Jo Parker, Kelly SIbley. Emily Bates and Coach Alan Cooke celebrate promotion

The Women’s team band-wagon kept rolling on at the INTERSPORT European Championships as they won both of their fixtures on Tuesday to complete a perfect 100% record at the tournament and earn promotion from the Challenge Division.

Next year they will be fighting it out at the top level after their victories over Portugal (which was reported earlier) and then France.

The girls’ 3-1 win against the French meant that both Joanna Parker and Kelly Sibley were unbeaten throughout the Challenge tournament and can look forward to continuing their form into the individual matches. They were also ably supported by debutant Emily Bates, who picked up some excellent wins on her first senior team appearance.

The men didn’t have such a good time of it as they went down 3-0 to a strong French team which meant they were relegated from the top division. Their final match with Slovenia went all the way with the scores tied at 2-2 after wins for Paul Drinkhall and Daniel Reed, before, in the last game Liam Pitchford was tied with Mitja Horvat 2-2 and 15 points apiece!

In the end Pitchford sealed an epic encounter 17-15 in the final game which meant England finished 11th overall and just one place from safety.

Both sides can now look forward to the singles and doubles tournament which begins tomorrow and hope for a few more big scalps.

Results:

Men:

England 0-3 France
A Mattenet bt L Pitchford 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-7)
E Lebesson bt P Drinkhall 3-1 (10-12, 11-1, 11-7, 11-7)
C Legout bt D Knight 3-0 (11-9, 12-10, 12-10)

England 3-2 Slovenia
B Tokic bt L Pitchford 3-2 (8-11, 7-11, 11-3, 16-14, 11-5)
P Drinkhall bt M Horvat 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-4)
D Reed bt S Lasan 3-2 (13-11, 11-5, 11-13, 7-11, 11-7)
B Tokic bt P Drinkhall 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-6)
L Pitchford bt M Horvat 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 17-15)

Women:

England 3-0 Portugal
K Sibley bt A Neves 3-0 (11-4, 11-7, 11-6)
J Parker bt M Goncalves 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-6)
E Bates bt C Martins 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-6)

England 3-1 France
J Parker bt E Lennon 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-4)
K Sibley bt A Abbat 3-2 (11-9, 11-8, 13-15, 6-11, 11-5)
C Grundisch bt E Bates 3-0 (11-6, 14-12, 11-4)
J Parker bt A Abbat 3-2 (9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8)