The triumph marked England's 30th title in a row - extending the nation's remarkable unbeaten run in the history of the tournament.

Notable achievements in the men's event include Wales finishing in fourth place behind France, thereby maintaining a presence in the top four since 1997; Germany recording their best finish since 2002, in 5th place; hosts Italy completing the championship in 13th position to mark its best finish since 2002; and Latvia and Croatia marking their debuts in the event with impressive 23rd and 25th place finishes.

In the women's event, Denmark ended in the top three for the first time since 2001; Ireland marked its return to the top eight (at No5) after last year's surprise exit; Switzerland recorded its best finish (sixth place) since 2001; hosts Italy equalled its best ever finish in the tournament of 10th place; and newcomers Russia completed the event in 18th place.

Men's Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [4] NETHERLANDS 4-0
James Willstrop bt Laurens Jan Anjema 9-7, 9-6, 7-9, 9-5 (95m)
Adrian Grant bt Tom Hoevenaars 9-3, 9-0, 9-1 (36m)
Lee Beachill bt Dylan Bennett 9-1, 9-1 (22m)
Nick Matthew bt Lucas Buit 9-0, 9-2, 9-3 (34m)

3rd place play-off:
[2] FRANCE bt [3] WALES 3-1
Renan Lavigne lost to Alex Gough 4-9, 3-9, 7-9 (75m)
Romain Tenant bt Jethro Binns 9-3, 9-6, 9-2 (43m)
Julien Balbo bt Ricky Davies 9-7, 9-6, 9-1 (75m)
Jean-Michel Arcucci bt Rob Sutherland 9-3, 9-7, 9-5 (52m)

5th place play-off:
[6] GERMANY bt [5] IRELAND 3-1
Simon Rosner lost to Liam Kenny 4-9, 10-8, 4-9, 7-9 (71m)
Tim Weber bt Steve Richardson 10-8, 9-7, 1-9, 9-6 (74m)
Patrick Gaessler bt Arthur Gaskin 9-5, 9-3, 8-10, 9-2 (71m)
Stefan Leifels bt Derek Ryan 2-9, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4 (45m)

7th place play-off:
[9] SWEDEN bt [8] SCOTLAND 3-1
Badr Abdel Aziz bt Harry Leitch 9-3, 9-4, 9-5 (48m)
Sebastian Victor bt Graham Melvin 5-9, 0-9, 9-5, 9-2, 9-1 (71m)
Gustav Detter lost to Stuart Crawford 5-9, 3-9, 4-9 (46m)
Christian Drakenberg bt Alan Clyne 9-7, 9-7, 9-0 (53m)

9th place play-off:
[10] DENMARK bt [11] SWITZERLAND 3-1
Morten W Sorensen bt Andre Holderegger 9-3, 9-5, 9-2 (28m)
Kasper Gross Jeppesen bt Marcel Straub 8-10, 10-8, 9-1, 9-0 (47m)
Michael Frilund lost to John Williams 3-9, 3-9, 3-9 (35m)
Rasmus Nielsen bt Nicolas Mueller 9-7, 2-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-2 (52m)

11th place play-off:
[7] SPAIN bt [12] FINLAND 2-2 (Spain win 8-6 on games countback)
Borja Golan bt Olli Tuominen 9-6, 9-4, 9-3 (60m)
Arturo Santo Tomas lost to Heikki Kononen 3-9, 9-4, 3-9, 1-9 (44m)
Bruno Vega lost to Henrik Mustonen 9-7, 8-10, 4-9, 9-10 (60m)
David Vidal bt Matias Tuomi 9-7, 9-1, 9-1 (44m)

13th place play-off:
[18] ITALY bt [15] AUSTRIA 3-1
Simone Rocca lost to Aqeel Rehman 5-9, 1-9, 1-9 (29m)
Matteo Vaccari bt Stefan Brauneis 9-6, 10-9, 1-9, 9-4 (77m)
Andrea Torricini bt Andreas Freudensprung 2-9, 5-9, 9-6, 9-2, 9-2 (93m)
Andrea Capella bt Jakob Dirnberger 9-3, 9-1, 9-6 (40m)

15th place play-off:
[14] HUNGARY bt [13] BELGIUM 2-2 (Hungary win 8-6 on games countback)
Mark Krajcsak bt Wim van Asten 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 (24m)
Daniel Cseffalvay lost to Bart Verhoeven 9-3, 5-9, 1-9, 1-9 (36m)
Marton Szaboky lost to Mats Raemen 9-10, 6-9, 9-5, 7-9 (60m)
Sandor Fulop bt Gregory Lecerf 9-1, 9-4, 9-2 (46m)

17th place play-off:
[17] ISRAEL bt [16] CZECH REPUBLIC 3-1
Ilan Oren bt Pavel Sladecek 9-1, 9-1, 9-4 (23m)
Nadav Tannen bt Jan Lempart 9-2, 9-1, 9-2 (39m)
Art Gitelband lost to Jaroslav Cech 4-9, 3-9, 1-9 (27m)
Nadav Wilensky bt Lukas Jelinek 9-5, 4-9, 9-3, 9-3 (40m)

19th place play-off:
[19] SLOVAKIA bt [20] UKRAINE 2-2 (Slovakia win 10-8 on games countback)
Marek Manik lost to Dmytro Shcherbakov 4-9, 5-9, 10-8, 9-5, 1-9 (57m)
Martin Kostolansky lost to Artem Shandybin 9-1, 0-9, 5-9, 9-5, 9-10 (62m)
Robert Dobai bt Oleksandr Molodukha 9-0, 9-1, 9-3 (25m)
Marek Zvoncek bt Roman Dolynych 9-7, 3-9, 5-9, 9-5, 9-5 (73m)

21st place play-off:
NORWAY bt GREECE 3-1
Hans-Olav Torgersen lost to Fabian Kalaitzis 3-9, 3-9, 6-9 (32m)
Rashid Younis bt Konstantinos Kargiotis 9-6, 9-2, 8-9, 9-6 (48m)
Patrick Hansen bt George Vafakos 9-3, 9-4, 9-7 (26m)
Kristian Solhave bt Petros Tzamaloukas 9-7, 7-9, 8-9, 9-7, 9-7 (52m)

23rd place play-off:
LATVIA bt [21] GIBRALTAR 3-1
Alexander Pavulans bt Anthony Brindle 9-4, 9-5, 9-3 (37m)
Kaspars Purgailis bt Mark Tewkesbury 9-4, 9-2, 5-9, 1-9, 9-5 (71m)
Gunars Prizevoits lost to Christian Navas 5-9, 3-9, 6-9 (56m)
Arnis Tihvinskis bt Stephen Shacaluga 9-0, 9-2, 9-4 (36m)

25th - 28th place play-offs:
[22] RUSSIA bt [23] ISLE OF MAN 3-1
Alexei Severinov bt David Norman 7-9, 9-3, 9-4, 9-4 (60m)
Sergey Kostrikin bt David Hedley 9-4, 9-2, 9-3 (27m)
Viacheslav Perfiliev lost to Kevin Watterson 10-8, 5-9, 4-9, 3-9 (50m)
Roman Fetisov bt Robert Smith 9-6, 9-1, 9-3 (22m)

Final placings: 25th CROATIA, 26th RUSSIA, 27th ISLE OF MAN

Women's Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] NETHERLANDS 3-0
Alison Waters bt Margriet Huisman 9-0, 9-4, 9-0 (25m)
Tania Bailey bt Vanessa Atkinson 9-2, 9-2, 9-2 (34m)
Vicky Botwright bt Annelize Naude 9-0, 10-8 (19m)

3rd place play-off:
[5] DENMARK bt [3] GERMANY 2-1
Marie-Louise Feddern lost to Carola Weiss 4-9, 0-9, 4-9 (26m)
Line Hansen bt Kathrin Rohrmueller 9-7, 9-1, 10-9 (37m)
Ellen Petersen bt Katharina Witt 9-2, 9-6, 9-1 (30m)

5th place play-off:
[10] IRELAND bt [7] SWITZERLAND 3-0
Laura Mylotte bt Sara Guebey 7-9, 9-0, 9-0, 8-6 (32m)
Madeline Perry bt Gaby Schmohl 9-1, 9-5, 9-1 (41m)
Aisling Blake bt Olivia Hauser 9-10, 9-6, 9-4 (48m)

7th place play-off:
[4] FRANCE bt [8] SPAIN 3-0
Maud Duplomb bt Stela Carbonell 9-0, 9-0, 9-7 (28m)
Camille Serme bt Alicia Alvarez Riaza 9-2, 9-1, 9-1 (35m)
Soraya Renai bt Laura Alonso Perez 9-6, 9-2 (20m)

9th place play-off:
[9] WALES bt [11] ITALY 2-1
Natalie Pritchard bt Veronica Favero Camp 6-9, 9-0, 9-0, 9-2 (34m)
Karen Leach bt Manuela Manetta 7-9, 9-2, 7-9, 9-4, 9-6 (65m)
Jenny Wright lost to Sonia Pasteris 0-9, 5-9 (21m)

11th place play-off:
[13] BELGIUM bt [6] CZECH REPUBLIC 3-0
Kim Hannes-Teunen bt Veronica Koukalova 9-2, 9-3, 9-4 (23m)
Charlie de Rycke bt Zuzana Vackova 9-6, 5-9, 9-2, 9-2 (41m)
Annabel Romedenne bt Jana Smeralova 9-6, 9-4 (18m)

13th place play-off:
[14] AUSTRIA bt [15] FINLAND 2-1
Bettina Greslehner lost to Saara Valtola 9-1, 9-2, 1-9, 8-10, 6-9 (45m)
Pamela Pancis bt Jutta Tuunanen 9-7, 4-9, 9-5, 9-0 (26m)
Birgit Coufal bt Elina Kononen 6-9, 9-2, 9-5, 9-5 (43m)

15th place play-off:
[17] SLOVAKIA bt [12] SCOTLAND 2-1
Henrieta Loksova bt Lisa McKenna 9-5, 9-2, 6-9, 0-9, 10-8 (55m)
Aneta Paprnakova lost to Frania Gillen-Buchert 5-9, 0-9, 0-9 (21m)
Linda Hruzikova bt Lisa Aitken 9-5, 9-6, 9-3 (44m)

17th place play-off:
[16] NORWAY bt RUSSIA 2-1
Maren Myhre bt Alina Tuzlukova 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 (19m)
Lotte Eriksen bt Ekatarina Glinchikova 9-0, 9-0, 9-2 (20m)
Nina Martinsen lost to Irina Assal 6-9, 9-7, 7-9 (45m)