Finals Day:
Top seeds Scotland proved the seeding committee to be
spot on (as usual) by defeating Italy 2-0 in the women’s final.
In the men’s final Portugal upset the seedings by beating
Italy. All four finalists should be commended for putting their
faith in young and promising players.
We look forward to see how these teams will fair in Division 2
next year.
The matches for the Bronze medals were both long and hard
fought. In the women’s Finland took the Bronze by beating Latvia
2-1 while in the men’s Jersey beat Luxembourg 3-1
In the final play off matches for positions 5-8 Ukraine beat
Luxembourg and Israel beat Romania in the women’s and in the men
Greece beat Malta on game difference and Gibraltar defeated the
Isle of man
Fri 22nd, Day THREE:
Final Pool matches
The morning sessions saw the conclusion of the men’s and women’s
pool matches.
In women’s Pool A Scotland beat Luxembourg 3-0 and Latvia
beat Romania 3-0 meaning that Scotland won the pool and
Latvia finished second. Both progress to the semi-finals.
Luxembourg and Romania will enter the play off for positions
5-8.
In the other Pool Italy and Finland battled for
top spot. In an exciting and skillful encounter Italy won 2-1.
Both proceed to the semi finals where Italy will play Latvia and
Finland will play Scotland. In the other match Ukraine beat
Israel 2-1 and both will now compete with Luxembourg and Romania
in the battle for places 5-8.
Having already qualified for the semi-finals Jersey
fielded a weakened side against Italy in the men’s Pool A
decider. Italy won 4-0 and therefore won the pool. In the other
match in this pool Greece beat Gibraltar 3-1 and both will now
play in the competition for positions 5-8.
In the other pool Portugal beat Malta 4-0 so winning the
pool. Malta had to wait for the completion of the last match in
the pool between Luxembourg and Isle of Man where
Luxembourg achieved their goal of winning all 4 matches and only
conceded 2 games to pip Malta for the last semi-final spot. The
losers of both those matches will now join Greece and Gibraltar
in the competition for places 5-8.
Now it’s the semis!
Men's Semis:
Italy 4-0 Luxembourg Portugal 3-1 Jersey
Women's Semis:
Scotland 3-0 Finland Italy 2-1 Latvia
Ladies first in the semi finals where matches went with
seeding and a very young Scotland beat an equally young Finland
by 3 games to nil. In the other semi final the more experienced
Italian side beat Latvia 2-1.
We now await an exciting final between the two top seeds
Scotland and Italy while Finland and Latvia will do battle for
the Bronze medal.
In the battle for the lower positions Ukraine beat Romania and
Luxembourg beat Israel. The battle for positions 5-8 continue
tomorrow.
In the women’s wooden spoon match Belarus beat Gibraltar who
were two teams making their debuts in ETC 3.
The men’s tournament favourites Italy beat the surprise
semi-finalists Luxembourg in the first men’s semi-final and in a
close encounter in the second match Portugal beat Jersey in a
hard fought and skilful match.
This means the top two seeded teams have reached the final which
promises to be a very close affair tomorrow afternoon. While the
two tournament overachievers Jersey and Luxembourg will contest
for the Bronze medal.
Malta beat Gibraltar and Greece beat Isle of Man in the
competition for positions 5-8. As with the women the battle for
these positions continue tomorrow.
The wooden spoon match between the hosts Romania and Belarus was
a keenly fought affair in front of a large partisan and
vociferous crowd. Romania battled hard and it looked on a number
of occasions that they could get the win they so desperately
wanted. Unfortunately, they just fell short at the wrong times
and were eventually defeated by Belarus.
Thu 21st, Day Two:
Semi-Finalists are almost decided ...
In the morning mens’s session the tournament minnows
Gibraltar and Jersey met with the latter wining 4-0. Meanwhile
the host’s men’s team were left still waiting for their first
win as they lost 4-0 to Italy.
In the morning women’s session there were 3-0 wins for Finland,
Italy and Scotland against Belarus, Israel and Gibraltar
respectively. At the same time the Romanian women gained
bragging rights over the men by recording their first match win,
however, this didn’t prevent them losing 2-1 to Luxembourg.
The afternoon session saw Portugal beating Belarus 4-0 and Malta
drawing 2-2 with Luxembourg in the men’s Pool B. in the other
pool the hosts men’s team emulated the women by taking their
first match against Gibraltar before finally losing 3-1 whilst
Jersey beat Greece by the same score.
In the women’s competition the Romanians improved upon there
earlier match win by recorded their first ever tie win at ETC by
beating Gibraltar 3-0. In the same pool A Latvia beat Luxembourg
3-0 and in pool B beat Belarus 2-1 and in a very closely
contested match Italy overcame Ukraine 3-0.
In the final men’s matches in pool B Luxembourg beat Belarus 4-0
and Malta beat the Isle of Man 4-0.
With one more round of matches to be played on Friday morning
the standing in the pools is now becoming clear.
In men’s Pool A both Jersey and Italy have qualified for the
semi-finals. They will battle for top spot in the morning while
Gibraltar will do battle with Greece for 3rd and 4th positions.
Unfortunately, the hosts, Romania have completed all their
matches and have no points so will compete for the wooden spoon
in the knock out rounds.
Pool B is more closely contested with Portugal having qualified
they can be joined by either Luxembourg or Malta in the semi
finals. Either Isle of Man or Belarus could finish last in the
pool.
In women’s Pool A Scotland have qualified for the semi finals
and could be joined by either Luxembourg or Latvia with Romania
likely to finish 4th and Gibraltar in last position.
In women’s Pool B Italy and Finland have qualified for the semi
finals and will play for top position tomorrow. While Israel and
Ukraine will take the next two positions as Belarus have
finished all their matches but gained no points and finish last.
Wed 20th, Day ONE:
Hosts tumble to defeat by Jersey
Day 1 at the Infinity Arena started with
Romania’s men taking on Jersey. Unfortunately, fairy tales don’t
happen and the hosts tumbled to a 0:4 defeat. At the same time
tournament favourites Italy comfortably overcame Greece by the
same score.
 In the women’s event top-seeds Scotland narrowly beat Latvia 2-1
whilst there were 3-0 wins for Luxembourg against Gibraltar,
Finland against Ukraine and Italy against Belarus.
The third session of the day featured the men’s Pool B matches
where 2nd seed Portugal easily overcame the Isle of Man 4-0 and
last year's bronze medalist Malta beat Belarus.
The afternoon session in Pool A resulted in 4-0 wins for Italy
against Gibraltar and Greece against Romania. In Pool B Portugal
beat Luxembourg 4-0 whereas newcomers Belarus achieved a
credible draw against the Isle of Man.
The second session in the women’s event went according to the
seeding with 3-0 wins for Latvia, Scotland, Finland and Ukraine.
First ESF Event for Romania
Romania will be hosting its first-ever ESF Event when 20
teams gather next week in Bucharest for the European
Team Champs Division Three.
Squash is growing fast in Romania, which only became an ESF-member
in 2014. All matches will be played at the Infinity Sport
Arena, a brand new club in the Romanian Capital featuring 5
glass-back courts.
Teams are evenly spread between the women’s and the men’s event,
there 2 pools of 5 teams each for the group stage.
 |
European
Team Champs 2016 - Division Three
