11 year old Tin-Tin Ho was the key to a 3-2 victory over Slovakia which guarantees 9-12 place for the Cadet Girls. Two superb victories over both Lucia Truksova and Eva Jurkova led the way. Emily Bates will have been disappointed to lose to Truksova in three straight games and really the doubles of Emily Bates and Tressa Armitage should have won as well but in the fifth game the Slovakians took the contest 11-7. Emily did beat Eva Jurkova to provide the key third point in a 3-2 win for England which saw the Slovakian coach and two players sent to the stands for various misdamenours. Next match was against Finland for 9-12th place
The Cadet girls had no problems at all against Finland, First Tin-Tin Ho added another scalp to her collection with a three straight set win over Pinja Eriksson. Emily Bates followed up with another three straight game win over Sannamari Bolenius. Emily Bates and Tressa Armitage played the doubles against Sannamari Bolenius and Anna Kirichenko and what a five game fight it was, the English pair finally triumphed 11-7 in the fifth.
There is only one match left for the Cadet Girls now, a contest against Turkey tomorrow for 9th/10th place – a great improvement for the Cadet Girls
The Cadet Boys also claimed a good win over Cyprus, Igor Morais played his first match of the event and claimed a great win from 8-10 down in the fifth game over Giagkos Giagkou winning 4 consecutive points. Sam Walker followed up against Angelov Hristonov Hristo with a 4 game victory. The doubles of Sam Walker and Heershan Weerasinghe finished the job with a 4 game victory over the Cypriot pair. Next match for the Cadet boys will be against Belarus who lost to Cyprus
Against Belarus the Cadet Boys came up with another strong performance, Sam Walker played very well in a hard 5 set match against Siarhei Afanasenka to put the England team ahead. Igor Morais dropped only the third game in a 4 game win over Gleb Shamruk. The doubles was a five game battle but Sam Walker and Helshan Weerasinghe took the fifth set 11-9 and with it the match 3-0.
England win the group comfortably and are still in the hunt for 17th spot which would take then up to level 1 next championships. Their next match will be with the winners of Group M – Croatia and if they win that they will face the winners of the Czech Republic and Belgium match for the prized 17th position.
The Junior Girls again faced a team just too strong for them, the Czech Republic team. Karina Le Fevre had no answer to Kristyna Mikulcova, Lucy Davidson was closer against Dagmar Blaskova but lost in four games. Natalie Slater had similar problems against Karin Adamkova losing in 3 straight games. The Junior Girls will now face the Netherlands next for 13th-16th place
The match against the Netherlands was another heavy defeat Dutch star Britt Eerland was too strong for Lucy Davidson who lost in three straight sets. Karina Le Fevre had a real chance, after 3 games she held a 2-1 lead over Suzanne Dieker but it was not to be and Dieker took the last two to put Netherlands 2 up. Natalie Slater took the second game in her match with Alice Barendregt but again she was unable to add to that and the Netherlands won three matches to zero
It is now the Junior Girls who are at the last chance saloon, a match tomorrow against Sweden, for 15th/16th place, the loser swapping with the team finishing 17th and departing level 1 for next season.
The Junior Boys could do nothing against France – they were just the better team as Liam so honestly said afterwards.
Liam Pitchford took the first game against European No 12 Quentin Robinot but Robinot recovered. Liam had a lead of 9-6 in the third game but could not go further as Robinot took 5 straight points with some stupendous play. He added the fourth game and England were one down.
David McBeath fought hard against European No 10 Simon Gauzy and only just lost the first game, Gauzy dominated after that winning in three straight games. Sean Cullen also faced a mountain to climb in European No 11 Thomas Le Breton, he took the third game on deuce but the match was lost in the fourth game.
France reach the final to face a surprise finalist Croatia who defeated the No 2 seeded Germans in the other semi final.England face Germany tomorrow in the 3rd/4th playoff final.
Photo: Tin Tin Ho – a great day with three wins out of three matches – Courtesy Henk Hommes
Results
Cadet Girls
Slovakia 2 England 3
TRUKSOVA, Lucia (SVK) lost to HO, Tin-Tin (ENG) 10:12 11:6 10:12 5:11
JURKOVA, Eva (SVK) lost to BATES, Emily (ENG) 11:7 9:11 1:11 16:18
TRUKSOVA, Lucia/JURKOVA, Eva (SVK) beat BATES, Emily/ARMITAGE, Tressa (ENG) 11:9 8:11 11:8 7:11 11:7
TRUKSOVA, Lucia (SVK) beat BATES, Emily (ENG) 11:7 11:9 13:11
JURKOVA, Eva (SVK) – 731 HO, Tin-Tin (ENG) 11:9 7:11 12:14 9:11
England 3 Finland 0
HO, Tin Tin (ENG) beat ERIKSSON, Pinja (FIN) 11:9 11:4 13:11
BATES, Emily (ENG) beat BOLENIUS, Sannamari (FIN) 11:9 11:7 11:6
BATES, Emily/ARMITAGE, Tressa (ENG)beat
BOLENIUS, Sannamari/KIRICHENKO, Anna (FIN) 9:11 11:6 10:12 12:10 11:7
Cadet Boys
Cyprus 0 England 3
GIAGKOU, Giagkos (CYP) lost to MORAIS, Igor (ENG) 4:11 8:11 11:9 11:8 10:12
HRISTONOV HRISTO, Angelov (CYP) lost to WALKER, Sam (ENG) 7:11 11:9 8:11 9:11
GIAGKOU, Giagkos/HRISTONOV HRISTO, Angelov (CYP) lost to
WALKER, Sam/WEERASINGHE, Helshan (ENG) 8:11 9:11 11:6 7:11
England 3 Belarus 0
WALKER, Sam (ENG) beat AFANASENKA, Siarhei (BLR) 6:11 11:8 10:12 11:9 11:6
MORAIS, Igor (ENG) beat SHAMRUK, Gleb (BLR) 11:8 11:5 9:11 11:8
WALKER, Sam/WEERASINGHE, Helshan (ENG) beat
AFANASENKA, Siarhei/SHAMRUK, Gleb (BLR) 4:11 11:7 16:14 8:11 11:9
Junior Girls
Czech Republic 3 England 0
MIKULCOVA, Kristyna (CZE) beat LE FEVRE, Karina (ENG) 11:4 11:6 11:6
BLASKOVA, Dagmar (CZE) beat DAVIDSON, Lucy (ENG) 13:11 9:11 11:6 11:8
ADAMKOVA, Karin (CZE) beat SLATER, Natalie (ENG) 11:8 11:7 11:5
Netherlands 3 England 0
EERLAND, Britt (NED) beat DAVIDSON, Lucy (ENG) 11:8 12:10 11:8
DIEKER, Suzanne (NED) beat LE FEVRE, Karina (ENG) 11:13 11:5 6:11 11:8 11:9
380 BARENDREGT, Alice (NED) – 336 SLATER, Natalie (ENG) 11:7 7:11 11:7 11:4
Junior Boys
France 3 England 0
ROBINOT, Quentin (FRA) beat PITCHFORD, Liam (ENG) 8:11 11:5 11:9 11:7
GAUZY, Simon (FRA) – 142 McBEATH, David (ENG) 11:9 11:3 11:1
153 LE BRETON, Thomas (FRA) – 143 CULLEN, Sean (ENG) 11:5 11:1 11:13 11:8
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