Champions March On In Stavanger

Newly-crowned European Junior squash champions Camille Serme and Gregoire Marche led favourites France to a comfortable victory over ninth seeds Denmark in the first qualifying round of the European Junior U19 Team Championships on the opening day of action in the European Squash Federation event in the Norwegian city of Stavanger.

France will now face Scotland, the No8 seeds, in the final qualifying tie before the event moves into the knockout stage. In the other Pool A clash, Scotland prevailed 2/1 in a close battle with Denmark.

Seconds seeds England were also untroubled in their two opening qualifying bouts in Pool B. The title-holders beat both Netherlands and hosts Norway 3/0 - and now look forward to taking on Belgium in the final qualifying round.

Netherlands, the No10 seeds, caused the only upset on day one by beating seventh seeds Belgium 2/1. Tim van der Pluijm was the Dutch hero, recovering from two games down to beat Alexis Broka 1-9, 3-9, 9-0, 9-4, 9-6 in the decider.

Qualifying rounds - Pool A:
[1] FRANCE bt [9] DENMARK 3-0
Camille Serme bt Anna Sophie Ornfeldt 9-0, 9-3, 9-1
Gregoire Marche bt Casper Grauballe 9-0, 9-0, 9-5
Antoine Camille Petrucci bt Lau Ulrik Kiehn 9-6, 9-0, 9-0

[8] SCOTLAND bt [9] DENMARK 2-1
Lisa Aitken bt Sally Skarrenborg 9-1, 9-1, 9-1
Lyall Paterson lost to Casper Grauballe 9-5, 9-3, 6-9, 7-9, 2-9
Christopher Ferguson bt Philip Tran 9-1, 9-1, 9-0

Pool B:
[2] ENGLAND bt [10] NETHERLANDS 3-0
Victoria Lust bt Melissa Meulenbelt 9-7, 10-8, 9-0
Joe Lee bt Rick Penders 9-1, 9-1, 9-0
Neil Cordell bt Tim van der Pluijm 9-0, 9-0, 9-1

[7] BELGIUM bt [15] NORWAY 3-0
Toke van Wesemael bt Amanda Aakeson 9-0, 9-0, 9-0
Sam van Brusselen bt Simon Nordstat 9-1, 9-1, 9-1
Alexis Broka bt Kjeil Fjellgard 9-0, 9-1, 9-0

[2] ENGLAND bt [15] NORWAY 3-0
Kimberley Hay bt Amanda Aakeson 9-1, 9-0, 9-0
Adrian Waller bt Simon Nordstat 9-0, 9-1, 9-3
Neil Cordell bt Kjeil Fjellgard 9-0, 9-0, 9-1

[10] NETHERLANDS bt [7] BELGIUM 2-1
Milou van der Heijden bt Toke van Wesemael 9-5, 9-1, 9-6
Rick Penders lost to Sam van Brusselen 1-9, 1-9, 9-10
Tim van der Pluijm bt Alexis Broka 1-9, 3-9, 9-0, 9-4, 9-6

Pool C:
[3] SWITZERLAND bt [11] FINLAND 3-0
Agapi Kazamia bt Nina Saari 9-2, 9-0, 9-0
Nicolas Mueller bt Henrik Mustonen 9-3, 9-4, 10-8
Reiko Peter bt Ville Hiltunen 9-3, 9-4, 9-6

[6] WALES bt [14] IRELAND 3-0
Tesni Evans bt Sarah Corcoran 9-0, 9-5, 9-1
Hywel Robinson bt Neil Martin 9-1, 9-0, 10-8
David Haley bt Colm Dolan 4-9, 9-3, 4-9, 10-8, 2-1 ret.

[6] WALES bt [11] FINLAND 2-1
Natalie Pritchard bt Tia Knuutila 9-1, 9-2, 9-7
Hywel Robinson lost to Henrik Mustonen 3-9, 4-9, 1-9
David Haley bt Ville Hiltunen 5-9, 9-5, 10-8, 9-3

[3] SWITZERLAND bt [14] IRELAND 3-0
Agapi Kazamia bt Cheryl Ennis 9-2, 9-0, 9-0
Reiko Peter bt Neil Martin 9-4, 9-4, 9-3
Lukas Burkhart bt David Tighe 9-2, 9-0, 9-3

Pool D:
[4] GERMANY bt [12] SPAIN 3-0
Sina Wall bt Carla Fernandez Vazquez 9-1, 9-1, 9-1
Florian Silbernagl bt Carlos Cornes Ribadas 9-1, 9-0, 9-4
Carsten Schoor bt Daniel Pascual Martinez 9-2, 9-0, 9-2

[5] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [13] SWEDEN 3-0
Anna Klimondova bt Eira Mooney 9-6, 9-1, 9-2
Petr Martin bt Christoffer Ohlsson 9-6, 9-3, 9-6
Daniel Mekbib bt Johan Detter 9-3, 10-8, 10-9

[4] GERMANY bt [13] SWEDEN 3-0
Astrid Kern bt Matilda Ravn-Holm 9-1, 9-0, 9-0
Florian Silbernagl bt Christoffer Ohlsson 9-0, 9-1, 9-5
Raphael Kandra bt Mans Asp 9-0, 9-0, 9-2

[5] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [12] SPAIN 3-0
Klara Janoskova bt Ana Arosa Rodriguez 9-4, 9-1, 9-5
Petr Martin bt Carlos Cornes Ribadas 9-1, 9-4, 9-2
Roman Svec bt Daniel Pascual Martinez 9-3, 9-5, 9-3