European Club Team Championship: 2015
To Krakow with optimism
On Wednesday, September 16, the last of the series of continental championships starts in Krakow. After the determination of the strongest squash players in Europe at the level of individual and team championship, this time it was the turn of the clubs. And for what year in a row representatives of Ukraine will intervene in this dispute.
Earlier, representatives of the Petroholding Squash Club took part in the European Club Championship from our country. Usually foreigners were invited as the first racket - Englishman Hadrian Stiff, Frenchman Luca Serme, Czech Ondrej Uherka. Now the time has come to perform exclusively on their own. The strongest squash players of Ukraine were attracted to the continental championship - in fact, the backbone of the national team.
Dmitry Pogrebnyak joined the titled Konstantin Rybalchenko, Ruslan Sorochinsky and Valery Fedoruk, who have extensive experience in performing in the international arena, for many years playing at the world level in various kinds of junior championships.
This year, twenty-four teams - fifteen men and ten women - will fight for the right to be considered the strongest. In the men's championship, multiple winners of this championship will play, including the favorites of the competition - the German clubs Paderborn and Worms, the French Mulhouse, and the English Edgbaston. The list of players who will play in Krakow includes squash players from the top list of the PSA rating. The same Frenchmen Gregua Marsh and Mathieu Castagnier, along with veteran Thierry Linku, Germans of the caliber of Raphael Kandra, Tim Garner, Andre Hasker and Jens Schoor, Australian David Palmer, Italian Davide Bianchetti. In general, these three four days of games promise to be full of interesting squash, real battles and unforeseen outcomes.
The draw determined the Ukrainian team, which this time will be called "Willpower", in group B together with one of the favorites of the competition - the second seeded French "Mulhouse", which includes a real international from natives of France, Switzerland and Germany.
Our guys will start their fight at the European Club and Team Championship with meetings with representatives of the Irish club Leinster. The second day of the competition will be dedicated to the end of the group stage, where the dark horse of the championship - the Bulgarian "Racket Power" from Sofia, will await Ukrainian players.
On the same day in the evening the playoffs will begin - to continue the fight, our squash players need to take one of the first two places in their group. Otherwise, the Ukrainians will play for 9-15 places.
Note that earlier representatives of Ukraine took part in four European club championships. In 2010, in Pontefract, the four represented by Stiff, Sorochinsky, Rybalchenko, Denis Podvorny took seventh place, the next year after replacing Stiff with Serma they became ninth in Belfast. In 2012 in Prague, when Ugerka was recruited as a legionnaire, the Ukrainian team was limited to eleventh place. The same result was achieved a year later, when Ukraine in the Italian Riccione was represented by a four represented by Rybalchenko, Fedoruk, Podvorny and Alexander Bulgakov. For obvious reasons, our team missed the last championship - in Nottingham the German club Worms once again became the European champion, defeating compatriots from Paderborn in the final. We hope that this year the Ukrainian team "Willpower" will be able to make some noise at the continental championship and once again confirm the strength of the Ukrainian squash school.
We look forward to the day when our squash players will start fighting for the medals of the European Club and Team Championship! We add that it will traditionally be possible to follow the results of matches online on the official statistical website of the ESF.
European Club-Team Championship (Krakow, Poland)
Group A
"Paderborn" (Germany, 1)
"Victoria" (Czech Republic, 8)
"Newlands" (Scotland, 9)
Group B
"Mulhouse" (France, 2)
"Leinster" (Ireland, 7)
Willpower (Ukraine, 10)
"Sofia" (Bulgaria, 15)
Group C
"BW Worms" (Germany, 3)
SRC "Vaduz" (Liechtenstein, 6)
"Kahuna" (Poland, 11)
Sandweiller (Luxembourg, 14)
Group D
"Edgbaston" (England, 4)
ESRC (Finland, 5)
"Vidux-Tisza" (Hungary, 12)
"Squash4You" (Poland, 13)
Team lineups of group B "Willpower"
Ruslan Sorochinsky (Ukraine)
Valery Fedoruk (Ukraine)
Konstantin Rybalchenko (Ukraine)
Dmitry Pogrebnyak (Ukraine)
Group B games schedule, September 16
"Leinster" - "Willpower", "Mulhouse" - "Sofia" "Leinster" - "Sofia", "Mulhouse" - "Willpower"
September 17
Mulhouse - Leinster, Willpower - Sofia
European Club Championship: Day One
The first day of the European club and team championship, which is taking place these days in Krakow, gave Ukrainian squash fans only partial satisfaction. In the matches against the favorites of Group B, Irish Leinster and French Mulhouse, our team, acting this year under the name Willpower, managed to take only one victory each. At the end of the day, the Ukrainian four is still only in third place in their quartet and, most likely, will fight only for 9-12 places. However, the game that our guys showed made everyone present in the stands applauded. According to the schedule, on Wednesday, the battle between the teams began with the confrontation of the fourth rackets. The morning meeting of young Dmitry Pogrebnyak against Rory Gilligan was outstanding - in the very first game, the Ukrainian imposed his game on his opponent and brought the matter to a tie-break. Only after the Irishman managed to take the Ukrainian squash player to "more or less", he was able to feel confident in his abilities and brought the match to victory. The battle of the first rackets turned out to be no less tense - it took Brian Byrne all his skill and 48 minutes of an intense match to cope with Ruslan Sorochinsky. Immediately after that, the captain of the national team, Konstantin Rybalchenko, simply defeated Sam Allville, giving his opponent only one game. The fate of this meeting was decided in the struggle between the second numbers of Sean Conroy and Valery Fedoruk. The Irish squash player was lucky enough to win two starting games - both with a minimal difference. Only after that did Fedoruk allow himself to give up the rest of the game, and with it the whole game. This was followed by a meeting against one of the strongest teams of the European Championship - the international from the French club "Mulhouse". The schedule of matches kept the same order - and already in the starting meeting, Pogrebnyak stunned the coaching staff of the "tricolors", leaving no stone unturned from his peer Nicholas Romer. Unfortunately, his teammates failed to support his compatriot's initiative. It is not surprising, because Sorochinsky, Rybalchenko and Fedoruk were opposed by squash players who are far from the last places in the PSA rating. And one has only to be proud that the same Sorochinsky managed to confront one of the best players in France, Mathieu Castagnier, on equal terms, Rybalchenko managed to bring a lot of trouble to Benjamin Fischer, and Fedoruk almost defeated German Rudy Rormüller in the third game. On Thursday, the Ukrainian four will play against a quartet from the capital of Bulgaria. Judging by the fact that the Slav brothers lost without options in both starting matches, it can be assumed that we will not have any special problems with this team. If successful, we will be awaited by the third team of group C - either the Polish club "Kahuna", or "Sandweiler" from Luxembourg. Matches for 9-12 places are scheduled for Friday.
European Club Team Championship 2015 (Krakow, Poland)
Group stage
Group B
"Leinster" (Ireland) - "Willpower" (Ukraine) - 3: 1 (10: 4)
Rory Gilligan - Dmitry Pogrebnyak - 3: 0 (14:12, 11: 5, 11: 7)
Brian Byrne - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 1 (14:12, 11: 3, 9:11, 11: 6)
Sam Allville - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 1: 3 (6:11, 3:11, 11: 8, 5:11)
Sean Conroy - Valery Fedoruk - 3: 0 (11: 9, 11: 9, 11: 3)
"Mulhouse" (France) - "Willpower" (Ukraine) - 3: 1 (10: 4)
Nicholas Romer - Dmitry Pogrebnyak - 1: 3 (2:11, 11: 9, 2:11, 2:11)
Mathieu Castagnier - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 8, 11: 5)
Benjamin Fischer - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 1 (11: 1, 14:16, 11: 6, 11: 8)
Rudy Rormuller - Valery Fedoruk - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 1, 15:13)
Other matches
"Mulhouse" (France) - "Sofia" (Bulgaria) - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Leinster (Ireland) - Sofia (Bulgaria) - 4: 0 (12: 3)
September 17 play
"Mulhouse" - "Leinster", "Willpower" - "Sofia"
Results of matches in other groups
Group A
"Paderborn" (Germany) - "Newlands" (Scotland) - 4: 0 (12: 5)
"Paderborn" (Germany) - "Viktoria" (Czech Republic) - 2: 2 (8: 7)
September 17 play
"Viktoria" - "Newlands"
Group C
"BW Worms" (Germany) - "Sandweiler" (Luxembourg) - 4: 0 (12: 0)
SRC "Vaduz" (Liechtenstein) - "Kahuna" (Poland) - 4: 0 (12: 2)
"BW Worms" (Germany) - "Kahuna" (Poland) - 4: 0 (12: 0)
SRC "Vaduz" (Liechtenstein) - "Sandweiler" (Luxembourg) - 4: 0 (12: 0)
September 17 play
BW Worms - SRC "Vaduz", "Kahuna" - "Sandweiler"
Group D
"Edgbaston" (England) - "Squash4You" (Poland) - 4: 0 (12: 1)
ESRC (Finland) - "Vidux-Tisza" (Hungary) - 1: 3 (9: 9)
ESRC (Finland) - "Squash4You" (Poland) - 3: 1 (9: 4)
"Edgbaston" (England) - "Vidux-Tisza" (Hungary) - 4: 0 (12: 0)
September 17 play "Vidux-Tisza" - "Squash4You", "Edgbaston" - ESRC
European Club Championship: day two
The matches of the second game day were held at the European Club and Team Championship taking place these days in Krakow. On Thursday morning, the group stage games ended, finally dividing the clubs into those who will continue to fight for medals, and who will play in the consolation matches of the playoffs. The Ukrainian quartet "Willpower", after a not entirely successful first game day, took revenge, simply defeating the opponents from Bulgaria. Thus, on Friday, the Ukrainians will start fighting for 9-12 places - and, it should be noted, the chances of winning in this four are extremely high. It is not worth focusing on how we passed the Bulgarians. Suffice it to note that the opponent was able to take only three games from the Ukrainians, being easily beaten in the rest. The given games can only be recorded in the list of those parties that the squash player allows to win, in order to rest before the next winning spurt. Difficulties arose only in the matches of the first rackets, where Ruslan Sorochinsky fiddled with Stelian Stankov a little more than he was supposed to. But Konstantin Rybalchenko, Valery Fedoruk and Dmitry Pogrebnyak coped with their counterparts without any problems. On Thursday evening, the Krakow courts watched the opening matches for places 1-8. Other teams at this time were resting and gaining strength. The Ukrainian four were preparing for Friday's matches against the squash players from the Kahuna club. This team became the third in group C - and it is they who will have to fight against the club from Ukraine. However, the history of relations between Polish and Ukrainian squash players is quite long - and the statistics are on the side of our players. Despite all the experience that Wojciech Nowisz, Lukasz Stakhovski, Kamil Dominjak and Przemyslaw Gnitecki have, it is unlikely that even the support of their native tribunes will help them cope with the representatives of the Ukrainian squash school who went into a rage.
Club-Team European Championship 2015
Krakow, Poland)
Group stage
September 17
Group B
"Mulhouse" (France) - "Leinster" (Ireland) - 4: 0 (12: 3)
Willpower (Ukraine) - Sofia (Bulgaria) - 4: 0 (12: 3)
Konstantin Rybalchenko - Kostadin Simeonov - 3: 0 (11: 1, 11: 4, 11: 5)
Ruslan Sorochinsky - Stelian Stankov - 3: 1 (11: 7, 11: 5, 5:11, 13:11)
Valery Fedoruk - Stoil Zhilev - 3: 1 (11: 7, 6:11, 11: 6, 11: 5)
Dmitry Pogrebnyak - Dimitar Zhilev - 3: 1 (11: 8, 11: 4, 9:11, 11: 5)
Results of matches in other groups
Group A
"Viktoria" (Czech Republic) - "Newlands" (Scotland) - 2: 2 (6: 8)
Group C
"BW Worms" (Germany) - SRC "Vaduz" (Liechtenstein) - 4: 0 (12: 0)
"Kahuna" (Poland) - "Sandweiler" (Luxembourg) - 4: 0 (12: 2)
Group D
"Vidux-Tisza" (Hungary) - "Squash4You" (Poland) - 2: 2 (9: 9, on points - 180: 172)
"Edgbaston" (England) - ESRC (Finland) - 4: 0 (12: 1)
Quarter finals
"Viktoria" (Czech Republic) - "Mulhouse" (France) - 0: 4 (1:10)
"BW Worms" (Germany) - "Vidux-Tisza" (Hungary) - 4: 0 (11: 0)
SRC "Vaduz" (Liechtenstein) - "Edgbaston" (England) - 1: 3 (2: 9)
Paderborn (Germany) - Leinster (Ireland) - 4: 0 (11: 1)
European Club Championship: final stage
The European Club and Team Championship has ended in Krakow. The Ukrainian four represented by Ruslan Sorochinsky, Valery Fedoruk, Konstantin Rybalchenko and Dmitry Pogrebnyak were able to adequately represent our country. Yes, at the group stage it was difficult for us to fight against the favorites of this championship. But already in the playoffs, the warmed up quartet of Ukrainian squash players began to sweep away everyone in its path. In the matches for 9-12 places, the team from the country that hosted this championship first went. We, of course, have friendly relations with the Poles, but not when it comes to the battle on the courts. However, the first two matches were rather difficult - Sorochinsky nevertheless defeated Wojciech Nowisz in a five-game duel, and Fedoruk lost his meeting to Lukasz Stakhovski. But this only benefited the Ukrainian team - "offended" for the difficult game that Polish squash players gave out to their partners, Rybalchenko bombed Kamil Dominyak to smithereens, and then the fourth racket "Willpower" Pogrebnyak, who simply destroyed Przemyslav on the court, followed his example Gnietzki. The Warsaw players were so taken aback by such pressure that the next day they simply did not play for eleventh place against the Finnish ESRC, limiting themselves to a technical defeat. The Ukrainians have already made their way to the top ten clubs in Europe. The only thing left was to cope with the Scottish club Newlands in the match for ninth place. And in the fight against one of the founders of squash, our guys did a lot. Suffice it to say that in determining the best one had to count the number of games won. At the beginning of the confrontation Fedoruk managed to pull out the game against the second racket of this team, Peter O'Hara, having spent 55 minutes with him on the court and played five games. This was followed by the most difficult victories of the Scots over Sorochinsky and Rybalchenko, after which Pogrebnyak brought one more point to the piggy bank of the Ukrainian quartet. Only the fact that during this battle the Highlanders were able to pull out three more games than we did allowed them to become the winner of the consolation tournament. But, in any case, even the defeat on the last day of the European Championship could not prevent the Ukrainian four from finishing this championship among the top ten teams of the Old World. As for the overall results of the competition, the final logically met the German teams "Paderborn" and "Worms", staffed by the best players in the world squash (it is enough to mention only the Englishman Chris Simpson, Australian David Palmer, Frenchman Gregua Marsh, to understand that Germany itself is here there was only the flag and the prestige of the club). Another international represented by the French "Mulhouse" finished the championship on the third line. I would like to congratulate our guys on a great performance at the European Club and Team Championship - after a one-year break, the Ukrainian four managed to show the whole of Europe what a real male character is. We fought to the last, forcing everyone present in the Krakow stands to applaud us.
European Club Team Championship 2015 (Krakow, Poland)
Group stage
Matches for 9-12 places
Willpower (Ukraine) - Kahuna (Poland) - 3: 1 (10: 5)
Ruslan Sorochinsky - Wojciech Novish - 3: 2 (9:11, 11: 3, 11: 1, 7:11, 12:10)
Valeriy Fedoruk - Lukasz Stakhovski - 1: 3 (11: 8, 8:11, 7:11, 9:11)
Konstantin Rybalchenko - Kamil Dominyak - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 2, 11: 3)
Dmitry Pogrebnyak - Przemyslav Gnitecki - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 0, 11: 1)
ESRC (Finland) - Newlands (Scotland) - 1: 3 (5:10)
Match for 9th place
"Newlands" (Scotland) - "Willpower" (Ukraine) - 2: 2 (9: 6)
Peter O'Hara - Valery Fedoruk - 2: 3 (7:11, 12:10, 6:11, 12:10, 9:11)
Michael Harris - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 0 (11: 3, 11: 6, 11: 6)
Paul Bell - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 3, 11: 3)
Christian Downlen - Dmitry Pogrebnyak - 1: 3 (10:12, 11:13, 12:10, 2:11)
Final position
1. "BW Worms" (Germany)
2. "Paderborn" (Germany)
3. "Mulhouse" (France)
... 10. "Willpower" (Ukraine)
... 15. "Sandweiler" (Luxembourg)