The third tier of European Team Squash is taking place in Bucharest from 17th to 20th April.
Day FOUR : Finals Day
Matches fit for a finals day at the European Championship, as Italy and Ireland come out on top.
Ireland again delivered a very strong performance, winning the final without dropping a set. Italy fought hard against Sweden to finish in 3rd, with their first match being decided in five sets, just under one hour of game time.
Following the win, Ken Flynn, the Irish team’s coach told us that considering they already played Ukraine in the groups stages, for his players it was all about following the game plan, controlling the emotions and the opponent and looking for the opportunities.
The mens’ final took 3-hours to be decided, with Italy besting Romania by two sets overall, and offered a rollercoaster of emotions for the roaring home crowd as Romania entered the 4th game 2-1. In the end, the last match finished 3-0 and Italy clenched top spot.
It was an intense day across all other matches, as Lichtenstein edged Croatia for the third spot, 2-1, with a first match surpassing the one hour mark. Meanwhile, Jersey finished on 5th, besting Slovenia by a mere 9-points count.
Congratulations to all teams as well as a big thank you to all partners, referees and volunteers for making this possible!
Day THREE : Quarters and Semis
We saw some exciting matches on day 3, as emotions ran high and teams cheered loudly at Infinity Sport in Bucharest.
In the Womens’ Teams track, after producing a surprising victory against Austria in the quarter finals, with Anastasiia Krykun managing to win over Kristina Begeba for the first time in a long line of matches in recent years, Ukraine also managed to upset Italy in the semifinals. In the second game, Milena Velychko edged Monica Menegozzi in a big five-set match that was decided 11-9. At the same time, Ireland reaches the finals after a commanding win 2-0 over Sweden, as they showed a really great form throughout the tournament so far.
We have a premier in the Mens’ category, as Romania defeats 3-1 Croatia in the semifinal, in a tight overall game, to the loud home crowds, to reach its first ever Division 3 final, and for the first ever promotion in the Division 2 for next season.
After both reaching comfortably the semifinals, Liechtenstein and Italy battled in the other semi-final match. With a very young team and players which were in Bucharest only last month in the European Juniors Championship, Italy managed to edge Liechtenstein 3-1.
Day TWO :
With the group stages decided, all teams fought hard today in the quarterfinals in Day 2, for those top spots.
In the Women’s groups stages, Ireland won Pool A, with Ukraine second, while Austria had a commanding performance, finishing Pool B without dropping a set, to be followed by Malta. In Pool C, Sweden also wins all of its matches, dropping just one set along the way, and Greece managing second spot. In Pool D, Italy finishes first, while Croatia, with a close win over Bulgaria, finishes in second place in the group.
When it came to the quarterfinals, in the evening session, Sweden and Ireland delivered strong performances in the top half of the draw, leaving us with an exciting semi-final, today at 5pm local time. In the lower half of the draw, we saw really close battles, all matches ending 2-1, Italy surpassing Greece, and Ukraine winning in the last moments against Austria, for the two winners to face each other in today’s afternoon session.
In the Mens, the action in the group stages saw a tight draw between Liechtenstein and Croatia (2-2) as both teams are among the favorites to the title.
Overall, the top 8 finishers were Romania and Greece (Pool A), Italy and Slovenia (Group B), Croatia and Liechtenstein (Group C), Jersey and Turkey (Group D). In the afternoon session, the quarter finals revealed the semifinalists, with most teams winning 4-0.
Thus, today Romania plays Croatia and Liechtenstein takes on Italy in what we expect to be some tough matches, starting 11.30 AM local time.
Day ONE : We had an eventful first day here in Bucharest, full of action, as the championship is underway.
Men’s Pools
A : Romania, Greece, Gibraltar
B : Italy, Slovakia, Guernsey
C : Croatia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Monaco
D : Jersey, Turkiye, Luxembourg, Bulgaria
Women’s Pools :
A : Ukraine, Ireland, Luxembourg
B : Malta, Austria, Jersey
C : Sweden, Greece, Turkiye, Gibraltar
D : Italy, Coratia, Bulgaria, Isle of Man
Top two in each pool progress to the quarter-finals, with the finalists promoted to next year’s Division Two.
