European Team Championship: 2016
Following the women's team, which showed a pretty decent result at the European Team Championship in Bucharest, our men went to support the reputation of the Ukrainian squash school - their tournament is taking place in Warsaw. Moreover, the fight is expected to be much more serious, because they will not have to fight in the third division, like our girls, but at a higher level, where the rivals will be stronger. But the task still remains the same - to perform as best as possible and for the first time in its history to realize the chance to enter the elite of the world squash.
BACKGROUND
The European Team Championships have been held for a very long time, and the format of their holding has changed quite often. It was not easy for an ordinary person, who was not familiar with the system of holding this tournament, to understand the regulations of this championship and the distribution of teams by divisions. Since its inception, the Ukrainian national team has played both at the European Team Championship and at its kind of "satellite" - the European Nations Cup, which, by the way, also won. Only a few years ago, the European Squash Federation decided to somehow structure the continental championship, combining various team tournaments and introducing a division system.
As a result, the recent European Cup of Nations has evolved into a third division, subject to a strict rotation with more elite levels. And it became much easier to determine the final places of the various teams. The very same rotation, both in the men's and women's tournaments, implied a fight in various divisions with prizes. The exchange between these divisions was subject to a strict principle - the two weakest teams of one of them exchange places with the two strongest of the other. Thanks to this, it was possible at least mathematically to determine the final position of a particular team of the Old World at the moment.
The national team of Ukraine, which exists (as, in fact, the Ukrainian squash school itself) not so long ago, at first had the lowest rating among the participants. She always came across very strong rivals - these are the seeding rules. But our players were not shy, fought, gained experience. Even if they were often balancing on the brink - they either climbed to the second division, then returned to the third - but they did not lose faith in themselves, and in 2014 they set a kind of record, taking the final 17th place (this is if you count the positions of the teams in all divisions!). The Ukrainians held last year's European Championship no worse, retaining their right to compete in the second division. Taking into account the fact that over the years our players have become not only much more experienced and more skilled, but also managed to rally into a real team, the upcoming games can be a real surprise for many specialists of the Old World.
STARTING LAYOUT
To be honest, the draw for the tournament was not particularly pleasing - the Wales national team, which played in the first division just a year ago and took the seventh place in the final, went down to a lower level, got into Group A to our team. Therefore, games with the Welsh will be the most important test of our guys' strength. The names of Peter Creed, Joel Makin, Emir Evans and David Haley are well-known in the world squash, so you have to sweat. Also in group A there is a rather strong team of Israel, headed by the already skilled Daniel Poleshchuk (at the age of 20, he is a two-time champion of Israel and the first squash player of this country to win the PSA tournament). But, if the Ukrainians are given the task of leaving the group, it must be fulfilled, no matter what. After all, not names, but people play squash, and you can beat anyone. The Ukrainian five, represented by champions of Ukraine and winners of the Ukrainian Cup of various years, Denis Podvorny, Valery Fedoruk, Konstantin Rybalchenko, Ruslan Sorochinsky, as well as the recent junior Dmitry Pogrebnyak, who has become skilled in squash in recent years, performing at very strong international tournaments, is quite capable of making a riot in this trio. At the same time, unlike many teams participating in the championship in the second division, the composition of our team is very even, and the distribution by "numbers" here is more conditional than actual. Success in the match against Wales or Israel already guarantees us a place in the playoffs, which is the minimum task for the Ukrainian quintet. And already in the quarterfinals, we hope our guys will catch even more courage ... If the starting games are not entirely successful, the main task for the Ukrainian team will be to keep a place in the second division in matches for 9-12 places. However, we hope it will not come to this. On the courts of the Kahuna club in Warsaw, all our players played a lot - they went to individual tournaments, and the teams spent preparatory camps for many years. So they, unlike many other rivals, are familiar with every speck of dust in the corner. Secondly, for the necessary adaptation to the atmosphere of the championship, the Ukrainians went to Poland two days before the tournament, which will undoubtedly allow them to prepare for the upcoming struggle as much as possible morally.
The places of the men's national team of Ukraine since the participation in the team
2005 Amsterdam (21 teams)
20.Ukraine 2006 Vienna (24 teams)
20.Ukraine 2007 Riccione (27 teams)
20.Ukraine 2008 Amsterdam (28 teams)
24.Ukraine 2009 Malmo (27 teams)
22.Ukraine 2010 Aix-en-Provence (27 teams)
18.Ukraine 2011 Espoo (30 teams)
19.Ukraine 2012 Marsa / Nuremberg (30 teams)
19.Ukraine 2013 Amsterdam (31 teams)
18.Ukraine 2014 Zagreb / Riccione (29 teams)
17.Ukraine 2015 Ljubljana / Herning (31 teams)
Ukraine European Team Championship (Warsaw, Poland) May 4-7
List of participants in the men's tournament
Division I
Group A
France Ireland Scotland Spain
Group B England Netherlands Germany Finland
Division II
Group A
Israel Wales Ukraine
Group B
Switzerland Austria Norway
Group C
Denmark Hungary Poland
Group D
Belgium Czechia Croatia
Team European Championship: and again on the verge of risk
The men's national team of Ukraine still cannot get rid of the curse of the struggle to maintain a residence permit in the second division. Like last year, our five failed to overcome the group stage of the championship and now have to play in the group for 9-12 places. The first matches of the group will be held on the same day in the evening. We had a chance to reach the main playoffs. But, in fact, only one. Against Wales, just descended from the first division of the continental championship. Experienced Welshmen led by Peter Creed are still a strong nut to crack for Ukrainian squash players. But with the Israeli national team it was possible to compete on equal terms. That is what our players did. In the confrontation of the first rackets, Denis Podvorny showed himself well, who more than once put Daniel Poleshchuk in an awkward position. Note that it was Poleshchuk who was Podvorny's rival in the PSA tournament, which took place once in Kiev. Ruslan Sorochinsky was inspired by the play of his partner, immediately rushing into the battle with Nadav Raziel. The game lasted 55 minutes, and two of the four games played ended in over-under! “Each game was in a struggle, but in the endings of the games Ruslan managed to find the final blow and end the match in his favor,” commented the captain of our team Konstantin Rybalchenko. It was he and Valery Fedoruk who then had to fight for a common victory. Just a little bit was missing. According to Rybalchenko's recollections, he found his game only in the middle of the second game: "The opponent chose the tactics of constantly disrupting my attack and changing the rhythm, which did not allow me to impose my game." The endings of the second and third games were for the Israeli player. The last match between Valery Fedoruk and Roya Avraham was the longest and ended with the victory of the Israeli with a score of 3: 2. Fedoruk showed really high-quality squash, not inferior to the opponent in the pace of the game, imposing his own style of play. A little bit of luck and accuracy in completing the last attacks.Initially realizing that it is unlikely that it will be possible to show such a bright, and most importantly, victorious game with a much stronger Wales, our team decided to reshape the squad and give playing experience to the fifth racket Dmitry Pogrebnyak - did not take part in this meeting Denis Podvorny, who saved up his strength for games for 9-12 places Unfortunately, the predictions were confirmed - we failed to catch even one game. In the remaining games of the championship, we will fight for 9-12 places. The games will be held in a group format, so you will have to play alternately with Norway (May 5), Croatia (May 6) and Poland (May 7). To maintain our registration in the second division, it is enough for us to win two matches out of three.
European Team Championship (Warsaw, Poland) May 4-7
Division II
Group A
Israel - Ukraine - 3: 1 (10: 5)
Daniel Poleshchuk - Denis Podvorny - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 7, 11: 5)
Roi Avraham - Valery Fedoruk - 3: 2 (9:11, 11: 6, 11: 0, 4:11, 11: 8)
Ron Levy - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 9, 11: 8)
Nadav Raziel - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 1: 3 (12:14, 9:11, 11: 8, 12:14)
Wales - Ukraine - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Peter Creed - Valery Fedoruk - 3: 0 (11: 2, 11: 0, 11: 3)
Joel Makin - Konstantin Rybalchenko - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 9, 11: 6)
Emir Evans - Ruslan Sorochinsky - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 3, 11: 5)
Owain Taylor - Dmitry Pogrebnyak - 3: 0 (11: 2, 11: 4, 11: 3)
Wales - Israel - 4: 0 (12: 0)
Summary table
Team I V N P G + G- M + M- O
Wales 2 2 0 0 24 0 264 111 4
Israel 2 1 0 1 10 17 219 255 2
Ukraine 2 0 0 2 5 22 171 288 0
Group composition for 9-12 places
Ukraine Norway Poland Croatia
Team European Championship: Staying in Division II!
The national team Ukraine at the European Team Championship in the second division won two victories at once in the group for 9-12 places over the teams of Norway and Croatia, thereby retaining its right to stay in this division for the next year. Frankly, the Norwegians resisted with might and main - none of the matches was easy for our team. It was extremely difficult for Denis Podvorny and Konstantin Rybalchenko, and Ruslan Sorochinsky, despite victories in three games against Ronnie Asbe, also hung by a thread in each of the games. Not without a defeat in one of the matches - Valeriy Fedoruk and Sindre Roaldsoy Snerteland spent 57 minutes on the court, played five games. And the last blows of the final game were more like a lottery in which the win went to a Norwegian squash player. “There is no desire to talk about the game,” Rybalchenko said after the games, who played with Trim Asness for exactly one hour. - Now is the mood to talk about victory. Thanks to the guys from the national team for their dedication and desire to achieve team success. We won thanks to the will to win and team spirit. " The captain of the national team did not forget to thank the fans once again: “Thank you very much to all our support group, which helped us to achieve a positive result with their emotions. Moreover, not only Ukraine, but also Belarus and Russia were rooting for us. It remains to rest and tune in to the game with Croatia. " In a parallel match, the Croats defeated the Poles, so that Friday's face-to-face meeting between Croatia and Ukraine determined which of the four would be the first to keep their registration in the second division ahead of schedule, and who would still have to fight on the final day of the competition. Of course, the opponents approached these games with all responsibility. But the Ukrainians could no longer be stopped. The Croatians fought desperately, but this only achieved respect from the audience. Almost every game they ended up defeated with a difference of 2-3 points. The Ukrainians, however, bent their line and, with the stormy support of the stands, took their matches. The only exception was again the match with Fedoruk. As on Thursday, Valeriy's game was the last and did not decide anything - by that time Ukraine was winning with a score of 3: 0. The second racket tried with might and main to maintain the reputation of his country, spoiled Martin Kegel's blood a lot, took two starting parties, but then began to give up a little. He again played an hour on the court and missed the victory only in a tie-break, losing it with a score of 10:12. Thus, Ukraine remains in the second division of the European Championship next year. And, at least, it repeats its last year's achievement. And the victory over the Polish national team on the last day of the tournament will allow our five to repeat their 2014 record - the 17th final place in the European team championships.
“We are happy with the victory and that we have retained the place of our national team in the second division,” - this is a short post-spritum from the tired but enthusiastic Rybalchenko.
- "Hooray! I congratulate every player on the team and everyone who supported us in this tournament! "
European Team Championship (Warsaw, Poland) May 4-7
Division II
Match for 9-12 places
Ukraine - Norway - 3: 1 (11: 6)
Denis Podvorny - Adrian Ostbier - 3: 1 (11: 4, 11: 8, 3:11, 11: 7)
Valery Fedoruk - Sindre Roaldsoy - 2: 3 (5:11, 11: 5, 12:14, 11: 5, 8:11)
Konstantin Rybalchenko - Trim Asness - 3: 2 (9:11, 4:11, 11: 2, 11: 7, 11: 5)
Ruslan Sorochinsky - Ronnie Asby - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 9, 12:10)
Ukraine - Croatia - 3: 1 (11: 4)
Denis Podvorny - Manuel Fistonic - 3: 0 (11: 9, 11: 8, 13:11)
Valery Fedoruk - Martin Kegel - 2: 3 (11: 4, 11: 9, 6:11, 6:11, 10:12)
Konstantin Rybalchenko - Roko Woncina - 3: 0 (11: 9, 11: 3, 11: 9)
Ruslan Sorochinsky - Srdjan Maksimovich - 3: 1 (9:11, 12:10, 11: 5, 11: 5)
Other matches Croatia - Poland - 3: 1 (9: 6)
Norway - Poland - 3: 1 (9: 7)
Announcement May 7
Matches for 9-12 places
Ukraine Poland
Norway - Croatia
Match for 7th place
Hungary - Israel
5th place match
Austria - Belgium
Match for 3rd place
Wales - Denmark
The final
Czech Republic - Switzerland
Final position
Division I
England France Scotland Germany Spain Finland Netherlands Ireland
Division II
1 (9). Czech Republic
2 (10). Switzerland
3 (11). Wales
4 (12). Denmark
5 (13). Belgium
6 (14). Austria
7 (15). Hungary
8 (16). Israel
9 (17). Ukraine
10 (18). Norway
11 (19). Croatia
12 (20). Poland
III division
1 (21). Portugal
2 (22). Italy
3 (23). Jersey
4 (24). Luxembourg
5 (25). Greece
6 (26). Malta
7 (27). Gibraltar
8 (28). Isle of Maine
9 (29). Belarus
10 (30). Romania
European Team Championship: repeat achievement
The final victory over the Polish team allowed the Ukrainian national team to repeat the achievement of 2014 and for the second time in its history to reach the final 17th place in the European Championship. Poland and Croatia also went down to the third division, which will be replaced next year by the teams of Portugal and Italy. Due to the fact that Ukrainian and Polish squash players have been playing with each other for several years (not only in individual tournaments, but also in friendly matches, they competed at the European Nations Team Cup and at the European Championship level), their meetings have long been included in the status of fundamental ... At the same time, Polish squash players rarely managed to defeat our players, but they did not give up and continued to hope for a possible victory. So here - in spite of the fact that the Ukrainian national team early knocked out the right to stay in the second division, and the Poles, in any situation, flew to the third, they wanted to loudly slam the door goodbye. And they almost succeeded. The first and second rackets of our neighbors Przemyslav Atras and Mateusz Kotra fought Denis Podvorny with Konstantin Rybalchenko, forcing them to spend an hour on the court and play five games each. The captain of our national team had the hardest part, who still could not catch his game - he pulled out the first two games on moral and volitional qualities, the next two he simply gave, and the fifth took more on character - 17:15. Dmitry Pogrebnyak, who played only his second game in this championship, was not quite ready for the pressure of Marcin Karvovsky, losing to him in three games. Only the most experienced fighter Ruslan Sorochinsky demonstrated the full strength of the Ukrainian squash school and easily took his game from Peter Hemmerling. In terms of rotation between divisions, Switzerland proved its worth and returned to the first division a year later. She was accompanied by the winner of this tournament Czech Republic. Wales, on the other hand, limited itself to bronze medals and delayed its return to the elite for another year. To replace the Czech Republic and Switzerland, such bison of world squash as the Netherlands (together with well-known Ukrainian players Piedro Schweertman, Sebastian Veenink and Dylan Benett), as well as Ireland, the first racket of which is the experienced Arthur Gaskin, will go down to the second division. It is they, together with Wales, who will be considered the favorites of the 2017 European Championship in the second division.
And the six Englishmen represented by James Willstrop, Daryl Selby, Chris Simpson, Tom Richards, Adrian Waller and James Declan became the full-fledged European champion. In the classic final, England beat France (Gregory Goltier, Mathieu Castagnier, Gregua Marsh, Luc Sermet and Geoffrey Dermont) ahead of schedule with a score of 2: 1. By the way, despite the starting defeat of Willstrop from Goltier! The third place was won by the Scots, who also finished their fight over the German national team ahead of time.
Team European Championship: afterword
The European Team Championship in the first and second divisions is over. The national team of Ukraine, taking part in similar tournaments for only the twelfth time, is increasingly becoming established in the status of the best twenty teams of the Old World. Moreover, we repeated our 2014 success, mined in Riccione - we took 17th place. KNOW OURS! This result is really deserved. Of course, we had chances to leave the main group. If it is too early for the Ukrainians to compete against a recent participant in the first division of Wales, the Israelis could be beaten, thereby getting into the top eight. However, the starting fight is difficult because in it you just begin to get involved in the process. Perhaps, had the schedule been drawn up differently, and had we played against Israel on the second day of the competition, the Ukrainian national team would have passed this exam with flying colors. However, history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood. But in the matches for the 9-12 places Denis Podvornyi his companions performed in all their glory, without giving the opponents a single hint of victory. All the fans expected this from them, and they met all the expectations of the stands. Valery Fedoruk performed well. Even though he did not win a single match in this championship, we note that in three of four games he was inferior only in the fifth, decisive game. Which, again, speaks of this squash player, as a real professional and a player with an incredible character and a desire to go all the way. Konstantin Rybalchenko and Ruslan Sorochinsky experienced a little less stress, being only the third and fourth rackets of the team, but they fulfilled their task at the proper level. And 19-year-old Dmitry Pogrebnyak is still only gaining experience, but you can be sure that in the near future he will adequately replace his older comrades in the national team. In many ways, this achievement was also achieved thanks to the support of compatriots, who came to Warsaw in a large group to support the national team. Among them were the players of the women's team, which only recently played at the European Team Championship in its division. And the support of our comrades-in-arms in a common cause only spurred our guys to play better and better every day. Summer individual tournaments are ahead of our players. And closer to autumn, the next major championships will be held under the auspices of the WSF. In September, the European Individual and Club Championships will be held (in Prague and Pontefract, respectively). And there, we hope, our players will once again be able to demonstrate how strong Ukrainian squash is today.
WORD TO THE CAPTAIN
Konstantin Rybalchenko, captain of the Ukrainian national team: “The tournament was very professional. It turned out harmoniously - both the organizers made every effort to hold it, and the teams in response brought the best players from their countries. The atmosphere on the courts was sporty, emotional and reckless. All were "cut" one hundred percent. As a result, not only the finals were wonderful, but also the games for the places. In general, every day there were extremely entertaining games. The match for 3rd place turned out to be amazing, in which the Scots defeated the Germans. The tension in him remained until the last rally. We have been preparing for this tournament since the beginning of 2016 and, as a result, were able to take 17th place. I think this is an excellent result. The tasks assigned to the team were completed. Each player showed his maximum - both technically and morally. I want to congratulate my teammates on a successful result and thank them for their dedication, patience and will to win. We really worked as one whole throughout the pre-competition preparation and throughout the championship. As the team captain, I wanted to focus the players on good squash and result as much as possible. I am sure it worked out. In the group stage, all the opponents were of a good European level. We tried to take every draw from them. Unfortunately, there was a lack of skill, but playing with such strong opponents later gave us confidence in the games for 9-12 places. Special thanks to our support group, those who watched our games online, as well as the Ukrainian Squash Federation. This is an invaluable emotional contribution to our success."
A LITTLE STATISTICS
It was the twelfth performance of the Ukrainian national team at the European Team Championship (not counting the games in the already defunct European Champions Cup, which was later transformed into the third division).
At the starting championship for themselves in 2005, the Ukrainians took 20th place. Only in 2008 and 2009. Ukraine fell outside the top twenty.
Highest achievement - the final 17th place (20014 and 2016).
For 12 years, 13 players have played in the national team - Roman Dolinich, Alexander Molodukha, Ilya Onishko, Dmitry Shcherbakov, Artem Shandybin, Ruslan Sorochinsky, Viktor Kovalchuk, Alexey Davidenko, Konstantin Rybalchenko, Denis Podvorny, Valery Fedoruk, Alexey Kovalsky and Dmitry Pogrebnyak.
Today's main four Podvorny-Fedoruk-Sorochinsky-Rybalchenko are in the team with the 2010 European Championship.
At EURO 2016: The Ukrainian national team played five meetings - two in the group stage (against Israel and Wales) and three in the group for 9-12 places (against Norway, Croatia and Poland). In the first two she was defeated, in the remaining three she won.
In twenty games, our players won exactly half of the matches.
The team of Ruslan Sorochinsky has the most victories - 4/5, Konstantin Rybalchenko and Denis Podvorny have three wins each. Valeriy Fedoruk and Dmitry Pogrebnyak in six games for two were often close to victory, but still inferior to their opponents.
The score was 3: 2 in six games. Ukrainians won three of them, rivals won three.
The score for the victorious results: 3: 0 (4 times), 3: 1 and 3: 2 (three times).
In total, 75 games were played in twenty games. Twenty of them ended with a difference of two points, including nine in tie-breaks. The percentage of victories in such games is 75%.
Konstantin Rybalchenko and Ruslan Sorochinsky are the only national team players who played in all five matches of the tournament.
