European Club and Team Championship: 2011
Club European Championship: And again Bianchetti, Berrett and Shoor
Just two weeks after the end of the World Championship, Ukrainian squash players will again meet with offenders from Italy. On Thursday, September 8, the European Club Championship starts in Belfast, where Petroholding Squash Club will represent the Ukrainian squash school for the second time. Last year, our team had only one task - to perform with dignity, and Ukrainians, unfamiliar to the European public, coped with it perfectly well. Now it will be more difficult. We need not only to at least hold on to the then-won seventh place (and, if possible, improve the result), but also fight against rivals, who, on the eve of the championship, have probably already figured out the manner of play of each of the Petroholding Squash Club players. Finnish "Helsinki", in principle, is considered a passable opponent. In the composition of this team there is not a single player represented in the PSA rating - such craftsmen as Olli Tuominen or Matias Tuomi for some reason did not express a desire to take part in this tournament. The most skilled among the Finns is Alexey Leskinen, who proudly bears the title of the fifth racket in Finland. But the first racket of the club is the tenth number in the national rating of Heikki Kononen - due to experience. It is difficult to call Piri Poikolainen and Toni Lotjonen serious rivals, but this will not excuse any of the Ukrainians if they allow themselves to approach matches with these squash players without the proper amount of concentration. Here, at the group stage, our guys will have their first serious exam. The first match the Petroholding Squash Club team will play against the star representatives of the German club Worms, among whom there are just one or two Germans. The club from Germany announced six players at once for the European Championship, so it is not known who exactly will come to Belfast. The preliminary list includes the eighth racket of the world David Palmer (!), Two players of the Italian national team Davide Bianchetti and Marcus Berrett, as well as the winner of the Kiev 1st Ukrainian Open Challenger Jens Shoor. By the way, it was the last three who won silver medals in the club championship in 2009. Of course, the Ukrainians will have a hard time, but here the thirst for revenge may well help them - if you remember, it was the Italians who were caught by our team at the World Team Championship. On August 22, these players defeated Ruslan Sorochinsky and Konstantin Rybalchenko, respectively. However, we also have Denis Podvorny and the French prodigy Luca Serme on our aid. According to the competition regulations, only the group winners continue to fight for medals. The runners-up will start fighting for 7-12 places. So let's hope that the desire to "return the favor" from our guys will allow them to declassify eminent rivals.
European Club Championship (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Group round
Group A
Hafrsfjord Squash Klubb (Norway)
Herlev / Hjorten (Denmark)
Aberdeen Squash Racquets Club (Scotland)
Group B
"Black & White RC Worms" (Germany)
Petroholding Squash Club (Ukraine)
Helsinki Squash Rackets Club (Finland)
Group C
Valence Squash Club (France)
Squash Racket Club Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
Belfast Boat Club (Ireland)
Group D
"Paderborn Squash Club" (Germany)
Lazy Lob Squash (Luxembourg)
Fitzwilliam LTC (Ireland)
Group E
Agaoglu My Club (Turkey)
Volksbahk Squash Union WR Neudorf Holding (Austria)
Recrean Electro Carbone (Belgium)
Group F
Edgbaston Priory Club (England)
Intersquash Club (Sweden)
Lineups of group B
Worms David Palmer (Australia) Davide Bianchetti (Italy) Jens Shoor (Germany) Markus Berett (Italy) Andre Huschker (Germany) Carsten Shoor (Germany)
Petroholding Lucas Serme (France) Ruslan Sorochinsky (Ukraine) Konstantin Rybalchenko (Ukraine) Denis Podvorny (Ukraine)
Helsinki Heikki Kononen (Finland) Alexey Leskinen (Finland) Piri Poikolainen (Finland) Toni Lotjonen (Finland)
Club European Championship: Master class from the strongest
In the opening match of the group stage, the Petroholding Squash Club team, as expected, lost to the Top 100 players in the PSA rating. The club championship in Belfast began for the team from Ukraine with the defeat of one of the favorites of the competition. The German club "Worms", which includes only two Germans, was predicted to be stronger than the "Petroholding Squash Club" in terms of potential, so the defeat of our squash players in all four matches is not surprising. Even the Frenchman Luca Sermet, who was invited to join the ranks of our club, could not stop the locomotive called "the eighth racket of the world ranking", which is David Palmer. All Serme had enough for was worthy resistance in the first game, which he was able to bring to a tie-break. Ruslan Sorochinsky and Konstantin Rybalchenko failed to take revenge for their defeats at the World Team Championship. David Bianchetti still had to tinker a little with the champion of Ukraine, but Marcus Berrett suddenly remembered that he was a representative of the squash homeland, and busily dealt with the captain of the Petroholding Squash Club. By the way, we recall that at the world forum Berrett was listed in the Italian national team, although at other competitions (including here) he is listed as a citizen of England. The last match was the only one that was a confrontation between the German and Ukrainian squash schools. Unfortunately, Denis Podvorny also could not resist the more experienced Andre Hashker, despite all his efforts. However, you should not be particularly upset about this defeat. On the contrary, our guys just picked up their tone on the eve of the meeting with the main rival - the Finnish club "Helsinki". The victory over him will allow us to start the fight for the seventh place - the bar we set last year.
European Club Championship (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Group stage
Group B
Worms (Germany) - Petroholding (Ukraine) - 4: 0
David Palmer - Luca Serme - 3: 0 (12:10, 11: 5, 11: 3)
Davide Bianchetti - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 6, 11: 5)
Marcus Berrett - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 1, 11: 8)
Andre Khashker - Denis Podvorny - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 5, 11: 1)
Club European Championship: Victory over Finns and second place in Group B
Having not given a single meeting to the club from Finland, Petroholding Squash Club ranks second in its group. After the defeat from one of the strongest quartets of the European club championship-2011 (experts predict gold medals for the German "Worms"), the players of the Ukrainian club played on representatives of the Finnish squash school. Our trio, reinforced by Luca Serme, gave Belfast fans an exciting confrontation that included two valid endings. We are talking about games with the participation of Ruslan Sorochinsky and Konstantin Rybalchenko. The first in a meeting with Alexei Leskinen easily won two games from his opponent, after which he allowed the Finn to revive the intrigue in order to demonstrate his advantage in skill in the fifth game. Rybalchenko went further. After his colleagues, having won their meetings, secured the second place in the group ahead of schedule (no one seriously considered the option that Helsinki could cope with Worms 4-0 in the evening matches), he gave Piri Poikolainen the maximum get closer to victory by losing two starting games. After that, the captain of the Petroholding Squash Club calmly seized the initiative, took three games in a row, and this ended the Ukraine-Finland confrontation. Thus, the Petroholding Squash Club team will fight at the next stage for 7-12 places (medals will be played between the winners of the groups). On Friday, three Ukrainians and a Frenchman will play against the hosts of the championship - the Irish “Belfast Boat Club”, on the courts of which most of the championship games are held.
European Club Championship (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Group stage
Group B
Petroholding (Ukraine) - Helsinki (Finland) - 4: 0
Luca Serme - Heikki Kononen - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 2, 11: 1)
Ruslan Sorochinsky - Alexey Leskinen - 3: 2 (11: 7, 11: 7, 9:11, 5:11, 11: 6)
Denis Podvorny - Toni Lotjonen - 3: 0 (11: 8, 12:10, 11: 7)
Konstantin Rybalchenko - Piri Poikolainen - 3: 2 (9:11, 5:11, 11: 6, 11: 7, 11: 6)
Club European Championship: "Petroholding" - the storm of the tournament hosts
This year squash players from Belfast were unlucky in their meeting with Ukrainians. The second day of the European Club Championship began with good news for Ukrainian fans. Petroholding Squash Club, apparently, has established a pleasant tradition of beating the hosts of the tournament. Last year there was a beat "Pontefract", but now the "Boat Club" from Belfast (pictured) got "under the distribution". The main trump cards of these four are the first and second rackets Steve Richardson and Graham Stewart. It was their resistance that Luke Serme and Ruslana Sorochinsky had to overcome. The Frenchman gave his opponent only one game, the Ukrainian almost lost. After winning the first game, Sorochinsky lost the second, and then was unexpectedly defeated in the third. The fourth game was decisive. Sorochinsky managed to pull himself together during the game and snatch victory in a tie-break. The demoralized Stewart didn't even resist in the last game. It was not very easy for Konstantin Rybalchenko and Denis Podvorny either, but they controlled the situation even in the smallest details, because neither Conor O'Hare nor Sean Conroy could write a single game on their personal account. Continuing the theme of the morning games, I would like to note that the clever system of holding the championship after the group stage split the playoff participants into sixes in such a way that two teams automatically skipped the first round of the elimination games. For example, the winner of Group B “Worms” automatically made it to the semifinals, while the champion of last year's competition “Paderborn” had to pass the line in the person of “Neudorf”. This meeting turned out to be significant - veteran Peter Nicole showed that the years take their toll - no matter how the Englishman resisted, Stefan Leifels turned out to be more enduring. However, the rest of the Neudorf players were weaker than their counterparts, including our old friend Chris Ryder, who lost to Spaniard Bor Golan. By the way, we note that in some pairs the games lasted until victory in two games, not three. It is difficult to say what caused this. Also "on the x" in the matches for 7-12 places were "Edgbaston" and "Recrean". It was the first of them who was supposed to meet with Petroholding Squash Club in the evening matches on September 9th.
European Club Championship (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Matches for 7-12 places
Petroholding - Belfast Boat Club - 4: 0 (12: 3)
Luca Serme - Steve Richardson - 3: 1 (11: 3, 11: 6, 4:11, 11: 8)
Ruslan Sorochinsky - Graham Stewart - 3: 2 (11: 8, 7:11, 3:11, 13:11, 11: 5)
Konstantin Rybalchenko - Conor O'Hare - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 6, 11: 8)
Denis Podvorny - Sean Conroy - 3: 0 (11: 8, 11: 5, 11: 7)
Results 8-9 September
Group stage
Group A
Aberdeen - Herlev / Hjorten - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Aberdeen - Hafrsfjord - 4: 0 (12: 1)
"Hafrsfjord" - "Herlev / Hjorten" - 2: 2 (10: 7)
Group B
Worms - Petroholding - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Petroholding - Helsinki - 4: 0 (12: 4)
Worms - Helsinki - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Group C
Valens - Belfast Boat Club - 4: 0 (12: 1)
Belfast Boat Club - Vaduz - 4: 0 (12: 4)
Valens - Vaduz - 4: 0 (12: 1)
Group D
Paderborn - Fitzwilliam - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Fitzwilliam - Lazy Loeb - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Paderborn - Lazy Lob - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Group E
Neudorf Holding - Recrean - 3: 1 (9: 3)
"Recrean" - "Agaoglu" - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Neudorf Holding - Agaoglu - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Group F
Intersquash - Edgbaston - 3: 1 (9: 5)
Matches for 13-17 places
Helsinki - Agaoglu - 4: 0 (10: 1)
Lazy Lob - Vaduz - 4: 0 (11: 2)
Matches for 7-12 places
Petroholding - Belfast Boat Club - 4: 0 (12: 3)
Fitzwilliam - Hafrsfjord - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Quarter finals
Paderborn - Neudorf Holding - 3: 1 (8: 2)
Valens - Intersquash - 3: 1 (8: 6)
Club European Championship: English trophy for Podvorny
Denis's victory over Mike Edwards was the only achievement of Petroholding Squash Club in the match for 7-10 places. The Ukrainian club was unable to confirm its seventh place, obtained at the European Club Championship last year. One of the reasons for this can be called the change in the format of the championship. If in Pontefract two teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals, now the presence of an unconditional favorite in each three made the appearance of sensational results simply impossible. In such conditions, winning the seventh place in the mini-tournament would have been equal to winning the entire European Championship - we would have come across opponents from the category of quite strong. This was also shown by the morning games of the second day against the hosts of the championship (recall the five-game duel of Ruslan Sorochinsky against Graham Stewart). It was more difficult in the evening. Petroholding Squash Club was opposed by a club from the homeland of squash - the English Edgbaston. In light of this, we can only praise Luc Serme and Ruslan Sorochinsky for the fact that they managed to beat Joel Hinds and Chris Truswell one game each. But the real pride in the Ukrainian squash school was caused by the performance of Denis Podvorny. After Konstantin Rybalchenko lost to Anthony Graham, which already meant Edgbaston's early victory, there was no point in giving all his best in the fight against Mike Edwards. Nevertheless, the fourth racket of Ukraine had its own pride - the Englishman was beaten in three games. Such a performance charges with optimism - it means that our players will have enough character to do everything possible to defeat another representative of Ireland at this tournament - the Fitzwilliam club. By the way, in 2010 this quartet became the fourth at the European Championship. By the way, the Irish lost the match to the Belgian "Recrean" only on points - the score in games and games was equal. One of the semifinals ended in the same vein. The winner of Group B, the offender of Petroholding, the German Worms put on a real thriller in a match against the French Walesa, whose number one is Nicholas Müller. The Black-and-Whites won with a difference of only three points - Andre Hashker nevertheless defeated Antoine Petrucci in the fifth game.
European Club Championship (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Matches for 13-15 places
Helsinki - Herlev / Hjorten - 2: 2 (10: 6)
Matches for 7-10 places
Edgbaston - Petroholding - 3: 1 (9: 5)
Joel Hinds - Luca Serme - 3: 1 (11: 9, 11: 8, 8:11, 11: 8)
Chris Truswell - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 1 (11: 3, 11: 8, 3:11, 11: 4)
Anthony Graham - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 0 (11: 9, 11: 4, 13:11)
Mike Evards - Denis Podvorny - 0: 3 (7:11, 7:11, 9:11)
Another match "Recrean" - "Fitzwilliam" - 2: 2 (9: 9, on points - 168: 163)
1/2 finals
Paderborn - Aberdeen - 3: 1 (10: 5)
Worms - Valens - 2: 2 (8: 8, on points - 148: 145)
Club European Championship: And again - the golden mean
Luc Serme's “dry” victory allowed Petroholding Squash Club to take ninth place in the tournament. In 2009, Ukrainian squash players took the seventh place at the European Club Championship, being exactly in the middle of the final standings. Then, in Pontefract, thirteen applicants fought for the title of the strongest club. Seventeen clubs arrived in Belfast - and again in the standings position, Petroholding Squash Club found its place between the best and the worst. During the course of the tournament, our players had a chance to play with some of the strongest squash players in Europe (meaning the future silver medalist of the championship - the German club "Worms"), try the English squash school ("Edgbaston"), cope with the Finns who took the thirteenth place ("Helsinki") and at the same time beat the hosts of the championship twice ("Boat Club" and "Fitzwilliam"). It was the victory over the latter that brought Konstantin Rybalchenko and his team to ninth place in the table of ranks. However, the victory over the Irish was not so straightforward - the question of the winner of the confrontation was decided only after counting the games won. After the confident victory of Luke Serme over Derek Ryan, a nervous "swing" began. Ruslan Sorochinsky stumbled in the fifth game of the meeting against Rory Byrne. As soon as Konstantin Rybalchenko brought his compatriots forward, a failure befell Denis Podvorny. As a result, it turned out that everything was decided by the game of the Frenchman, who smashed his rival in just three games. Thus, Petroholding Squash Club, in general, repeated its debut achievement at the European Championship. As well as the German Paderborn confirmed its title. Here, too, everything was decided by the games. After losing their meetings to David Palmer and Jens Shoor, Worms needed a 3-0 score from Marcus Berrett over veteran Peter Nichol (Andre Hushker won his meeting). Berrett took the first game with difficulty - only in a tie-break at 14:12. An Englishman with an Italian passport spent enough strength for this to make the body require recovery. The lost second game symbolized that the teams would not reach the total number of points won. Paderborn is once again trying on the gold medals of the European Club Championship.
European Club Championship (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
Match for 16th place
Lazy Lob - Agaoglu - 4: 0 (11: 5)
Match for 13th place
Helsinki - Vaduz - 4: 0 (12: 2)
11th place match
Belfast Boat Club - Hafrsfjord - 4: 0 (10: 2)
Match for 9th place
Petroholding - Fitzwilliam - 2: 2 (9: 7)
Luca Serme - Derek Ryan - 3: 0 (11: 3, 11: 4, 11: 4)
Ruslan Sorochinsky - Rory Byrne - 2: 3 (11: 8, 8:11, 11: 7, 7:11, 3:11)
Konstantin Rybalchenko - Aiden Sharkey - 3: 1 (11: 5, 11: 8, 8:11, 11: 5)
Denis Podvorny - Dara O'Flynn - 1: 3 (11:13, 5:11, 11: 5, 7:11)
7th place match
"Edgbaston" - "Recrean" - 2: 2 (9: 6)
5th place match
Neudorf Holding - Intersquash - 2: 2 (7: 6)
Match for 3rd place
Aberdeen - Valence - 4: 0 (11: 4)
Final "Paderborn" - "Worms" - 2: 1 (7: 4)
Final position of teams
Paderborn Squash Club (Germany) - Borja Golan, Simon Rosner, Peter Nicole, Tim Garner, Norman Junge
Black & White RC Worms (Germany) - David Palmer, Jens Shoor, Davide Bianchetti, Marcus Berrett, Andre Hushker
Aberdeen Squash Racquets Club (Scotland) - Daryl Selby, Alan Cline, Simon Park, Mike Black, Elistair Gorrie
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Petroholding Squash Club (Ukraine)
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Aqaoglu My Club (Turkey)
