The annual European U15/U17 teams took place in Eindhoven this week with England claiming a 13th successive double victory.
U15 Final : [1] England [6] 2-1 Ireland
Yusuf Sheikh 3-2 Dylan Moran 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9 (40m)
Jonah Bryant 0-3 Denis Gilevskiy 7-11, 7-11, 8-11 (31m)
Emma Bartley 3-0 Sophie Thomas 11-4, 11-4, 11-0 (12m)
U17 Final : [1] England 2-0 [3] France
Ben Smith 3-0 Baptiste Bouin 11-4, 11-5, 11-6 (27m)
Sam Todd 3-1 Paul Golzalez 11-2, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9 (41m)
Torrie Malik v Mae Asensi
U15 Final
England managed to reach the final and faced the surprise of the tournament, Ireland. The order of play was 2-1-3, which meant that Dylan Moran started against England number 2 Yusuf Sheik. Moran showed real strength and powerplay and took the lead 2-0. However Sheik fought back and got back to 2-2. In the fifth game Moran took the lead again with 8-4 up but Sheikh again recovered and managed to win 11-9 in the fifth, 1-0 for England.
Denis Gilevskiy equalized the match with his win over Jonah Bryant 3-0, so Emma Bartley and Sophie Thomas played the final match. Bartley was too strong and won 3-0 to give England the U15 title.
For place three it was home country the Netherlands who were too strong for Wales. Sam Gerrits took the lead with his 3-0 win over Joshua Davies. Rowan Damming then played against Daniel Lewis. He managed to win 3-1 and got Holland the third place.
U17 Final
After the Under 15 win the English had another final to play, this time they faced France. The English team won the European Under 19’s with a few players in the same team as the under 17, so started strong favourites. Ben Smith started off well and won in three games against Baptiste Bouin, Sam Todd then won in four from Paul Gonzales so the third wasn’t played as England had already claimed the U17 title..
For place three the Czech Republic played against Belgium. The Czechs took the lead as Karim Farrag won against Marat Benoit. Thimi Christiaens then surprised Marek Panacek, winninf from 1-2 down. Marie Amelie then played the decider against Eliska Jicisnka. She lost the first but recovered to take the following three games giving Belgium the 2-1 win.
U15 Final : [1] England v [6] Ireland | U17 Final : [1] England v [3] France
What happened on Day Three:
The third day of the European Junior U15/U17 Championships has come to an end. The quarter finals and semi finals are completed. Time to look back to the third day of the European Junior Championships. Which teams have managed to reach the finals, you will read it here.
Euro Championship Under 15
England was the first team to reach the final.
In the quarter final they faced Scotland. Only Kyle Penman managed to win a match from England. But it wasn’t enough to keep the English from the Semi finals.
In the Semi finals they played against the Netherlands who managed to win 2-1 from Spain. In the first game Rowan Damming almost surprised Jonah Bryant. Bryant was leading 2-0 but Damming fought back and came to 2-2. The final game went to Bryant 11-4. The other matches where for the English team.
England will play the final against Ireland. Ireland keeps on surprising, after their win over the Netherlands yesterday they won from the Czech Republic in the Quarters and Wales in the Semi finals.
Wales also surprised they had a very strong quarter final. After two matches they already decided the game against number 2 seed France. Now the Irish play England in the final. The Netherlands will play Wales for place number three.
The plate final will go between Ukraine and Switzerland. Both teams managed to win all their games today.
Euro Championship Under 17
In the Under 17 England again reached the final. They did not lose a single game in the quarter final against Switzerland and against Belgium in the semi final. Belgium managed to reach the semi finals over Spain. The number 6 seed Spain, Thimi and Marat pushed the Belgians to the top 4.
In the other semi final it went between the numbers 3 and 4 of the tournament. France faced the Czech Republic. France won from Germany and the Czech Republic from Hungary. In a exciting semi final it all game down to the final match between Maceo Levy and Karim Farrag. Farrag started well and took the first game but dint manage to push trough. Levy took over and won the following 3 games 3-1 to France. They will face England in the final. Belgium will play the Czech republic for place number three.
In the plate final the home country the Netherlands will play against Poland they will decide for place number 9.
