European Team Championship: 2011

Team European Championship: Format change

This will be the 39th continental championship for the men's teams, and the 34th for the women's. But to fight for medals in the new format, both tournaments will be the first of their kind. The fact is that for the first time the European Team Championship will be held not in two, but in three divisions. And if the lowest group of teams, which will play on April 6-9 in Budapest, begins to determine applicants for promotion in the class in the old format, then with the first two things are completely different. The best eight of the Old World (Premier Division) will fight directly for medals, as well as determine the two losers who will drop in class next year. In exchange from the second division, two in 2012 will enter the fight for European gold. The same two-for-two exchange will take place between the second and third, delegating divisions.

The Ukrainian national team is in the second division and will have to fight for the prospect of entering the premier division. It is difficult to predict how much our squash players will succeed - since 2005, when Ukraine first took part in the Euro Forum, we have been steadily spinning around the twentieth place. On the other hand, last year's performance was the strongest - 18th place. Therefore, it is quite possible to hope that, at least in the third division, we will not fly out, as, for example, Russia has already done. However, for the first time in a long time, only 20 teams will take part in the tournament. So now we cannot go below last year's result ...

Ukraine does not delegate the women's national team. By the way, the only time our girls played at the European Championship happened in 2008, when they took the last, 19th place. Recall that the record holder for the number of championships is England, the ancestor of squash, on account of which 36 gold medals in the men's tournament (second only to Sweden in 1980 and 1983 and Scotland in 1992) and 33 in the women's tournament (only last year took third place, losing to Holland and France).

It remains only to add that the teams' applications must be submitted by March 28th. And already on April 6, we will learn the names of our first rivals in the European Team Championship.

Team European Championship: The composition is determined

Today's match was decisive for the name of the fourth player of the base of the national team of Ukraine. This match was expected. The confrontation between Artem Shandybin and Denis Podvorny was supposed to determine the fourth member of the team, which in less than a month needs to defend the honor of our country at the European Team Championship. Initially, there were six applicants for the two vacancies. But Viktor Kovalchuk did not see an opportunity to find free time for a trip to Espoo, the referee committee awarded Valery Fedoruk with a third ticket for indisputable superiority over other applicants, and Alexey Davidenko preferred to focus on the preparation of promising domestic juniors. And so it happened that the number of participants in the qualifying tournament was reduced to three. And if we take into account the balance of forces, then the battle of Shanbydin-Podvorny should have decided everything. Dmitry Shcherbakov resigned himself to the status of a reserve team, especially since in the event of a victory for Podvorny, Artyom withdrew himself from the tournament path, since he did not want to be a player himself.

As it turned out, the meeting of the main competitors for the fourth place in the national team, although it was quite interesting, as a result, turned into a very strong training session for the young player of Petroholding Squash Club. Artem Shandybin looked a little relaxed at first - he allowed Denis Podvorny to make 2-0 from the start. Only then the fourth racket of Ukraine woke up, won back a couple of points, but at the decisive moments he continued to make mistakes - 6: 3, 8: 4 and 11: 5 in favor of Podvorny. By the way, Denis took the last point on “stroke”. In fairness, it should be noted that each rally turned into a small piece of squash art - just Podvorny made fewer mistakes.

The second game turned into a benefit performance of the once reserve national team of Ukraine. 4: 1, 7: 2 ... At some point, Shandybin tried to seize the initiative, somehow won back two points, but then again got lost on numerous mistakes. Most of the rallies ended with Artyom either throwing the ball off the racket or being too slow when approaching it. A 5: 0 sprint allowed Denis Podvorny to win this game with a difference of only one point less than in the previous game.

Inspired by the advantage, Denis started the third game with a score of 3: 0. As soon as Shandybin accelerated and leveled the score (4: 4), Podvorny immediately responded with effective pressure, achieving the score 10: 5. it was at this moment that something broke in the actions of the player of the Petroholding Squash Club. Believing in victory too early, Podvorny, who had a match-ball, allowed his opponent to spurt 5: 0, level the score and transfer the game to a tie-break. Unfortunately, this was the last thing Shandybin had the strength to do. Podvorny very easily, thanks to the opponent's traditional “downs”, won the next two serves and achieved the right to represent the national team as one of the base players.

At the end of the report, we note that there will be no Saturday game between Denis Podvorny and Dmitry Shcherbakov. The latter agreed that the rapidly progressing player of Petroholding Squash Club deserves the right to defend the honor of Ukraine at the European Team Championship and, in view of Artem Shandybin's refusal to fight further, chose to go to Espoo as a reserve player.

2011 European Team Championship

Qualifying round. Ukraine

Denis Podvorny - Artem Shandybin - 3:0 (11: 5, 11: 6, 12:10)

Ukraine national team:

• Ruslan Sorochinsky
• Konstantin Rybalchenko
• Valery Fedoruk
• Denis Podvorny
• Reserve player: Dmitry Shcherbakov

Team European Championship: Finns and Belgians in our group

The draw for the European Team Championship, which starts on April 27 in Espoo, Finland, has taken place. Director of Petroholding Squash Club Anastasia Netrebchuk in a telephone conversation described the composition of group B, which included the national team of Ukraine, rather succinctly: "Not the best pair." It's hard to disagree with her - just a couple of days ago, one of the players of our club, Denis Podvorny, who honestly won the right to play in the national team, lost in the qualification of the PSA home tournament to Finn Matias Tuomi. And that would be nothing - but only the European team championship will be held just on the courts that are native to the Finns - so a certain factor of strength will play into the hands of those representatives of Finnish squash who will resist not only the fifth racket of the national rating of Ukraine.

It's too early to talk about the Belgians - the official website of the tournament has not yet published the composition of this team. In any case, Sorochinsky, Rybalchenko, Fedoruk, Podvorny and Shcherbakov will have a hard time - but the level of this “uneasiness” can be assessed only after the full lineups of the rival teams are published. On the other hand, the players of the Petroholding Squash Club defeated the English club Pontefract on its own courts in the club championship six months ago - why not repeat this now in Espoo? In general, there would be a desire - but we have the strength! A year ago we became 18th - and our team can not just beat this result, but also exceed it to the level from which we will have to start in a year or two in the elite premier division. If you remember, the fourth racket of Ukraine Artem Shandybin spoke about this at one time ...

Finally, let's recall who was the first in the third division, whose games were recently held in Budapest. Our northern neighbors, the Russians, lost 1: 3 to the Portuguese in the semifinals - it was their rivals who later became the winners of this echelon of European squash, beating the Greeks in the final. Among women, the Hungarian women took the lead, having coped in the final confrontation with the Polish national team.

European Team Championship (Espoo, Finland)

April 27-30, draw:

Schedule of games of the national team of Ukraine on April 27:

10:00 Finland - Ukraine

15:00 Belgium - Ukraine

Team European Championship: "Dry" defeat in the match against the favorites

As the experts predicted, the Ukrainian national team was unable to resist the hosts of the tournament on equal terms.

In a recent preview, it was mentioned that the world's leading squash site squash.co.uk predicted a promotion for the Finnish national team. The point was not only that Olli Tuominen is now one of the elite of the international rating. On the side of the national team of Finland and home support, and yet the rating of the rest of the players of the national team, who in the second division are unlikely to be able to adequately oppose the second, third and fourth rackets of the other teams.

And so it happened - in four matches the Ukrainian team could not take a single game. However, here you can find your positive aspects too. Once Konstantin Rybalchenko said that his partner at Petroholding Squash Club was just getting warmed up in the first games, and then he started to play with the inertia of the liner. The same happened in the confrontation with Olli Tuominen, who, for a second, shares 158 (!) Lines of the PSA rating with Ruslan and a huge difference in experience on the international arena. Having won two games, the Finn was slightly taken aback by the game that Sorochinsky, who studied the opponent, began to show. It came to a tie-break, where the Ukrainian lacked only a couple of accurate punches ...

The rest of the representatives of our team lost their meetings without victories in individual games, though not without a murmur. But, as Sorochinsky once said: "We just need to gain experience more often at international tournaments - and then the level of our game will begin to grow exponentially."

The second group stage matches will take place in the afternoon. In order to reach the playoffs, the Ukrainians need to beat the Belgian national team.

By the way, in the matches of the elite division, the French dealt with the Scots with a score of 4: 0, and the Dutch gave Germany only one game - 3: 1 (the recent participant of the Kiev PSA challenger Rafael Kandra got his easy victory over Sebastian Veenink).

European Team Championship (Espoo, Finland)

Division 2

Group stage. 1st round

Group B

Finland - Ukraine - 4: 0 (12: 0)

Olli Tuominen - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 1, 12:10)

Erno Teytti - Denis Podvorny - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 3, 11: 4)

Henrik Mustonen - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 4, 11: 2)

Hamed Ahmed - Valery Fedoruk - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 3, 11: 4)

Team European Championship: Ukrainians will fight for the right to stay in their division

An unconditional defeat in the confrontation with the Belgian national team threw our plenipotentiaries to the struggle for survival. Having lost to the Finns, the Ukrainian squash players understood perfectly well that the only chance to catch on to the quarterfinals of the team championship was to defeat the Belgians. It is clear that our players were opposed by very experienced rivals, but here our players still had real chances of reaching the playoffs. Yes, Ruslan Sorochinsky lost his game (in the photo in the first round match against Tuominen), although he tried to fight for every goal to the maximum - here the experience that Stefan Castelain has played has played a role. In the second meeting, Denis Podvorny decided to level the score, who was opposed by the fourth racket of the Belgium national team, Dave de Beul. Players of the same level met here (after the refusals of Mats Ramen and Mark Burke, the total potential of the Belgians became comparable to the team of the Ukrainian national team). Denis fought to the end - even losing 1: 2, in the fourth game he managed to transfer the game to a tie-break, where he hit the opponent. The decisive game turned out to be a sight for sore eyes, but several of de Beul's key goals were decisive for this meeting - Belgium led 2: 0.

The next two meetings were aimed at being able to level the situation, especially since the Ukrainian national team had at least two won games. Having studied the game of Tom de Mulder in two games, Konstantin Rybalchenko started. The third game was a real challenge for the second racket of Belgium. But, after a large number of exchanges with accurate shots, de Mulder managed to win his third game with a score of 16:14.

This already meant the defeat of our team and the future struggle for survival in the second division. Nevertheless, the professionalism of Valery Fedoruk simply did not allow the third racket of Ukraine to treat the game with Jan van der Herreweghe carelessly. The third game, which Fedoruk lost 0:11, does not count. In it, by the way, most of the points were lost only in the final moments. But the rest of the games ... The Ukrainian not only won one game, he also drove his rival in the first and fourth - and this already speaks of the character of domestic performers and the fact that the development of squash and the education of our players are at the proper level.

After the first day, Slovakia also fell into the echelon of outsiders (lost both starting games to Spain and Hungary) and Austria (it was defeated by Denmark and Ireland). It is in the face-to-face games of this trio that the question will be decided - who will still remain in the second division, and who will leave it in favor of the winners of the games of the third division in Greece and Portugal. Tomorrow at 16:30 local time our skovsh players will play against the Austrians.

European Team Championship (Espoo, Finland)

Division 2

Group stage. 2nd round

Group B

Belgium - Ukraine - 4: 0 (12: 3)

Stefan Kastelain - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 6, 11: 4)

Dave de Beul - Denis Podvorny - 3: 2 (8:11, 11: 7, 11: 9, 10:12, 11: 8)

Tom de Mulder - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 0 (11: 3, 11: 6, 16:14)

Jan van der Herreweghe - Valery Fedoruk - 3: 1 (11: 8, 7:11, 11: 0, 11: 9)

Team European Championship: Konstantin Rybalchenko shows character

Despite the defeat, the captain of Petroholding Squash Club added certain whists to ensure that the national team could confidently stay in the second division.

In the very first game for 9-11 places, the national team of Ukraine suffered a crushing defeat from the Austrians. Taking into account the modified regulations for dividing the European championships into three divisions, this somewhat complicated the task of our team to remain in the second division of the Euro team. As you know, the loser of games for 9-11 places will leave this echelon. Actually, the national team of Israel was supposed to fight at the European Team Championship, but its failure to appear automatically threw these squash players down a level. So at the 2011 championship the teams determined only one loser of the season.

Defeat at the hands of the Autrians is an unpleasant thing. What a shame - in none of the meetings that took place (that in the group - against the Finns and the Belgians, that now) did the Ukrainians win a single game. Moreover, the game won was rare. But let it speak more about the lack of experience in the international arena. For our guys' character is all right. How else to explain the fact that when our team was losing 0: 3 (that is, it was already impossible to count on victory in this match), in the last meeting Konstantin Rybalchenko gave a real fight to the second racket of the Austrian national team, Jacob Dirnberger? It doesn't matter that Rybalchenko and Dirnberger are now neighbors in the PSA rating. The fact is that the opposition of the national teams has already been lost at the moment - but this did not bother the captain of Petroholding Squash Club, who was used to working at the maximum in every game. As a result, the audience really enjoyed this encounter - a rare occurrence like in knockout matches. Rybalchenko was close to victory - it's a pity that it didn't work out to pull out the fifth game.

In the last two days, the group for 9-11 places has two meetings left. The Ukrainians on Saturday will play against the Slovaks, who even before that are fighting with the Austrians. In principle, a victory over Thomas Toth and his partners may well guarantee registration in the second division for the next year. Let a lot depend on the game Slovakia-Austria. In general, we keep our fists for our guys. Given the nature of our players, you can be sure that in every game they will fight for every point.

And, finally, about those teams that beat our team in the group stage. At one time it was said that Finland is one of the candidates for the exit from Group B? So, the hosts of the tournament passed the most severe test already in the quarterfinals, beating the Hungarians only by the ratio of games won. And the favorites of the championship, the Spaniards, almost lost their meeting against the second team of our group - the Belgians. There it didn’t just go to recounting games - points! As a result, Golan's teammates nevertheless reached the semifinals, as they were better than their rivals by two successful rallies. In such competitions, not a single accurate shot is superfluous ...

European Team Championship (Espoo, Finland)

Division 2

Quarter finals

Hungary - Finland - 2: 2 (6: 8)

Mark Krajcak - Olli Tuominen - 3: 2 (11: 3, 11: 8, 3:11, 7:11, 11: 4)

Sandor Fülöp - Matias Tuomi - 0: 3 (7:11, 4:11, 1:11)

Andras Torok - Erno Teytti - 3: 0 (11: 9, 5:11, 11: 9)

Marton Saboki - Henrik Mustonen - 0: 3 (4:11, 4:11, 6:11)

Denmark - Switzerland - 3: 1 (9: 4)

Christian Frost - Nicholas Müller - 0: 3 (5:11, 6:11, 1:11)

Morten Sorensen - Lucas Burkhart - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 5, 11: 3)

Michael Freelund - Patrick Miescher - 3: 1 (7:11 11: 9, 11: 4, 11: 6)

Rasmus Nielsen - Reiko Peter - 3: 0 (12:10, 11: 4, 11: 6)

Ireland - Sweden - 1: 3 (5:10)

Arthur Gaskin - Rasmus Hult - 1: 3 (5:11, 8:11, 11: 9, 8:11)

Steve Richardson - Christian Richardson - 1: 3 (11: 6, 7:11, 9:11, 1:11)

Conor O'Hare - Romain Tennant - 0: 3 (11:13, 2:11, 7:11)

Derek Ryan - Gustav Detter - 3: 1 (7:11, 11: 8, 15:13, 11: 9)

Spain - Belgium - 2: 2 (7: 7 - on points 124: 122)

Boria Golan - Stefan Castelain - 1: 3 (11: 8, 9:11, 10:12, 2:11)

Alejandro Garbi - Mark Burke - 3: 1 (11: 7, 11: 4, 9:11, 11: 5)

Hugo Varela - Jan van der Herreweghe - 0: 3 (1:11, 8:11, 7:11)

David Vidal - Tom de Mulder - 3: 0 (12:10, 11: 7, 11: 3)

Matches for 9-11 places

Ukraine - Austria - 0: 4 (3:12)

Ruslan Sorochinsky - Akvel Rehman - 0: 3 (7:11, 7:11, 5:11)

Valeriy Fedoruk - Daniel Haider - 1: 3 (11: 7, 6:11, 6:11, 9:11)

Denis Podvorny - Markus Gresliner - 0: 3 (9:11, 7:11, 6:11)

Konstantin Rybalchenko - Jacob Dirnberger - 2: 3 (4:11, 11: 9, 9:11, 11: 8, 7:11)

Team European Championship: Ukraine leaves for the third division

Having lost four matches on the final day of the competition, the Ukrainian national team occupied the last line of the second division of the European Team Championship.

Until recently, it was believed that the day of rest would benefit our squashists. The day before, the Slovaks bombed the Austrians, the recent offenders of the Ukrainian national team. But they spent quite a lot of energy, because it was expected that the battle between Thoth and his comrades and the best representatives of Ukrainian squash would be serious. She was so, but only each meeting ended in favor of the opponent. Ruslan Sorochinskiy fought desperately against the leader of the Slovak national team - every rally the opponents tried to play to the right. Ruslan was even able to take one game. But there were moments when Sorochinsky was not enough until the end of the rally, and, as a sin, it happened at the most crucial moments. As a result - 0: 1 in favor of Slovakia.

Valery Fedoruk and Dmitry Shcherbakov also approached their confrontations with maximum responsibility (the latter replaced the fourth racket of the team of Denis Podvorny that day). Against the Kwetschinski-Zeller tandem, they also fought as best they could, often surprising their opponents with cunning combinations, but also could not win their meetings, taking one game from the opponent for two.

Traditionally, Konstantin Rybalchenko prepared a lot for his meeting. Like two days ago, even though the team was already losing with a score of 0: 3, the captain of Petroholding Squash Club did not want to lay down his arms. His battle against Marek Manik will be remembered for a long time by the fans of the Esport Center. Having won the first two games in a tie-break, Rybalchenko continued to fight to the end, hoping to take away at least one victory from Finland. Unfortunately, the forces began to leave our squashista already at the equator of the meeting. If he managed to finish off an opponent in the third game, Ukraine would have won even one, but a full point in the championship. Just at the decisive moment, Constantine misfired. And in the next two games he began to gradually weaken, so that it was easier for Manik to win back the gap every minute. The meeting ended in favor of the Slovak.

However, the defeat of Ukraine in the matches for 9-11 places went unnoticed in the light of the main sensation of the second division. The main favorite of the competition - Spain - unexpectedly dropped out of the struggle for tickets to the elite, resignedly losing to the Danes! The only victory in this confrontation was won by the "star" Borya Golan - and even then only in the fifth game and with difficulty. In the match for third place, the Spaniards beat the Swedes, but only a bronze medal does not affect the promotion in class - unless the format of the competition changes again. Thus, the final will be truly Scandinavian - Denmark (pictured, celebrating its entry into the elite) against Finland.

European Team Championship (Espoo, Finland)

Division 2

1/2 finals

Finland - Sweden - 2: 2 (7: 5)

Olli Tuominen - Rasmus Hult - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 0, 11: 8)

Mathias Tuomi - Christian Drakenberg - 1: 3 (11: 7, 9:11, 10:12, 9:11)

Henrik Mustonen - Gustav Detter - 3: 0 (11: 8, 11: 7, 11: 6)

Arttu Moisio - Romain Tennant - 0: 2 (7:11, 6:11)

Denmark - Spain - 3: 1 (11: 7)

Christian Frost - Boria Golan - 2: 3 (11: 8, 11: 4, 7:11, 7:11, 9:11)

Morten Sorensen - Alejandro Garbi - 3: 2 (11: 4, 11: 9, 3:11, 8:11, 11: 9)

Michael Freelund - Ivan Flores - 3: 1 (11: 8, 1:11, 11: 3, 12:10)

Rasmus Nielsen - David Vidal - 3: 1 (11: 2, 7:11, 11: 8, 13:11)

Match for 3rd place

Spain - Sweden - 3: 1 (10: 3)

Boria Golan - Rasmus Hult - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 4, 11: 6)

Hugo Varela - Romain Tennant - 1: 3 (0:11, 6:11, 11: 8, 8:11)

Ivan Flores - Sebastian Victor - 3: 0 (11: 2, 12:10, 11: 9)

David Vidal - Christian Drakenberg - 3: 0 (11: 3, 11: 6, 13:11)

Matches for 5-8 places

Ireland - Hungary - 3: 1 (10: 5)

Arthur Gaskin - Mark Krychak - 3: 1 (5:11, 7:11, 11: 8, 5:11)

Steve Richardson - Sandor Fulep - 3: 1 (11: 3, 12:10, 9:11, 11: 9)

Derek Ryan - Marton Saboki - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 3, 11: 1)

Graham Stewart - Andras Torok - 3: 1 (7:11, 11: 2, 11: 6, 11: 2)

Belgium - Switzerland - 1: 3 (4: 9)

Stefan Castelain - Nicholas Mueller - 3: 1 (13:15, 11: 9, 5:11, 8:11)

Mark Burke - Patrick Miescher - 0: 3 (8:11, 6:11, 8:11)

Tom de Mulder - Reiko Peter - 0: 3 (8:11, 6:11, 8:11)

Jan van der Herreweghe - Jonas Dahler - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 8, 11: 7)

Matches for 9-11 places

Slovakia - Austria - 3: 1 (9: 7)

Thomas Toth - Aquel Rehman - 0: 3 (6:11, 4:11, 7:11)

Peter Kwiecinski - Daniel Haider - 3: 1 (4:11, 11: 5, 11: 8, 11: 9)

Marek Manik - Jakob Dirnberger - 3: 2 (11: 7, 9:11, 11: 9, 7:11, 11: 5)

Miroslav Zeller - Markus Gresliner - 3: 1 (12:10, 11: 7, 6:11, 11: 1)

Slovakia - Ukraine - 4: 0 (12: 4)

Thomas Toth - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 1 (7:11, 11: 7, 11: 9, 11: 5)

Peter Kvechinski - Valeriy Fedoruk - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 8, 11: 8)

Miroslav Zeller - Dmitry Shcherbakov - 3: 1 (4:11, 13:11, 11: 5, 11: 8)

Marek Manik - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 2 (10:12, 11:13, 11: 9, 11: 5, 11: 4)

Final position of teams