Day five at the European Youth Championships saw the team events conclude with the players’ attention heading to singles and doubles duty over the remaining five days.
With the cadet girls team finishing 29th yesterday it was down to the other three English sides to determine their final spots and hopefully pick up a few places in the overall rankings by the close of the team tournament.
The best finishers were the junior boys who finished 16th although they will be disappointed to end their campaign with back-to-back 3-0 defeats to Russia and Serbia respectively on the final day.
The next best finishers were the junior girls who came 19th. Jessica Dawson’s double against Estonia set-up the final 3-1 victory with Yolanda King contributing the other win in a great final experience for both players before they embark on their singles play.
Finally, the cadet boys finished their troubled campaign in 27th place after recovering from the consecutive defeats over the first three days to post two wins out of three at the conclusion to the tournament.
Once again it was Helshan Weerasinghe who performed on the big stage as he won twice against Greece in the 3-2 defeat before he won twice again against Finland, where his doubles win with Sam Mabey was enough to secure a 3-1 triumph.
The draw has been kind for the majority of the English players in the singles events with none of them likely to face one of the ‘big guns’ apart from junior girl Vicky Smith who, if she wins her first round match, will face Romanian and European number 1, Bernadette Szocs, who today guided her Romanian team to the girls title.
The boys, girls and mixed doubles draws have also generally been kind with Sam Walker and Lewis Gray facing the toughest task in their junior boys doubles encounter against Benedikt Duda (GER) and Tomislav Pucar (CRO). See all the draws here. Meanwhile, the pairing of Weerasinghe and Ho might prove to be dark-horses for the title in the cadet mixed doubles if that partnership clicks.
Read about the previous team days play at these links:
Day One: Helshan shines on day 1 at EYC
Day Two: Shocks not enough to beat Hungary at EYC
Day Three: Mixed bag for England at EYC
Day Four: Big wins on day four at the EYC
Team Results:
Cadet boys:
Greece 3-2 England
Helshan Weerasinghe bt Nikolaos Antoniadis 3-0 (14-12, 11-9, 13-11)
Konstantinos Angelakis bt Daniel Lawrence 3-1 (13-15, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8)
Antoniadis/Angelakis bt Weerasinghe/Mabey 3-0 (11-9, 11-6, 11-8)
Helshan Weerasinghe bt Konstantinos Angelakis 3-2 (10-12, 5-11, 14-12, 11-4, 11-3)
Nikolaos Antoniadis bt Daniel Lawrence 3-2 (11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-9)
England 3-1 Finland
Helshan Weerasinghe bt Patrik Rissanen 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-7)
Jan Nyberg bt Sam Mabey 3-2 (11-8, 6-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9)
Weerasinghe/Mabey bt Rissanen/Nyberg 3-2 (6-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 11-9)
Helshan Weerasinghe bt Jan Nyberg 3-2 (9-11, 14-12, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4)
Junior boys:
Russia 3-0 England
Kirill Shvetc bt Sam Walker 3-2 (11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 13-11)
Sadi Ismailov bt Lewis Gray 3-1 (10-12, 11-6, 13-11, 11-6)
Dmitrii Zakharov bt Igor Morais 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-8)
Serbia 3-0 England
Boris Mihailovic bt Lewis Gray 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-8)
Valentin Nad Nemedi bt Sam Walker 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-5)
ilija Majstorovic bt George Downing 3-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-5)
Junior girls:
Turkey 3-2 England
Emily Bates bt Sanem Ezgi Sahin 3-1 (6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-5)
Ipek Karahan bt Jessica Dawson 3-2 (12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 7-11, 11-8)
Yolanda King bt Sinem Agca 3-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-4)
Sanem Ezgi Sahin bt Jessica Dawson 3-0 (11-8, 15-13, 11-9)
Ipek Karahan bt Emily Bates 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-5)
England 3-1 Estonia
Yolanda King bt Olesja Ketsko 3-2 (11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-6)
Jessica Dawson bt Valeria Petrova 3-1 (5-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9)
Karmen Kozma bt Vicky Smith 3-2 (11-3, 12-14, 11-6, 9-11, 11-4)
Jessica Dawson bt Olesja Kestsko 3-1 (7-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5)