July e-zine
 
 
European Youth Championships
 
 

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Paul Drinkhall bt. Daniel Kasiba (HUN) 4-1 Singles Semi
Drinkhall/Knight bt. Le Breton/Le Guen (FRA) 3-1 Doubles semi
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya bt.Szocs/Postoaca (ROU) 3-1 Mixed Doubles Final

  
  View photos from the tournament HERE  
     

English boys dominate in Italy

The ETTA squad returned home victorious from the European Youth Championships in Italy, in what has been their most successful Championships to date. Gaining their highest ever medal tally, ten, as well as Paul Drinkhall setting a few records of his own, being the first to win a triple crown (singles, doubles and mixed doubles), as well as being undefeated throughout the whole tournament.

4 golds, 2 silvers and 4 bronze medals

The medal haul was courtesy of strong junior and cadet boys sides with neither of the girls’ sides troubling those at the top, however, both of the young teams improved their rankings from last year, proving that the new Sheffield Performance Centre is benefiting all.

Golds
Paul Drinkhall (Junior Boys’ Singles)
Gavin Evans (Cadet Boys’ Singles)
Paul Drinkhall/Darius Knight (Junior Boys’ Doubles)
Paul Drinkhall/Yekaterina Kolodyazhnaya (Rus)
(Junior Mixed Doubles)

Silvers
Gavin Evans, Liam Pitchford, Sean Cullen and
Daniel Lowe (Cadet Boys’ Team)
Gavin Evans/Cedric Nuytinck (Bel)
(Cadet Boys’ Doubles)
 
 
 
 
 

Bronzes
Darius Knight (Junior Boys’ Singles)
Liam Pitchford (Cadet Boys’ Singles)
Darius Knight/Amelie Solja (Germany)
(Junior Mixed Doubles)

Gavin Evans/Petrissa Solja (Germany)
(Cadet Mixed Doubles)
 
Liam Pitchford, Gavin Evans, Sean Cullen & Daniel Lowe
Cadet Boys' Team Winners with coach Alan Cooke
 

Cadet Boys

Singles

Ranked number one in Europe, Gavin was odds on favourite to take the title and after an easy start with a bye and a walk over, he disposed of Cekic (MNE), Robinot (FRA), Fucec (HRV), Gauzy (FRA) and Soderlund (SWE) to mount the top step of the podium.

Following a similar run of form to Gavin, Liam reached the semi-finals to claim a bronze medal.

After a resilient first match, coming back from 2-0 down, Daniel Lowe could go no further, whilst Sean Cullen, who despite winning the first set, was outplayed by the Romanian Kanabe and failed to make it out of the first round.

Gavin Evans BYE
Gavin Evans bt. Nikolas Panagiotou (CYP) W/O
Gavin Evans bt. Irfan Cekic (MNE) 4-0
Gavin Evans bt. Quentin Robinot (FRA) 4-3
Gavin Evans bt. Luka Fucec (HRV) 4-3
Gavin Evans bt. Simon Gauzy (FRA) 4-2
Gavin Evans bt. Hampus Soderlund (SWE) 4-2

Liam Pitchford BYE
Liam Pitchford bt. Otto Tennila (FIN) 4-0
Liam Pitchford bt. Tomasz Wisniewski (POL) 4-1
Liam Pitchford bt. Ondrej Bajger (CZE) 4-0
Liam Pitchford bt. Dorian Nicolle (FRA) 4-0
Liam Pitchford bt. Hampus Soderlund (SWE) 4-1

Daniel Lowe bt. Michal Bankosz (POL) 4-3
Lukas Jandora (CZE) bt. Daniel Lowe 4-2

Szilard Kanabe (ROU) bt. Sean Cullen 4-2

Doubles

As in the singles, Gavin Evans led the way (teamed with Nuytinck), closely followed by Liam Pitchford who was teamed with Daniel Lowe. Evans made it all the way to the final for a silver medal, whilst Pitchford and Lowe went out in the last 8.

Pitchford/Lowe bt.Hortal/Luo Alberto (ESP) 3-0
Pitchford/Lowe bt.Glogogeanu/Munteanu (ROU) 3-0
Pitchford/Lowe bt. Zhelubenkov/Kuimov (RUS) 3-2
Lorentz/Gauzy (FRA) bt. Pitchford/Lowe 3-0

Evans/Nuytinck (ENG-BEL) BYE
Evans/Nuytinck bt. Szita/Kovacs (HUN) 3-0
Evans/Nuytinck bt. Mudrik/Mucha (SVK) 3-2
Evans/Nuytinck bt. Subotic/Dalea (SRB) 3-2
Evans/Nuytinck bt. Robinot/Nicolle (FRA) 3-2
Indeherberg/Van Rossomme (BEL) bt.
Evans/Nuytinck 3-0

Bajger/Jandora (CZE) bt. Cullen/Costwouder
(ENG-NED) 3-2

Mixed Doubles

There was yet another medal for Gavin in the mixed doubles, when he picked up the bronze with his German partner Petrissa Solja.

The all English pairing of Daniel Lowe and Karina Le Fevre won their first match and things were looking good for them when they won the second and third sets of their next, but the tide turned as the Israeli pairing of Kuperberg and Trosman won the last two sets to take the game 3-2. The only other English pairing (Cullen/Davidson) failed to make it out of the first match, and Emily Bates with the Turkish player Selim Guler could only go one better.

Evans/Solja (ENG-GER) BYE
Evans/Solja bt. Malolepszy/Slifirczyk (POL) 3-1
Evans/Solja bt. Hageraats/Barendregt (NED) 3-0
Evans/Solja bt. Nuytinck/Gonderinger (BEL-LUX)
3-2
Evans/Solja bt. Hortal/Fernandez (ESP) 3-2
Lorentz/Gasnier (FRA) bt. Evans/Solja 3-0

Lowe/Le Fevre bt. Kumov/Guseva (RUS) 3-2
Kuperberg/Trosman (ISR) bt. Lowe/Le Fevre 3-2

Mucah/Danova (SVK) bt. Cullen/Davidson 3-2

Pitchford/Ciobanu (ENG-ROU) BYE
Pitchford/Ciobanu bt. Pavan/Trotti (ITA) 3-2
Pitchford/Ciobanu bt. Kirillov/Mokhncheva (RUS)
3-2
Gauzy/Szocs (FRA-ROU) bt. Pitchford/Ciobanu 3-0

Guller/Bates (TUR-ENG) bt. Shevchenko/Rybka
(UKR) 3-1
Szita/Jean (HUN-FRA) bt. Guller/Bates 3-1

Team
As with the junior boys, the cadets went through stage 1 undefeated and continued their strong show of form all the way to the final, not dropping a set until their fifth match against Belgium. In the final they met the winners of group B, the French, this battle would end up in a silver medal for the English cadets with France taking the win 3-1.

Stage 1
England bt. Spain 3-0
England bt. Germany 3-0
England bt. Italy 3-0

Stage 3
England bt. Romania 3-0
England bt. Belgium 3-2
England bt. Sweden 3-2

France bt. England 3-1
Paul Drinkhall & Darius Knight
Junior Boys' Doubes Winners
 

Cadet Girls

Singles

Emily Bates and Lucy Davidson were the only two to make it through their first matches, unfortunately they both succumbed to superior opposition to go out in the next round.

Emily Bates bt. Letizia Giardi (SMR) 4-0
Ida Jazbec (HRV) bt. Emily Bates 4-1

Lucy Davidson bt. Tamara Aghayan (ARM) 4-3
Sibel Remzi (BUL) bt. Lucy Davidson 4-0

Belma Busatlic (BIH) bt. Karina Le Fevre 4-0

Maja Krzewicka (POL) bt. Martha Travis 4-1

Doubles

As in the singles the English cadets would progress no further than round two. Bates and Davidson sailed through round one and narrowly missed out against their Luxemburg opposition in the next round, whilst Le Fevre and Travis had a tougher time.

Bates/Davidson bt. Loveridge/Stubbington (GGY)
3-0
Gonderinger/Stammet (LUX) bt. Bates/Davidson 3-2

Le Fevre/Travis bt. Yaneva/Ahmed (BUL) 3-2
Tot Eva/Pang (SRB-FRA) bt. Le Fevre/Travis 3-1

Mixed Doubles

Lowe/Le Fevre bt. Kumov/Guseva (RUS) 3-2
Kuperberg/Trosman (ISR) bt. Lowe/Le Fevre 3-2

Mucah/Danova (SVK) bt. Cullen/Davidson 3-2

Guller/Bates (TUR-ENG) bt. Shevchenko/Rybka (UKR) 3-1
Szita/Jean (HUN-FRA) bt. Guller/Bates 3-1

Team

With a smaller group of three the girls came out second overall with one win and one defeat, this however was not enough to see them out of the first stage.
England bt. Sweden 3-1
Czech Rep bt. England 3-1

Junior Boys

Singles

We had four boys fighting it out in the singles, but this was soon reduced to three as Mathew Ware had to pull out due to a calf injury. After round three we were down to two as Chris Doran was knocked out by Florent Lamoque of Belgium.

Darius and Paul both had easy starts with two byes each before going on an impressive run all the way to the podium, with the Russian Alexander Shibaev being the only thorn in Darius’s side, beating him 4-2 and denying an all English final. Paul defended England’s honour to take the win and secure a gold to go with the bronze earned by Darius.

Paul Drinkhall BYE
Paul Drinkhall BYE
Paul Drinkhall bt. Julio Reyes (ESP) 4-2
Paul Drinkhall bt. Philipp Floritz (GER) 4-3
Paul Drinkhall bt. Pawel Fertikowski (CYP) 4-0
Paul Drinkhall bt. Daniel Kasiba (HUN) 4-1
Paul Drinkhall bt. Alexander Shibaev (RUS) 4-3

Aivaras Keliotis (LTU) bt. Mathew Ware W/O

Chris Doran bt. Anton Sopeleu (BLR) 4-3
Chris Doran bt. Nathan Van Der Lee (NED) 4-2
Florent Lamoque (BEL) bt. Chris Doran 4-2

Darius Knight BYE
Darius Knight BYE
Darius Knight bt. Taras Merzlikin (RUS) 4-0
Darius Knight bt. Martin Heimberger (AUT) 4-0
Darius Knight bt. Patryk Chojnowski (POL) 4-1
Darius Knight bt. Florent Lamoque (BEL) 4-1
Alexander Shibaev (RUS) bt. Darius Knight 4-2

Doubles

As top seeds and with some impressive performances in the tournament so far, Paul and Darius looked set to take the title and other than a close match against Reyes/Bruguda of Spain it all went their way.

Drinkhall/Knight BYE
Drinkhall/Knight bt. Reyes/Brugada (ESP) 3-2
Drinkhall/Knight bt. Kobes/Jezo (SVK) 3-0
Drinkhall/Knight bt. Brodd/Andersson (SWE) 3-1
Drinkhall/Knight bt. Steinle/Bottroff (GER) 3-1
Drinkhall/Knight bt. Le Breton/Le Guen (FRA) 3-1
Drinkhall/Knight bt. Crepulja/Petkov (SRB) 3-1

Nicholls/Main (ENG-SCO) bt. Gorbatov/Repin (EST) 3-2
Flortiz/Sekera (GER-SVK) bt. Nicholls/Main 3-1

Ware/Doran BYE
Silver/Pinho bt. Ware/Doran W/O

Mixed Doubles

As first and second seeds the mixed doubles was all about Darius and Paul, with proceedings following that of the junior boys’ singles. Darius teamed with Amelie Solja of Germany and Paul with Yekaterina Kolodyazhnaya of Russia both got byes in the first two rounds, before heading to the bronze and gold medal positions respectively.

Knight/Solja (ENG-GER) BYE
Knight/Solja BYE
Knight/Solja bt. Simion/Dospina (ROU) 3-0
Knight/Solja bt. Merzlikin/Sabitova (RUS) 3-1
Knight/Solja bt. Bisi/Steshenko (ITA) 3-1
Knight/Solja bt. Kojic/Durak (HRV) 3-1
Szocs/Postoaca (ROU) bt. Knight/Solja 3-0

Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya (ENG-RUS) BYE
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya BYE
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya bt. Shaban/Labovich
(BLR) 3-1
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya bt. Mamut/Jankovic (HRV)
3-0
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya bt. Golebiowski/Godlewska
(POL) 3-1
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya bt. Le Breton/Abbat (FRA)
3-1
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya bt. Kovac/Dessaint
(HRV-FRA) 3-1
Drinkhall/Kolodyazhnaya bt. Szocs/Postoaca (ROU)
3-1

Doran/Slater bt. Matevosyan/Engibaryan (ARM) 3-2
Valeev/Ryabova (RUS) bt. Doran/Slater 3-0

Tamnogorod/Ruvman bt. Ware/Fuller W/O

Team

England were undefeated in stage 1 which guaranteed them the top spot and entry straight into stage 3.

Their impressive form looked set to continue with a 3-1 win over Ukraine, until Sweden stopped their progress, this put them into play-offs for fifth to eighth, where they eventually came away with sixth place.

Stage 1
England bt. Germany 3-2
England bt. Portgual 3-1
England bt. Norway 3-1

Stage 3
England bt. Ukraine 3-1
Sweden bt. England 3-2
England bt. Czech Rep 3-1
Belgium bt. England 3-2
 
England Squad
 

Junior Girls

The junior girls tournament will be remembered as a good experience and part of their learning curve, rather than for their results, failing to get out of the first round in all but the mixed doubles where Natalie Slater teamed with Chris Doran managed to make it to stage 2.

Singles

Tali Cohen (NED) bt. Mary Fuller 4-1

Suzanne Dieker (NED) bt. Natalie Slater 4-0

Doubles

Gecevicute/Weiss (LTU-SUI) bt. Fuller/Slater 3-0

Mixed Doubles

Doran/Slater bt. Matevosyan/Engibaryan (ARM) 3-2
Valeev/Ryabova (RUS) bt. Doran/Slater 3-0

Tamnogorod/Ruvman bt. Ware/Fuller W/O

Team

Stage 1
Netherlands bt. England 3-0
Sweden bt.  England 3-0

England bt. Armenia 3-2

 

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