England Reclaim European U15 & U17 Titles In Hungary

After slipping to surprise defeats in the two events last year, England reclaimed both titles in the European Junior U15/U17 Team Championships after powerful campaigns in the two European Squash Federation tournaments in Szeged, the fourth biggest city in Hungary.

Top seeds in both events, England swept through to the finals without dropping any matches. In the U15 championship, England brushed aside hosts Hungary, the tenth seeds, in the quarter-finals before avenging their loss to last year's champions Germany in the semi-finals, beating the fifth seeds 3/0.

In the other semi, Wales pulled off a surprise victory over second seeds France to reach the final for the first time. And Welsh opener Tesni Evans recovered from 1/2 down to beat England's Sophie Lemom 9-5, 3-9, 3-9, 9-6, 9-5 to give a jolt to the favourites.

But James Earles, the 14-year-old from Hull in East Yorkshire in his second successive appearance in the event, made up for the disappointment of losing in last year's final by beating Sam Fenwick 9-1, 9-2, 9-0.

Team-mate Nicholas Hopcroft, also 14, from Surrey, clinched the title for his country when he beat Welshman Sam Huxtable 9-7, 9-2, 9-1 in the decider.

In the U17 event, the strong England squad again gained revenge over 2006 champions Germany in the semi-finals, the 3/0 victory over the fourth seeds taking the top seeds into a final against second seeds France.

Kimberley Hay, a 15-year-old from Newcastle-upon-Tyne who was in the U15 squad last year, put England into the lead with a 9-1, 9-3, 5-9, 10-9 win over France's Faustine Gilles. Alex Ingham, the 16-year-old from Weybridge in Surrey who is the reigning Irish Junior U19 Open champion, assured victory for England when he beat Lucas Vauzelle 9-1, 9-1, 9-4.

In the best-of-three dead rubber which followed, Manchester's Morgan Hibberd made it a maximum-points win by beating Antoine D'Auzac 6-9, 9-7, 10-9.

"We're delighted to have regained the titles we lost last year," England Coach David Campion told www.squashsite.co.uk "Having won back the U19 title earlier this year, we're now back in the position of holding all three.

"In particular it was a great achievement for the U17s to go through the whole competition without dropping a match. The teams have performed really well, they've been so professional in their attitude on and off court and we're very proud of them."

In addition to Wales marking their best-ever finish in the U15 championship, hosts Hungary also recorded their best achievement, ending in sixth position, while event newcomers Turkey finished 16th. In the U17 event, France equalled their runners-up finish in 2002, while sixth seeds Denmark ended a best-ever fourth, and Scotland and Finland also repeated highest finishes of sixth and seventh, respectively.

U15 final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [3] WALES 2-1
Sophie Lemom lost to Tesni Evans 5-9, 9-3, 9-3, 6-9, 5-9
James Earles bt Sam Fenwick 9-1, 9-2, 9-0
Nicholas Hopcroft bt Sam Huxtable 9-7, 9-2, 9-1
3rd place play-off:
[5] GERMANY bt [2] FRANCE 2-1
Stefania Rosner bt Helena Muzy Cohen 9-6, 9-7, 8-10, 9-5
Raphael Zach lost to Arthur Moineau 6-9, 7-9, 9-7, 8-10
Silvan Kux bt Alexandre Cogno 9-0, 9-2, 6-9, 1-9, 9-1
5th place play-off:
[9] BELGIUM bt [10] HUNGARY 2-1
Lieselot Arien lost to Fatima Farkas 5-9, 6-9, 4-9
Tom de Mulder bt Ramon Gubi 9-4, 9-5, 9-4
Laurens Mostmann bt Benedek Sebok 9-4, 9-0, 9-2
7th place play-off:
[4] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [11] SPAIN 3-0
Katerina Strakova bt Ana Arosa 9-5, 9-1, 9-5
Daniel Mekbib bt Hugo Varela 9-7, 9-4, 3-9, 9-2
Dan Kolinsky bt Eric Zabalbeascoa 9-1, 9-0
9th place play-off:
SCOTLAND bt SWITZERLAND 2-1
Morgan McGuire bt Suelli Banziger 9-6, 9-3, 9-10, 9-2
Douglas Kempsell lost to Nicola Schuler 0-9, 4-9, 5-9
David Jones bt Joel Merlo 9-2, 9-1, 9-5
11th place play-off:
FINLAND bt SWEDEN 2-1
Kristina Mustonen lost to Jenny Lindstrom 2-9, 0-9, 0-9
Joonas Honkanen bt Filip Lagmo 9-6, 9-10, 9-1, 9-4
Tatu Knuutila bt Viktor Olsson 9-6, 9-4, 9-1
13th place play-off:
NETHERLANDS bt IRELAND 2-1
Marissa Lagerweij bt Catherine Abernethy 9-4, 9-5, 9-1
Guido Ploem lost to Briany Dunbar 9-4, 9-6, 4-9, 0-9, 2-9
Richard Schrader bt Daniel Harkin 4-9, 9-1, 9-4, 2-9, 9-7
15th place play-off:
AUSTRIA bt TURKEY 3-0
Sabrina Rehman bt Espa Gokalp 9-0, 9-0, 9-1
Daniel Nagel bt Fikri Civelek 9-1, 9-2, 9-0
Manuel Kurzwell bt Yusuf Yildiz 9-1, 9-0, 9-1

U17 Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] FRANCE 3-0
Kimberley Hay bt Faustine Gilles 9-1, 9-3, 5-9, 10-9
Alex Ingham bt Lucas Vauzelle 9-1, 9-1, 9-4
Morgan Hibberd bt Antoine D'Auzac 6-9, 9-7, 10-9
3rd place play-off:
[4] GERMANY bt [6] DENMARK 3-0
Lisa Marie Sedimeier bt Bine M Lind 9-7, 9-5, 9-2
Raphael Kandra bt Casper Grauballe 9-5, 9-0, 9-1
Rudi Rohrmueller bt Lau Ulrik Kiehn 9-3, 9-3
5th place play-off:
[7] BELGIUM bt [8] SCOTLAND 2-1
Toke Vanwesemael bt Robyn Hodgson 9-4, 9-6, 9-2
Sam van Brusselen bt Ian Jubb 9-3, 9-4, 9-2
Alexis Broka lost to Christopher Ferguson 9-5, 0-9, 1-9
7th place play-off:
[11] FINLAND bt [5] NETHERLANDS 2-1
Katarina Kauppi lost to Anne Jorgerden 1-9, 5-9, 1-9
Henrik Mustonen bt Rick Penders 9-3, 9-3, 9-2
Ville Hiltunen bt Tim van der Pluijm 9-1, 9-0, 9-5
9th place play-off:
WALES bt SWITZERLAND 2-1
Abby Hicks lost to Agapi Kazamia 2-9, 2-9, 4-9
Hywel Robinson bt David Gloor 10-8, 9-4, 9-1
David Haley bt Lukas Burkhart 2-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-6
11th place play-off:
CZECH REPUBLIC bt HUNGARY 2-1
Anna Klimondova bt Andrea Balazs 9-3, 9-3, 9-7
Roman Svec bt Mate Vass 9-7, 9-0, 9-0
Zbyvek Standera lost to Peter Hoffman 7-9, 9-5, 6-9
13th place play-off:
SLOVAKIA bt SPAIN 3-0
Andrea Malinova bt Sara Esperon 9-3, 9-3, 9-0
Miroslav Celler bt Fausto Gomez 4-9, 9-0, 3-9, 10-8, 9-0
Jan Koman bt Roger Lopez 9-6, 9-3
15th place play-off:
SWEDEN bt IRELAND 2-1
Eira Mooney bt Niamh O'Hare 9-2, 9-3, 9-3
Truls Olterman lost to Colm Dolan 1-9, 3-9, 9-10
Gustav Runersjo bt Thomas Dunbar 9-1, 9-2, 9-2
17th place play-off:
ISRAEL bt AUSTRIA 2-1
Stav Cohen-Adiv bt Sandra Polak 9-2, 9-6, 8-10, 9-6
Guy Rutraf bt Marcus Greslehner 5-9, 0-9, 9-3, 10-8, 9-4
Oz Glazer lost to Martin Schober 9-6, 7-9, 4-9