France, England in Two Semis
April 29, 2004 by Howard Harding, SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2004 

Hosts France To Contest Both Semi-finals In Rennes

While England and France sailed through to the men's semi-finals of the European Team Squash Championships - and the likelihood of a fifth successive meeting in the final after two 4-0 wins in the final qualifying rounds in Rennes - the excitement of the day was provided by the women's competition where hosts France, the fifth seeds, claimed a place in the last four for the first time since 1996, and seventh seeds Belgium reached the semi-finals for the first time in the event's 27-year history.

Defending champions England and second seeds France have yet to drop a game in the 2004 championships, the top seeds crushing Denmark and the Netherlands (the former tie giving England's new world No1 Peter Nicol his first outing in Rennes) and France overwhelming Spain and Wales in Pool B.

England face third seeds Wales, and France take on Netherlands, the fourth seeds, in repeats of last year's semi-finals.

In the women's event, top seeds England swept through to the semi-finals with 3-0 victories over France and Denmark - but the defending champions' unexpected opponents will be seventh seeds Belgium, who beat third seeds Scotland 2-1 and Ireland 2-1 to ensure a second place finish in Pool B.

While Scotland suffered three defeats in the qualifying stages, squad No1 Pamela Nimmo pulled off a morale-boosting 9-4 7-9 9-0 9-3 win over world No3 Vanessa Atkinson in their 1/2 loss to second seeds Netherlands.

The Dutch team finished in pole position in Pool B, and will also face surprise opposition in the semi-finals, in the form of France - whose Isabelle Stoehr-led squad beat Germany 2-1 to finish with two wins in Pool A and runners-up position behind England.

Men's semi-finals:
[1]ENGLAND v [3]WALES; [2]FRANCE v [4]NETHERLANDS
Women's semi-finals:
[1]ENGLAND v [7]BELGIUM; [2]NETHERLANDS v [5]FRANCE

RESULTS: European Team Squash Championships, Rennes, France

The Mens results are: [complete results] {pools A and B compete for championship] - Pool A:
[1]ENGLAND 4 [8]DENMARK 0 (Peter Nicol bt Morten W Sorensen 9-1 9-0 9-0; Nick Matthew bt Danny Knudsen 9-3 9-3 9-3; James Willstrop bt Mads Korsbjerg 9-5 9-2 9-2; Adrian Grant bt Michael Hansen 9-3 9-0 9-0)
[4]NETHERLANDS 4 [5]SWEDEN 0 (Tommy Berden bt Christian Drakenberg 9-4 9-3 9-1; Laurens Jan Anjema bt Badr Abdel Aziz 9-6 9-6 9-7; Lucas Buit bt Joakim Karlsson 9-1 9-3 9-0; Gabor Marges bt Henrik Lofvenborg 9-4 9-3 9-5)
[1]ENGLAND 4 [4]NETHERLANDS 0 (Lee Beachill bt Lucas Buit 9-0 9-2 9-1; Nick Matthew bt Dylan Bennett 9-0 9-2 9-5; James Willstrop bt Gabor Marges 9-5 9-3 9-1; Adrian Grant bt Marc Reus 9-2 9-4 9-0)
[8]DENMARK 2 [5]SWEDEN 2 (Denmark win 7/6 on games countback)(Mikkel Korsbjerg lost to Christian Drakenberg 2-9 2-9 0-9; Morten W Sorensen lost to Badr Abdel Aziz 9-7 9-10 3-9 1-9; Danny Knudsen bt Joakim Karlsson 9-6 10-8 9-4; Michael Hansen bt Johan Jungling 9-0 9-5 9-0)
Final placings: 1 England, 2 Netherlands, 3 Denmark, 4 Sweden
Pool B:
[2]FRANCE 4 [7]SPAIN 0 (Thierry Lincou bt Iago Cornes 9-2 9-2 9-5; Gregory Gaultier bt Oriol Salvia 9-0 9-2 9-3; Renan Lavigne bt Victor Montserrat 9-1 9-3 9-0; Laurent Elriani bt Tino Casas 9-2 9-1 9-3)
[3]WALES 4 [6]IRELAND 0 (Alex Gough bt Liam Kenny 9-3 2-9 9-3 9-5; David Evans bt John Rooney 9-2 4-9 0-9 9-0 9-1; Gavin Jones bt Derek Ryan 9-4 9-0 8-10 9-6; Ricky Davies bt Steve Richardson 9-7 9-0 9-3)
[2]FRANCE 4 [3]WALES 0 (Thierry Lincou bt David Evans 10-9 9-7 9-0; Gregory Gaultier bt Gavin Jones 9-1 9-4 9-0; Renan Lavigne bt Greg Tippings 9-2 9-3 9-3; Jean-Michel Arcucci bt Ricky Davies 9-4 9-5 9-3)
[7]SPAIN 2 [6]IRELAND 2 (Spain win 7/6 on games countback)(Borja Golan bt Liam Kenny 9-3 9-2 9-3; Iago Cornes lost to Derek Ryan 4-9 0-9 7-9; Victor Montserrat lost to Steve Richardson 6-9 9-1 7-9 0-9; Albert Codina bt John Hurley 9-6 9-6 9-2)
Final placings: 1 France, 2 Wales, 3 Spain, 4 Ireland
Pool C:
[9]SCOTLAND 3 [16]CZECH REPUBLIC 1 (John White bt Jan Koukal 9-3 6-9 6-9 9-2 9-5; Peter O'Hara bt Martin Stepan 9-1 9-1 9-5; Stuart Crawford lost to Milos Pokorny 2-9 6-9 6-9; Martin Woods bt Jan Vesely 9-2 9-1 9-4)
Final placings: 1 Scotland, 2 Israel, 3 Czech Republic
Pool D:
[10]SWITZERLAND 4 [15]HUNGARY 0 (Lars Harms bt Mark Krajcsak 9-1 9-3 9-2; Andre Holderegger bt Sandor Fulop 9-7 9-1 2-9 9-4; Marco Datwyler bt Balazs Welesz 9-2 9-0 9-1; Marcel Straub bt Zsolt Kovacs 9-2 9-1 9-1)
[23]ITALY 3 [18]GREECE 1 (Andrea Capella bt Petros Tzamaloukas 9-2 9-1 9-3; Simone Rocca lost to Fabian Kalaitzis 7-9 9-2 5-9 1-9; Francesco Busi bt Paul Gregory 9-5 9-0 9-0; Giacomo Marotta bt Konstantinos Kargioitis 9-0 9-3 9-3)
Final placings: 1 Switzerland, 2 Italy, 3 Greece, 4 Hungary
Pool E:
[11]FINLAND 3 [14]AUSTRIA 1 (Olli Tuominen bt Andreas Fuchs 9-3 9-7 9-2; Juha Raumolin bt Gerhard Schedlbauer 9-5 9-1 9-1; Matias Tuomi lost to Jakob Dirnberger 9-7 6-9 5-9 3-9; Hameed Ahmed bt Markus Rossler 10-8 9-10 3-9 10-9 9-5)
[22]GIBRALTAR 3 [19]ISLE OF MAN 1 (Malcolm Head lost to David Norman 1-9 0-9 1-9; Stephen Shacaluga bt John Knight 8-10 9-7 10-9 9-4; Christian Navas bt Richard Corlett 7-9 8-10 9-6 9-1 9-7; Anthony Brindle bt Kevin Watterson 9-4 9-4 9-3)
Final placings: 1 Finland, 2 Austria, 3 Gibraltar, 4 Isle of Man
Pool F:
[12]GERMANY 3 [13]BELGIUM 1 (Stefan Leifels bt Rob Aerts 9-0 9-2 9-4; Edgar Schneider lost to Steve Dries 2-9 4-9 7-9; Hansi Seestaller bt Ben Vandezande 9-3 9-4 9-2; Guido Kirschbaum bt Rik Smet 9-2 9-3 2-9 7-9 9-3)
[21]POLAND 3 [20]RUSSIA 1 (Andrzej Wierzba lost to Alexey Severinov 9-7 2-9 3-9 3-9; Marcin Leszewicz bt Pavel Sergeev 9-6 0-9 2-9 9-7 9-5; Maciej Chadzynski bt Serguei Kostrykine 9-5 9-2 9-7; Jacek Hibner bt Roman Fetisov 10-8 9-7 10-8)
Final placings: 1 Germany, 2 Belgium, 3 Poland, 4 Russia

Women: [complete results] [pools A and B compete for championship]
Pool A:
[1]ENGLAND 3 [5]FRANCE 0 (Cassie Jackman bt Laurence Bois 9-1 9-1 9-2; Linda Charman bt Corinne Castets 9-2 9-0 9-4; Vicky Botwright bt Maud Duplomb 9-1 9-0 9-0)
[4]DENMARK 2 [8]GERMANY 1 (Ellen Petersen bt Sabine Tillman 9-7 10-8 7-9 2-9 9-2; Line Hansen lost to Karin Beriere 7-9 6-9 9-6 9-3 1-9; Julie Dorn-Jensen bt Katharina Witt 9-3 7-9 9-2 9-7)
[1]ENGLAND 3 [4]DENMARK 0 (Cassie Jackman bt Ellen Petersen 9-0 9-0 9-0; Vicky Botwright bt Line Hansen 9-5 9-0 9-1; Jenny Duncalf bt Marie-Louise Feddern Krag 9-5 9-0 9-1)
[5]FRANCE 2 [8]GERMANY 1 (Isabelle Stoehr bt Sabine Tillman 9-6 9-3 9-3; Laurence Bois lost to Kathrin Rohrmueller 1-9 10-9 2-9 2-9; Corinne Castets bt Karin Beriere 9-2 8-10 9-1 9-0)
Final placings: 1 England, 2 France, 3 Denmark, 4 Germany
Pool B:
[2]NETHERLANDS 2 [6]IRELAND 1 (Vanessa Atkinson lost to Madeline Perry 2-9 10-8 6-9 7-9; Annelize Naude bt Aisling Blake 9-4 9-3 9-2; Karen Kronemeyer bt Laura Mylotte 9-5 6-9 9-6 10-8)
[7]BELGIUM 2 [3]SCOTLAND 1 (Kim Hannes lost to Pamela Nimmo 0-9 9-3 3-9 9-3 4-9; Katline Cauwels bt Susan Dalrymple 9-4 9-1 9-4; Annabel Romedenne bt Lauren Gray 9-6 9-5 9-5)
[2]NETHERLANDS 2 [3]SCOTLAND 1 (Vanessa Atkinson lost to Pamela Nimmo 4-9 9-7 0-9 3-9; Annelize Naude bt Lauren Gray 9-2 9-0 9-0; Margriet Huisman bt Frania Gillen-Buchert 1-9 9-0 9-7 9-3)
[7]BELGIUM 2 [6]IRELAND 1 (Kim Hannes lost to Madeline Perry 2-9 2-9 6-9; Katline Cauwels bt Aisling Blake 9-7 2-9 1-9 9-6 9-3; Charlie De Rycke bt Laura Mylotte 9-7 9-5 9-4)
Final placings: 1 Netherlands, 2 Belgium, 3 Ireland, 4 Scotland
Pool C:
[9]SPAIN 2 [12]WALES 1 (Olga Puigdemont lost to Tegwen Malik 7-9 1-9 4-9; Elisabet Sado bt Hayley James 9-1 9-2 9-0; Margaux Moros bt Beth Winstanley 9-2 9-1 9-4)
Final placings: 1 Spain, 2 Wales, 3 Finland
Pool D:
[10]SWITZERLAND 2 [11]AUSTRIA 1 (Manuela Zehnder lost to Pamela Pancis 1-9 9-4 7-9 2-9; Gaby Schmol bt Birgit Coufal 6-9 9-4 9-7 8-10 9-3; Olivia Hauser bt Ines Gradnitzer 9-1 9-3 9-1)
Final placings: 1 Switzerland, 2 Austria, 3 Italy

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