England Reign In Spain

England successfully retained their titles in the European U15 & U17 Junior Team Squash Championships in Spain - beating second seeds Czech Republic 3/0 in the U15 final, and overcoming surprise opponents Scotland 2/0 in the U17 climax of the European Squash Federation event in Girona.

Emily Whitlock, the 15-year-old from Cheshire who was in last year's winning U15 squad, led England to success in the U17 final with an 11-9, 11-1, 11-5 win over Scotland's Mhairi Charlton. Team-mate James Earles, 16, from Hull, clinched the title when he beat Greg Lobban 11-1, 11-7, 12-10 - leaving the final 'dead' rubber un-played.

However, reaching the final was a notable achievement for Scotland, the ninth seeds who upset second seeds France and third seeds Wales en-route to the climax - and recorded their best success since 6th place in 2007!

Portugal marked their maiden appearance in the event by winning the play-off for 13th place.

Top seeds England were equally dominant in the U15 final, which they also reached without dropping a game. It was 14-year-old Victoria Temple-Murray who led the way with an 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 win over Czech Kristina Alexova. Team-mate Oliver Holland, the British U15 National champion from Nottinghamshire, put the result beyond the Czech opponents' reach after beating Martin Svec 11-4, 11-4, 12-10.

Lancashire's Matthew Sidaway gave England maximum points after an 11-4, 11-6 victory over Jan Ryba.

Spain, the 11th seeds, celebrated their best-ever finish event - taking fourth place after losing to third seeds Wales in the third-place play-off.

U17 Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [9] SCOTLAND 2-0
Emily Whitlock bt Mhairi Charlton 11-9, 11-1, 11-5
James Earles bt Greg Lobban 11-1, 11-7, 12-10
Nathan Lake v Douglas Kempsell (dead rubber - match not played)

3rd place play-off:
[3] WALES bt [4] BELGIUM 3-0
Tesni Evans bt Nathalie Philipsen 8-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-8
Sam Huxtable bt Tom de Mulder 11-8, 12-10, 11-3
Nyall Driscoll bt Laurens Mostmans 11-8, 11-6, 11-8

5th place play-off: [2] FRANCE bt [6] GERMANY 2-0
7th place play-off: [7] NETHERLANDS bt [5] CZECH REPUBLIC 2-1
9th place play-off: [11] HUNGARY bt [8] SWITZERLAND 2-1
11th place play-off: [12] FINLAND bt [10] SPAIN 2-1
13th place play-off: [18] PORTUGAL bt [17] ITALY 2-1
15th place play-off: [13] DENMARK bt [14] SWEDEN 2-0
17th place play-off: [15] IRELAND bt [16] ISRAEL 2-1

U15 Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] CZECH REPUBLIC 3-0
Victoria Temple-Murray bt Kristina Alexova 11-3, 11-7, 11-5
Oliver Holland bt Martin Svec 11-4, 11-4, 12-10
Matthew Sidaway bt Jan Ryba 11-4, 11-6

3rd place play-off:
[3] WALES bt [11] SPAIN 2-0
Fiona Murphy bt Ana Arosa Rodriguez 8-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5
Jordan Davies bt Pascal Gomez 8-11, 11-9, 12-14, 11-7, 11-9

5th place play-off: [9] GERMANY bt [7] BELGIUM 2-1
7th place play-off: [5] HUNGARY bt [13] FINLAND 2-1
9th place play-off: [6] ISRAEL bt [12] SCOTLAND 2-1
11th place play-off: [10] SWITZERLAND bt [15] IRELAND 3-0
13th place play-off: [14] DENMARK bt [8] NETHERLANDS 2-1
15th place: [17] ITALY; 16th place: [4] FRANCE; 17th place: [16] SWEDEN