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It's Paderborn and Pontefract
Andy Holland reports
And all of a sudden, the last day was upon us. Would we be playing
the Finals on the Glass court? Is it still dripping? If only I had a
pound for every time I heard that today!!
Unfortunately we had to move the Women’s final inside, but
fortunately we had plenty of seating to accommodate the Ponte fans.
Vanessa Atkinson and Isabelle Stoehr were the first up. A match that
many believed would be the decider in the tie, proved to be quite
one sided. Vanessa had not really performed to the best of her
ability till now, but produced a great display when her team needed
it most, with a 3-0 win putting the English girls 1 up.
With a win from Annelize Naude the French ladies could put
themselves back in the match. Lauren Siddall, fired up after
Vanessa’s win, had other ideas and at 2-2, the match looked as if it
could all be decided. Annelize however would not lie down and went
from 7-5 down to a take the fifth 11-8. Last on were Becky Botwright
and Sonja Pasteris of Italy. With the crowd behind her and some of
that free chocolate and a bite from Dave Peck’s sandwich, Becky
excited the crowd with a 3-0 win and another title for Pontefract.
By now it had warmed up, the sun came out, we opened the tent, the
court dried out and we got plenty of spectators for the men’s final
in. A relief after all the time, work and money invested!
Odense were the surprise finalists and Paderborn favourites. After 2
games up in the first match Tim Garner suddenly found himself 10-4
down in the third! As suddenly as Kim found himself up, he had an
attack of nerves, suddenly started finding the tin and lost the game
13-11. 3-0 for Tim and 1-0 for Paderborn
A packed tent was then treated to an emphatic display from Ong Beng
Hee in the second match. After being 10-6 down in the first game to
Azlan Iskandar he did not relinquish a point until he was 4-0 up in
the second! The flow continued with Bengy hitting everything and
pressurising Azlan to the limit, thus opening up a 2-0 lead for
Paderborn and leaving Oliver Post requiring just one game against
Michael Hansen for Paderborn to retain the title.
Post duly responded taking the first game 11-6 against Danish
veteran Michael Hansen giving the Germans their 5th European Club
title.
And so it ends and as I write this most of the players are preparing
for the party tonight in the centre of Linz, the Paderborn players
are (and here I quote Martin Wren) “in the bar singing for Germany”
and I think I might go and join them. Could be a long night!!
Cheers!!
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Women's Final:
Pontefract – Hermine 2:1
Vanessa Atkinson – Isabelle Stoehr
11-6 11-7 11-8
Lauren Siddall – Annelize Naude
12-10 6-11 6-11 12-10 8-11
Rebecca Botwright – Sonia Pasteris
11-6 11-7 11-7
3/4 Odense – Fitzwilliam 2:1
5/6 Mulhouse – SAS 2:1
7/8 Can Melich – Espoo 2:1
9/10 Winterthur – Indoor 2:0
Men's Final
Paderborn - Odense 4:0
Ong Beng Hee – Azlan Iskandar
12-10 11-6 11-6
Simon Roesner – Rasmus Nielsen
7-11 11-8 11-4
Tim Garner – Kim Poulsen
11-4 11-6 13-11
Oliver Post – Michael Hansen
11-6 11-9
3/4 Intersquash – Aberdeen 3:1
5/6 Colets – Fitzwilliam 4:0
7/8 Mikkeli – Can Melich 3:1
9/10 Wohlen – Rotterdam 3:1
11/12 Farao – Neudorf 4:0
13/14 Pueblo – Bratislava 3:1
15/16 Vaduz – Borderline 4:0
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Champions through
to the finals in Linz ...
Andy Holland reports
 Today
we have really been treated to some quality squash. There have been
long games, great games, some real humdingers and we finally managed
to get more play on the glass court, albeit after long discussion
with the teams!
There were some battles on court today and the SAS women from
Austria proved that they should have been up there contesting the
Semi finals, but due to a technicality within the rules, this was
not the case and they had to face favourites Pontefract. Emma
Beddoes started out with a great 3-2 victory against Vanessa
Atkinson putting SAS 1-0 up. After a good fight Lauren Siddall
emerged victorious 3-1 against Birgit Coufal and Kirsty McPhee also
got through 3-1 against Pamela Pancis giving Ponte a close win.
The men’s match for a place in the semis between Colets and Aberdeen
was, as predicted, a tight affair. Daryl Selby once again produced
the goods with a 3-1 win over Cameron Pilley and Simon Parke put
Aberdeen two up and out of reach, with victory over Scott Handley.
The women’s Semis themselves were pretty straight forward affairs
for Hermine and Ponte, winning against Odense and Fitzwilliam
respectively, although the Irish girls picked up a win at 2 on the
glass court from the one player who initially refused to play on it
due to the cold!!
Paderborn sent themselves through to the final, making Intersquash
of Sweden their next victims and their final opponents will be the
Danes of Odense, with Azlan Iskander at 1, who overcame the Scottish
team in another tight affair winning on countback.
So as the second day reaches its climax and we are looking forward
to the Finals tomorrow, we also discover that Irish women are not
too keen on the cold, that Yorkshire women are keen on free
chocolate and that Ong Beng Hee sleeps with his rackets and takes
them for breakfast!
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Day Two Results
Pool A
Fitzwilliam – Bratislava 4:0
Paderborn – Rotterdam 4:0
1. Paderborn
2. Fitzwilliam
3. Rotterdam
4. Bratislava
Pool B
Farao – Vaduz 4:0
Colets – Aberdeen 2:2
1. Aberdeen
2. Colets
3. Farao
4. Vaduz
Pool C
Odense – Pueblo 4:0
Wohlen – Mikkeli 2:2
1. Odense
2. Mikkeli
3. Wohlen
4. Pueblo Linz
Pool D
Can Melich – Borderline 4:0
Wr. Neudorf – Intersquash 1:3
1. Intersquash
2. Can Melich
3. Wr. Neudorf
4. Borderline
Men
Semifinals
Paderborn – Intersquash 4:0
Ong Beng Hee – Amr Mansi
11-7 11-3 12-10
Simon Rosner – Badr Aziz
11-9 11-5 11-6
Tim Garner – Heikki Kononen
11-8 11-7
Oliver Post – Ahmed Aziz
11-1 11-6
Aberdeen – Odense 0:4
Daryl Selby – Azlan Iskander
10-11 7-11 6-11
Simon Parke – Rasmus Nielsen
11-6 3-11 4-11 4-11
Alister Gorrie – Kim Poulsen
9-11 11-9 9-11 5-11
Kevin Milne – Michael Hansen
7-11 9-11
Men 5-8
Fitzwilliam – Can Melich 2:2 (9:5)
Colets – Mikkeli 4:0
Men 9-12
Farao – Wohlen 0:4
Rotterdam – Neudorf 4:0
Men 13-16
Vaduz – Pueblo 1:3
Bratislava – Borderline 4:0
Women playoff 1-6
Pontefract – SAS Vienna 2:1
Hermine – Mulhouse 2:1
Semifinals
Pontefract – Fitzwilliam 2:1
Vanessa Atkinson – Aisling Blake
12-10 11-6 11-5
Lauren Siddall – Laura Mylotte
11-1 7-11 6-11 11-4 6-11
Rebecca Botwright – Roisin Brennan 11-5 11-5 11-4
Odense – Hermine 0:3
Line Hansen -.Isabelle Stoehr
4-11 11-5 8-11 6-11
Anna Forstadius – Annelise Naude
7-11 6-11 5-11
Anne-Mette Pedersen – Sonia Pasteris 9-11 11-9 6-11
Women 7-10
Indoor – Espoo 0:3
Winterthur – Can Melich 0:3 |
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Favourites consolidate as glass court condensates on day one
Andy Holland reports
Well, the
weather remains the same and we were forced to improvise in the
morning as the Glass court walls were simply too slippery, making a
boast look like anything but what it should have been! And so we
moved inside to the warmth and dryness…for at least the first hour.
With the wetness outside and the club packed to the walls, the
courts inside took on the feeling of an Austrian wine cellar.
You could cool yourself down with the dampness from the walls!!!!!
Ironically, by this time the Glass court had dried up nicely, making
it the best court to play on! We turned the heating right up and
blew out the air conditioners as hard as possible and by early
afternoon the problems seem to have dried up….a little!
 As
for the Squash itself the favourites consolidated their seedings
with comfortable wins and the only real shock of the day being the
defeat of Colets' Scott Handley, at the hands of young Tomas Toth of
Slovakia playing for the Hungarian team Farao. That may have
repercussions for the English team who have to ensure that they win
tomorrow against a strong Aberdeen side, who boast Daryl Selby and
Simon Parke in their line-up, who won their first group matches 4-0.
 The
women’s event provided no surprises and as expected all the
favourites won their opening ties, although Pontefract came through
a 2-1 battle against French team Mulhouse, which got their
supporters really into the mood for the rest of the weekend.
And so the first day comes to an end. At least the Squash part of
it!
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Day One Results:
Men Pool A
Rotterdam – Bratislava 4:0
Paderborn – Fitzwilliam (IRL) 4:0
Rotterdam – Fitzwilliam 2:2
Paderborn – Bratislava 4:0
Men Pool B
Colets – Farao (HUN) 3:1
Aberdeen – Vaduz 4:0
Colets – Vaduz 3:1
Aberdeen – Farao 4:0
Men Pool C
Odense – Wohlen (SWI) 4:0
Pueblo (AUT) – Mikkeli (FIN) 1:3
Odense (DEN) – Mikkeli 3:1
Pueblo – Wohlen 1:3
Men Pool D
Neudorf (AUT) – Can Melich (ESP) 4:0
Intersquash (SWE) – Borderline (ITA) 4:0
Intersquash – Can Melich 2:2
Neudorf – Borderline 4:0
Women Pool A
Pontefract – Indoor (BEL) 3:0
Mulhouse (FRA) – Indoor 3:0
Pontefract – Mulhouse 2:1
1. Pontefract
2. Mulhouse
3. Indoor
Women Pool B
Hermine (FRA) – Can Melich 3:0
SAS Vienna – Can Melich 3:0
Hermine – SAS Vienna 2:1
1. Hermine
2. SAS Vienna
3. Can Melich
Women Pool C
Fitzwilliam (IRL) – Espoo (FIN) 2:1
Odense – Winterthur (SWI) 3:0
Fitzwilliam – Winterthur 3:0
Odense - Espoo 3:0
Official site from Linz |
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