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European Nations Challenge
Cup 2008
18-20 Sep, Budapest |
Croats
celebrate in Budapest
Hi Everyone!
Sorry I can't write a detailed report for the Finals Day here in
Budapest.
I would just like to thank the different countries for coming, I
hope they enjoyed it and thank them for the positive remarks that
they told me about the event!
Thank you to ESF and especially Chris the Technical Director and Sue
Scott in the office, without them I could never been able to run
this event.
My congratulations to the new Champions, Croatia who came
through very well in the end, to turn around their defeat to Serbia
in the Pools.
Congratulations to the Hungarian Women for winning, they
proved to be the best on the court, but maybe should learn to be
better hosts off it! (yeah you can quote me on that!)
I wish good luck to the event in Poland, I hope they have more help
from their Association and National Players!
Best regards,
Tournament Director |
Tournament
Coverage by
MEN
WOMEN
(choose 'Tournament Structure' for detailed results)
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Men’s semi-finals:
SERBIA bt HUNGARY 2-1
Dennis Drenjovski bt Aron Balogh 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8
Ivan Djordjevic bt David Lukacs 11-9, 11-2, 11-3
Vladislav Farkas lost to Peter Hoffman 3-11, 4-11
CROATIA bt GIBRALTAR 3-0
Domagoj Spoljar bt Anthony Brindle 9-11, 11-3, 11-5, 5-11, 12-10
Robert Petrovic bt Carl Gomez 11-4, 11-5, 7-11, 6-11, 11-3
Marko Milek bt Nicholas de Haro 11-6, 11-8
Final:
CROATIA bt SERBIA 2-0
Domagoj Spoljar bt Dennis Drenjovski 11-7, 11-6, 11-9
Robert Petrovic bt Ivan Djordjevic 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9
Ozren Lapcevic v Goran Milicevic (dead rubber - match not played)
3rd place play-off:
HUNGARY bt GIBRALTAR 3-0
Aron Balogh bt Anthony Brindle 12-10, 11-6, 11-5
Peter Hoffman bt Carl Gomez 8-11, 11-6, 11-0, 11-0
Mate Vass bt Christian Navas 3-11, 11-8, 11-7
Women’s final:
HUNGARY bt POLAND 3-0
Zsuzsa Biro bt Anna Jurkun 11-0, 11-4, 11-6
Helga Kecse-Nagy bt Dominika Witkowska 11-4, 11-6, 11-4
Krisztina Szekely bt Anna Sikorska 11-7, 11-9 |
19-Sep, Day Two:
Day 2 – Pool Matches
Colin White reports
With most things decided in the Women’s, it was down to the Men to
provide the excitement and drama in the final round of the Pools.
Serbia looked comfortable in beating Croatia, or maybe the Croats
were saving themselves for the battle ahead - if true, then their
plan worked very well, but only just!
Some of the other countries were not so lucky with great battles
raging up and down the five courts in the Griff Club in Budapest.
First, Gibraltar got the better of the Manx Men to reach the
Quarters, with then Latvia squeezing out Russia. This meant
following Russia’s loss to the Senior Team in an epic yesterday,
they would fall out of the top eight.
The real battle, just to finish top of the group was between Ukraine
and Poland. With the Tie set at 1-1, the Number two Players played a
marathon 5 setter, including four tie breaks! In the end Rybalchenko
from Ukraine won 3-2.
Quarters and Semis
The Women’s Semis provided some good squash, but with Hungary and
Poland proving too strong for their opponents, Hungary Juniors and
Russia. The main talking point from the semis was the 16 year old,
Fatime Farkas, beating the Hungarian National Champion 3-0! Fatime,
who has a very intelligent game combined with a good hand, make her
a real threat for Hungary’s top women.
The Final will see Hungary play Poland, with the chance of a very
tight and entertaining match. The home team will have plenty of
support, but expect the Poles to give them a real run for their
money.
The Men’s Quarters saw Hungary and Serbia to come through and they
will face off in the semi, tomorrow morning. This will be very
interesting, it’s a real experience v youth match, with the Serbs
being slight favourite in some books, but only time will tell.
The other semi will be between two teams who caused a real upset of
the seeding, with both ties going to a decider and both final
matches going to a fifth game. In the end the two teams lining up in
the semi are Croatia, who beat Ukraine, with this time Rybalchenko
losing when 2-0 in the decider. The other is Gibraltar who squeezed
past Latvia, with Navas proving the hero, winning their decider 11-9
in the fifth!
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Tournament
Coverage by
MEN
WOMEN
(choose 'Tournament Structure' for detailed results)
Men's Pools
Women's Pools
Men's Playoffs
Women's Playoffs |
18-Sep, Day One:
Hungarian "no-hopers"
win on day one ...
Colin White reports
photos by Balint Szabo
The action started early at the Griff Squash Club, with a few hot
topics discussed at the Managers Meeting of the 6th ENCC.
With any new event, there comes “teething” problems and this event
is no exception. I think it has a strong place in the European
Calendar, but as the ESF Technical Director, Chris Stahl agrees, it
maybe needs a rethink on the rules of “Guest” and “Composite” Teams.
This was the main topic of concern, with Hungary, the hosts only
able to enter an Under 21 “Guest” Team in the Men’s because of their
European Ranking. Which means, they can compete, but not win the
event! On the other hand their Women can play their full team and
win, because of not having a European Ranking.
My main hope for the future of this event, is that some way is found
to combine the ENCC and the Small Nations Event, which is held for
countries with under a certain population - one million I think but
I could be corrected! I think if these two great events, could be
combined, they would make a very strong and enjoyable tournament,
which would help for the future of the event and squash in these
countries.
Down to business ...
Anyway, let’s get down to the main reason that everybody came, no
not the beer, but squash!
The ENCC for this year is using PAR to 11 for the first time, in
line with ESF and its one year trial on the scoring system. It was
felt beforehand that it might make some of the matches too quick,
but the first session saw some great squash and long matches.
Gibraltar and Hungary Men fought out a tough match, with Anthony
Brindle beating his Hungarian opponent in five very tough games.
Unfortunately this wasn’t enough to stop the home supporters
enjoying a 2-1 win, which they then repeated over the Isle of Man.
This will leave Gibraltar and the Manx Men to fight out for a place
in the Quarter-Final.
Even at this early stage we can see the “favourites” starting to
appear. In the Men’s we have the Hungarians joined by a very
experienced team from Serbia and I personally think that Latvia,
Ukraine, Croatia and Poland all have teams capable of winning this
event! Which is great, when you consider that at the ETC, it's
usually down to England or France.
In the Women’s event the Hungarians look strong and must be
considered favourites to claim the beautiful crystal trophy that
will be undefended because of the Maltese Women’s Team not entering.
The question is, can anybody stop the home women winning, with maybe
Poland having the best chance.
Well, more will be revealed tomorrow, as the groups come to a finish
and we get down to the real business in the Quarters and Semis.
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Hungary Seniors
Hungary Juniors
Gibraltar
Isle of Man
Serbia
Poland |
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2007, Latvia
2006, Poland
2005, Estonia |
ENCC heads to Buda
Tournament Director
Colin White reports
This event is in it 6th year, and was set up by the ex-President of
ESF Chris Stahl and the Promoter from Slovakia Rusty Koys.
The idea was to give developing squash countries the chance to
compete with similar levels, to help in the step up before the
European Team Championships.
This year the event will be played at the club where I work, Griff
Squash and Fitness in Budapest, with the players staying at the
attached Griff Hotel, which is situated in the heart of Buda.
The Organising Committee are looking forward to welcoming teams from
Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Latvia as well as
the hosts Hungary.
Because of the rules, Countries which finish in the Top 16 of the
ETC during the last 5 years can not enter their full senior team.
However the hosts Hungary, even though they can not enter their full
Men's team, they will enter their strongest Women and an Under 21
Men's "Guest" team.
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