Ukraine & Malta Share European Nations Cup Spoils

Ukraine and Malta emerged triumphant in the European Nations Challenge Cup at Squash Park in Poznan, Poland, after victories over Cyprus in both the men's and women's finals, respectively, in the European Squash Federation event in its seventh year.

Unseeded in the men's competition, Cyprus made their breakthrough in the semi-finals where they beat 3/4 seeds Gibraltar.

And the outsiders looked likely to cause the ultimate upset in the final against Ukraine when Panos Hadjiphilippou beat Kostyantyn Rybalchenko in the second match of the tie to draw level with the second seeds.

It was then ten-all in the opening game of the decider when Cypriot Nasos Karasavvas suffered an injury and had to concede the match to Ukrainian stalwart Dmytro Scherbakov - thus handing the title to Ukraine for the first time.

The women's final saw the top two seeded teams clash - with favourites Malta claiming the trophy for the second time in three years after a convincing 3/0 win over second seeds Cyprus.

Men's Final:
[2] UKRAINE bt CYPRUS 2/1
Rusian Sorochynskvi bt Marios Yiannou 11-5, 11-5, 11-8
Kostyantyn Rybalchenko lost to Panos Hadjiphilippou 5-11, 8-11, 11-4, 3-11
Dmytro Scherbakov bt Nasos Karasavvas 10-10 ret.

Women's Final:
[1] MALTA bt [2] CYPRUS 3/0
Johanna Rizzo bt Antonia Aristodemou 11-5, 11-6, 11-7
Annabelle Olivieri Monroe bt Vaso Karasava 11-7, 11-5, 11-5
Colette Sultana bt Christina Vrahimi 11-7, 13-11