28-Mar-05:
'Incredibly Happy' England
Win European Junior Title
England are European championships for the 21st year in a row after
beating Germany in the final of the European Junior U19 Team Squash
Championships in Sweden.
 "We're
incredibly happy," said team manager Mike Harris after the
England squad comprehensively despatched second seeds Germany 3/0 at
the Bellevuestadion in Malmo to come through the tournament without
dropping a single match.
"The players were completely relaxed, but utterly focussed,
throughout this campaign - and it's been a long haul, some ten days
or so - so they are now looking forward to celebrating, and
deservedly so," added Harris. "Three of the squad - James Wright,
Tom Richards and Jenna Gates - have now played for the
last time as juniors, so this was their moment of glory."
After beating seventh seeds Netherlands in the quarter-finals, then
hosts Sweden in the semi-finals, the top-seeded English team looked
forward to facing old rivals Germany in the final for the seventh
time since 1988.
The battle opened with a clash between the teams' number ones - a
repeat of the earlier individual final between Chris Simpson,
the 17-year-old England captain from Brighton in Sussex, and
Germany's Simon Rosner.
 Rosner
put up a brave fight - particularly after surviving a two-hour
marathon semi-final against the French No1 Mathieu Castagnet less
than 24 hours earlier! A focussed Simpson, however, beat Rosner 9-4
9-3 9-6 to repeat his victory in the individual final - and put
England into the lead.
 England
No2 James Wright, the 18-year-old from Leicester who was rested for
the semi-finals, clinched the title for the favourites with a
comprehensive 9-4 9-1 9-6 dismissal of Jens Schoor.
Despite the already assured victory, Jenna Gates, the 18-year-old
from Brighton who was runner-up in the women's individual
competition, made sure of a clean sheet by beating Germany's Pamela
Hathway 9-0 9-3 - winning the first game in a single hand! |
England's route
to
the European title:
Qualifying rounds (Pool A):
[1] ENGLAND bt [9] SCOTLAND 3-0
(James Wright bt Jamie Macaulay 9-4, 9-2, 9-0; Tom Richards bt
Graham Melvin 9-1, 9-2, 9-0; Jenna Gates bt Joanna Morgan 8-10, 9-5,
9-0, 9-0)
[1] ENGLAND bt [8] CZECH REPUBLIC 3-0
(Chris Simpson bt Ondrej Ertl 9-5, 9-3, 9-6; Tom Richards bt
Jaroslav Cech 10-8, 9-3, 9-6; Rachel Willmott bt Lucie Fialova 9-5,
5-9, 9-2, 9-3)
[1] ENGLAND bt [17] ISRAEL 3-0
(James Wright bt Ido Avron 9-4, 9-1, 9-1; Tom Richards bt Ariel
Lewis 9-3, 9-0, 9-0; Rachel Willmott bt Rachel Montifiore 9-0, 9-0,
9-0)
[1] ENGLAND bt [16] HUNGARY 3-0
(Chris Simpson bt Kristof Hackel 9-1, 9-0, 9-2; James Wright bt
Dvid Lukacs 9-3, 9-0, 9-2; Jenna Gates bt Fanni Gyori 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
Quarter-finals:
[1] ENGLAND bt [7] NETHERLANDS 3-0
(Chris Simpson bt Bastiaan Meulenbelt 9-1, 9-5, 9-2; James
Wright bt Sander Kock 9-3, 9-0, 9-1; Rachel Willmott bt Esther
Jongerden 9-1, 9-0)
Semi-finals:
[1] ENGLAND bt [5] SWEDEN 3-0
(Chris Simpson bt Gustav Detter 9-2, 9-3, 9-0; Tom Richards bt
Sebastian Victor 9-6, 9-1, 9-3; Jenna Gates bt Anna Detter 9-4, 9-1)
Final:
[1] ENGLAND bt [2] GERMANY 3-0
(Chris Simpson bt Simon Rosner 9-4, 9-3, 9-6; James Wright bt
Jens Schoor 9-4, 9-1, 9-6; Jenna Gates bt Pamela Hathway 9-0, 9-3)
Chris Simpson |
