Lois Peake won the deciding rubber as England’s Junior Girls made light of the absence of Maria Tsaptsinos through injury to clinch seventh place at the European Youth Championships in Bratislava today.
Peake had lost the opening match to Marie Maesen, leaving England needing to win all three remaining matches. They duly did so, Tin-Tin Ho beating Margo Degraef and Maesen before Peake won a see-saw clash with Degraef in the fifth set.
Meanwhile, James Smith came from 2-0 down to beat Pavel Daunarovich and seal 15th place for England’s Cadet Boys.
With England and Belarus locked at 2-2 following two wins for Alex Ramsden, Smith found himself up against it in the decider.
But he took the third set 12-10 and, with momentum in his favour, clinched the next two sets to seal overall victory for the squad, which also featured Harry Dai.
England’s Junior Boys were beaten 3-1 by the host nation Slovakia in their final play-off, ending in 10th position.
Tom Jarvis was the sole winner as England rested their No 1 Helshan Weerasinghe, with Sam Mabey and Luke Savill getting some additional game-time.
It means England’s teams all hit their performance criteria, as set in the selection policy, of finishing in the top 16.
The singles and doubles events get under way on Wednesday.
Click here for previous report and results from the team events
Today’s results
Junior Girls
Positions 7-8
England 3-2 Belgium
Marie Maesen bt Lois Peake 3-1 (11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 13-11)
Tin-Tin Ho bt Margo Degraef 3-0 (11-3, 11-8, 11-8)
Eline Loyen bt Maria Tsaptsinos (walkover)
Ho bt Maesen 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7)
Peake bt Degraef 3-2 (9-11, 11-9, 15-13, 9-11, 11-5)
Cadet Boys
Positions 15-16
England 3-2 Belarus
Alex Ramsden bt Pavel Daunarovich 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-9)
Valentin Henin bt James Smith 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 15-13, 11-6)
Daunarovich & Henin bt Ramsden & Harry Dai 3-1 (11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9)
Ramsden bt Henin 3-1 (13-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7)
Smith bt Daunarovich 3-2 (10-12, 3-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7)
Junior Boys
Positions 9-10
England 1-3 Slovakia
Samuel Kaluzny bt Savill 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 11-9)
Jarvis bt Andrej Kassay 3-0 (11-6, 11-8, 11-8)
Tomas Kopanyi bt Mabey 3-1 (11-7, 6-11, 11-8, 11-5)
Kassay bt Savill 3-2 (11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 3-11, 16-14)