Wales continues to battle in the European Championship with emotions running high and low as they win and lose.
Wales 0 vs Slovakia 3
Wales needed to beat the group favourites in order to progress into the playoff matches which leads into the Championship division. Ryan took the higher ranked Pistej to a 5th leg but was beaten 11-8. Adam needed to win against Illas for Wales to get back into the tie but again lost in a 5th set having six set points. Stephen found the standard of Keinath [European number 27] too competitive and went down 0-3.
Wales 1 vs Bulgaria 3
The playoff draw was unkind for Wales and we got drawn against a great team in Bulgaria. Ryan went on first against Yordanov and won a close match 3-0. Adam had a fantastic match versus Golovanov but lost 3-1. The former Russia junior player was in fine form. Steve had an exciting match against the third Bulgarian but went down 3-1. Ryan then had a tough time against Golovanov losing in three close sets.
Wales 3 vs Estonia 2
Wales needed to win their last two matches to prevent relegation into the Standard Division. It was a real battle versus Estonia and one in which we came out on top. Adam had a comfortable win versus Vainula 3-0 which put us on track. Ryan then lost a 2-0 lead against Smirnov which levelled the tie at 1-1. Steve made an impact into the match beating Siispool 3-0 with some spectacular shots. Adam then had muscle fatigue which hindered his chance to beat Smirnov and lost deuce in the 4th. Ryan, with the weight of Wales resting on his shoulders, played the match of his competition to beat Vainula 3-2, 11-8 in the 5th.
Wales 3 vs Finland 1
This was the match that decided weather Wales or Finland would get relegated. Finland was on a high after beating Scotland and therefore we knew this was going to be a tough match. Ryan started the show with a great 3-2 [yes another!] win against Tamminen. This was a reversal of the result in last years European’s in St Petersberg. Adam continued his good win ratio beating Olah convincingly 3-0. Steve couldn’t close out the match and after winning the first set and went down 1-3 against Soine. He never got into his stride and found the bounce of the table difficult. Adam then secured the victory and the team looks forward to another championship in the ‘Challenge Division’ where they will be joined by teams including Belgium.
Final Position 29th
Ryan Jenkins won 3 lost 5; Adam Robertson won 6 lost 4; Stephen Jenkins won 2 lost 4.
More news to follow with the individual singles and double events starting. Naomi Owen, Patrick Thomas and the three men mention above will compete in the next few days.
European championships – singles events [Day 1]
Patrick Thomas and Steve Jenkins played against two players from Slovenia in the doubles event. The defensive tactics of the opposition put Patrick under pressure from the start and they went down 0-3.
Steve was next up in the 1st round of the singles against Marc Altermatt from Switzerland. He fought bravely but eventually lost 0-4.
Ryan and Patrick played their singles at 14.30 against Fegerl of Austria and Prestreshi of Kosova respectively. Ryan had one of the hardest draws of the round against the higher ranked Fegerl and lost in a brave 2-4 match. Paddy had a great win against the Kosivan winning 4-1 with thanks to Steve Jenkins for coaching him.
Naomi, Adam and Patrick play their round one singles matches tomorrow.
Ryan/Adam and Naomi /partner from Belarus also play doubles tomorrow.
Edwards Takes Silver In Béthune:
The welsh team of Alex Prosser, Connor Edwards, Alex Francis, Ashley Perry, Laura Edwards and Beth Roberts competed against clubs from regions all over France as well as a Belgian team and the Luxembourg National Squad. They competed in three events over 2 days comprising of a 2 person team event, combined aged singles and a straight knock-out event for each age group.
The Saturday began with the team event, paring Alex P with Conner, Alex F with Ashley and Beth and Laura. The young paring of Ashley and Alex F found the event tough going but Alex managed to get his first international win under his belt and battled hard against the various French teams. Ashley had a little more success, gaining a particularly impressive win against one of the top youngsters from the French club Val’doise. They ended up finishing 11th in the team event.
Alex Prosser and Conner Edwards had much success finishing 4th overall after coming through their group against teams from Champagne, Brabant and the local club from Nord Pas-De-Calais. Both players picked up some good wins. Laura and Beth managed a 6th place finish after progressing through the group stages against teams from Bretagne and Deauville.
The Welsh players struggled a little with the Standard in the singles on the Sunday although some of the boys were a little unlucky not to progress further. There was one exception with an excellent performance by Laura Edwards to take the sliver in her age group. She defeated some tough opponents along the way with a particularly good win in the semi-final against Manon Bouque from Nord Pas-de-Calais. She got off to strong start in the final taking a 4-0 lead in the first set but unfortunately could not sustain it. She ended up losing 3-0 all being close sets to a very talented Lauranne Hackemack from Liège. A great experience for the young squad and congratulations to Laura!