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TODAY in Espoo ... Wed 27th,
Day ONE |
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Photo Gallery |
Great day for Finns in Espoo
Steve Cubbins in Finland
It was an eventful opening day in Espoo for the 2011 European
Team Championships.
Highlights of the day were a hat-trick of victories for the
Finnish hosts (two for the men, one for the women), a bruising
men's encounter between Netherlands and Germany, a fine win for
Italy over perennial semi-finalists Wales, and a controversial
ending as the men's division two teams jostled for quarter-final
positions.
Here's the roundup, session by session ...
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10.00 M2A
Spain 4-0 Slovakia
M2B Finland
4-0
Ukraine
M2C Ireland
4-0
Austria
12.30 M1B
Netherlands 3-1 Germany
M1B France
4-0
Scotland
W2 Switzerland
3-0 Belgium
15.00 W2 Wales
1-2 Finland
W1B France
2-1
Scotland
M2A Hungary
2*-2
Slovakia
M2B Belgium
4-0
Ukraine
M2C Denmark
4-0
Austria |
17.30 M1A Wales
0-4 Italy
M1A England
3-0 Czech
Republic
W1A Netherlands
3-0
Spain
W1A Ireland
2-1 Germany
W1B England
3-0 Italy
W2
Czech Rep 2-1 Austria
20.00 M2A
Spain 3-1 Hungary
M2B Finland
4-0
Belgium
M2C Ireland 2-2*
Denmark
M2D Sweden 2-2* Switzerland
Results
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1: Four-Nils to start
 Finland
opened their bid for promotion to the top division with a
comprehensive 4-0 win over Ukraine without dropping a game,
Spain, also one of the favourites for promotion, eased past
Slovakia by a similar scoreline (although they did drop a game).
Ireland also won 4-0, but Austria gave them a good run
for their money, and veteran campaigner Derek Ryan had to
come from 9-3 down in the fifth to beat Jakob Dirnberger in the
final match to ensure the Irish got maximum points.
2: French beat Scotland,
Bennett battles through for the Dutch
Two tough battles to begin the Men's Premier Division ...
 Second
seeds France won 4-0 against Scotland, but at the top
string Alan Clyne gave Gregory Gaultier a good test, Greg
winning 11/5, 12/10, 2/11, 11/7, and Harry Leitch took the first
game off Julien Balbo before the Frenchman asserted to win 6/11,
11/1, 11/1, 11/2. Yann Perrin and Mathieu Castagnet both
prevailed 3/0 in lengthy encounters against Chris Small and
Stuart Crawford.
In pool A Netherlands beat Germany 3-1, but for a long
time it looked as though the Germans would at least get the
better of a 2-2 draw. Raphael Kandra gave Germany a good start
with a 3/0 win over Sebastiaan Weening before LJ Anjema levelled
the match with a tough 3/1 win over Simon Rosner.
Piedro Schweertman put the Dutch 2-1 up with a 3/1 win over Rudi
Rohrmueller and it all came down to Dylan Bennett against Jens
Schoor.
 The
first two games were shared, but it was clear in the third that
there was no love lost between the pair, and the match became
increasingly fractious and at times physical. Schoor took a 2-1
lead, and had match balls at 10/8 but Bennett levelled.
Schoor again had his chances in the decider, leading 9/4 then
10/8, but again Bennett came back in a series of hotly contested
rallies to win it 12/10 and keep the Dutch on course for the
semis. |
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3: Fabulous Finns
 The
15.00 matches saw the Finnish girls on the glass
court, and they produced an upset win over Wales to
the delight of the home crowd. The crucial win came in the
fist match where Elina Kononen beat Tesni Evans 13/11 in the
fifth.
Deon Saffery restored parity for Wales with a 3/0 win over
Saara Voltala, but in the decider Jutte Tuunanen was too
powerful for Hannah Davies, winning three close games to
complete the upset.
 Second
seeds France opened their account in the top
division's Pool B, beating Scotland 2/1.
Isabelle Stoehr had too much guile for Frania Gillen-Buchert,
but Senga Macfie, the oldest woman in the tournament, made
Camille Serme work hard for a four game win to seal it for
the French.
Lisa Aitken made it respectable for the Scots, beating
Coline Aumard in straight games.
In Men's Division Two there were wins for Belgium, Denmark
and Hungary (on countback).
4: Italians put Welsh to the sword,
English march on ...
The much-anticipated Wales v Italy clash opened up
with two wins for the Italians, Amr Swelim beating Nic Birt
3/0 and Stephane Galifi squeezing past Peter Creed 16/14 in
the fourth.
 That
left the onus on Wales' experienced pair of Alex Gough and
David Evans to maintain the Welsh squad's realistic chances
of making the semis for the 14th time in the last 15 years,
but Marcus Berrett put paid to that with an 11/3, 16/14,
11/2 win over Gough, then Davide Bianchetti finished it off
by beating Evans in straight games.
The Italians' next opponents, mighty England, beat
the Czech Republic, the highlights being a successful first
cap for Jonathan Kemp, and a fine performance by Jan Koukal
who took a game off, and generally stretched, Nick Matthew.
The England ladies also had a winning debutante in
Emma Beddoes, and they too won their opener comfortably
enough against a new-look Italian side (some of their
stalwarts, who were looking forward to playing possible
their last ETC, are injured).
 Staying
in the women's top division, defending champions
Netherlands, resting Natalie Grinham, beat Spain while
Ireland's top two of Madeline Perry and Aisling Blake
both survived torrid opening games against their German
opponents, taking them 15/13 and 13/11 respectively before
going on to win with increasing authority.
#5: Bizarre ending in Division Two
jostle
The fifth and final session of the day featured four Men's
Division Two matches, which were all about jockeying for
position in the quarter-finals.
 Finland
hogged the glass court again, and once again Olli Touminen
and Henrik Mustonen led the Finns to victory, 4-0 against
Belgium this time. Tuominen kept up a ferocious pace
against Stefan Casteleyn, while Mustonenedged a thrilling
first game against Tom de Mulder before easing through the
next two.
All in all not a bad day for the Finns, not bad at all.
Borja Golan took just over an hour to beat Mark Krajcask in
four games as Spain ran out 3-1 winners over
Hungary, setting up quarter-finals of Finland v Hungary
and Spain v Belgium.
In the second pair of matches Nicolas Mueller led
Switzerland to a winning draw against Sweden -
once Lukas Burkhart had taken the first game against
Christian Drakenberg the Swiss knew they had one, so in the
worlds of Mueller, "Lukas is just going to practice Mizuki's
now!" And so he did as Drakenberg levelled the match.
Ireland v Denmark ... where to start!
Michael Frilund edged out Graeme Stewart in a five game
humdinger, and as that finished it was two-all and 2-all in
another tough, exciting match on the next court, Kristian
Frost against Arthur Gaskin.
Gaskin expressed his unhappiness with a decision and
received a conduct stroke for his trouble, and after a
further comment as he was going back on court he received a
conduct game, so match to Frost and 2-0 to Denmark. (I
wasn't there for the incident, and I've heard conflicting
versions of what was said, so nothing to add on that one I'm
afraid.)
Ireland had it all to do to top the group now, but Steve
Richardson got them off to a good start with a 3/0 win over
an opponent who looked injured or disinterested.
So it was down to Derek Ryan - "it always comes down to us
relying on Derek!" quipped Stewart of the veteran who has
been ever-present in the ETC since 1988, and who has pulled
it out of the bag for the Irish on many occasions.
This time he didn't need to dig very deep though, as his
opponent quickly subsided, at times returning serve into the
floor. "What was that all about?" was the general murmur on
the courts. "Denmark wanted to play Switzerland," was the
consenus.
Well they got their wish, tomorrow it's Ireland v Sweden and
Switzerland v Denmark. Can't wait to find out what's in
store ... |
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