European Team Championship: 2014
This year Ukrainian squash will be represented at the Euro arena not only by the men's national team - our women and juniors will also join the battle.
While our men in the person of Konstantin Rybalchenko, Ruslan Sorochinsky, Denis Podvorny, Valery Fedoruk and reserve player Dmitry Pogrebnyak are intensively preparing for the upcoming games of the second division of the European team championship, our women and juniors are also starting their preparations for the international arena.
As you know, the last time the Ukrainian women's team played at the European arena was almost 6 years ago - then the European Team Championship did not yet have a third division, and the tournament was called the European Nations Cup and was almost friendly in its essence.
Since the European Squash Federation decided to unite the European Team Championship and the European Cup of Nations, thereby including the participants of the last championship as the teams of the third division, the Ukrainian women's team has never played in the European arena.
If our men continued from year to year to fight at the European Team Championship and even managed to reach the second division, then the women were no longer going to be a team. If it was possible to observe the fair sex in the international arena, it happened only in individual competitions.
At the junior championships, it was possible to rejoice for Nadezhda Usenko, Alina Bushma and sometimes Darina Kirichenko, Yana Kovalskaya, Anna Shumskaya, Elena Samokhina, Irina Zadvornaya and other representatives of Ukraine performed at rare tournaments in Latvia and Russia. But at such a level as the European Team Championship, our women have never existed.
Thus, 2014, in fact, will become our debut year. Ukrainian women start their campaign for achievements in the international arena from the very bottom - with a fight in the 3rd division. Games of this echelon are held separately from the rest - in the Croatian Zagreb. And this will happen a week before the teams of the first and second divisions enter the battle in Riccione - on April 23-26.
As part of our team, there are logically winners of the last individual championship of Ukraine - Nadezhda Usenko, Alina Bushma and Liana Sardak, who will be accompanied by Yulia Pugach. Thus, the quartet of the women's national team is organically a fusion of youth, experience and skill, which makes it possible to count on the fact that already at their debut European Team Championship the girls will show themselves in the best possible way and will be one of the favorites of the championship.
Even in spite of the fact that due to the title of the championship debutants they have the penultimate seed. Note that this trip became possible thanks to the financial support of the former first racket of the national rating in the M1 category, and now the curator of this national team, Alexei Usenko.
The schedule of games for the Ukrainian women's team is as follows:
Ukraine (5) - Luxembourg (6)
Sweden (1) - Ukraine (5)
Hungary (4) - Ukraine (5)
Croatia (3) - Ukraine (5)
Latvia (2) - Ukraine (5)
As you know, after that the men's and women's teams of the first and second divisions will enter the battle, which will have to sort things out already in the Italian Riccione. Their games will take place from April 30 to May 3. And a week later (May 8-11) in the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, the European Team Championship among junior teams will take place, where the U-15 and U-17 teams will compete for medals. This is another debut of Ukrainian squash - the most talented juniors of Ukraine will enter the fight for the right to be called the strongest team of the Old World.
The preliminary application for the European Championship in the U-15 category is as follows: Ilya Presman, Artur Sikora and Nadezhda Usenko. Note that all these players occupy high places in the ESF junior rating (Nadezhda and her compatriot Alina Bushma hold the first and second lines in the GU15 category, and Ilya and Artur are located, respectively, in the 16th and 22nd positions in the BU15 category - and even then, in view of the fact that they have not earned points in the international arena for a long time).
So with the experience of performing at the highest level, these guys are all right - this season Nadezhda and Arthur have already played in domestic tournaments in the Pro category a couple of times, and Ilya is calmly dealing with older rivals in the M1 category.
There is no game schedule for this tournament yet - it is still a month before its start, but on the official website of the championship it has already been indicated that 18 teams have already submitted applications for participation. These are England, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Spain, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovakia, Turkey, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Scotland, Ukraine and Wales.
We wish good luck to our women and juniors in the process of preparing to defend the honor of our country at our debut European team championships and look forward to hearing from them!
First day: The first game day for the national team of Ukraine ended with triumph. Our girls were able to defeat their rivals from Croatia, thanks to which they significantly increased their chances for a positive final result, which is the opportunity to play next year in the second division of the European Team Championship.
The victory in the match against the hosts of the tournament was given to us, first of all, thanks to the juniors - Nadezhda Usenko and Alina Bushma. Despite the fact that Usenko flew to Zagreb, not yet fully recovered from her injury, the experience of performing in international tournaments was very useful to Nadezhda, who did not give her rival Josipa Pershun a single game - and this was under strong pressure from the stands.
However, the Croatians tried their best to correct the situation and please their fans in the opening match of the European home championship. In the battle of the first rackets of the national teams, Paulina Radosh was able to take advantage of the fact that Yulia Pugach still has problems with her ankle (the Ukrainian was injured at a recent tournament in Kiev) - 3: 0 in favor of the owner of the courts. There was still a fight of the third rackets, but here Bushma did not give Andriyana Katalenich the opportunity to get a victory for her national team. The young Ukrainian squash woman did everything to defeat her rival. Yes, Catalenic managed to win the second and third games with a minimal advantage, but this took all the strength from the Croatian - Alina easily took the remaining games, losing only four points in total.
Today our girls will have a duel against the Swedish national team - a rather serious rival, whom the team's coach Alexei Usenko initially singled out from the entire list of candidates for a promotion. In fact, this match could be decisive for us. And let's hope that its outcome will be positive - at least we will all be rooting for our four best squash dogs in Ukraine!
European Team Championship. III division (Zagreb, Croatia)
April 23-26
Women
Ukraine - Croatia - 2: 1 (6: 5)
Julia Pugach - Paulina Radosh - 0: 3 (9:11, 10:12, 5:11)
Nadezhda Usenko - Yosipa Pershun - 3: 0 (11: 2, 11: 6, 11: 6)
Alina Bushma - Andriyana Katalenich - 3: 2 (11: 4, 9:11, 10:12, 11: 3, 11: 1)
Other matches
Sweden - Luxembourg - 2: 1 (6: 3)
Hungary - Latvia - 2: 1 (8: 4)
Day Two: Back on Thursday, after an enchanting victory over the hosts of the continental championship, it was clear that this was only the first step for our girls on the difficult path to reaching the second division of the European Championship.
The real test of maturity was to be a meeting with the Swedish national team, which has the first seed at this tournament. This is where the untreated injuries of the leaders of our national team, Yulia Pugach and Nadezhda Usenko, came to the fore. Both girls fought to the last, but at the decisive moments their rivals Lovisa Forstadius and Eira Mooney (the second and third numbers of the Swedish national rating, by the way) turned out to be a little more accurate.
As a result, two lost meetings at 0: 3 with a real fight in each of the games. Unfortunately, neither Julia nor Nadezhda managed to hook at least one game into the team's asset. But Alina Bushma flashed, having managed to beat Sofia Orneberg in three games - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 7, 11: 6). At the same time, our junior played so confidently that if in the place of Sofia Yosef Bertilsson, who, despite the fact that she occupies the fourth line in the internal ranking of her country, went to the European championship as a reserve player, nothing would have shone for her either. And it was Alina's victory that became the reason that the Ukrainian team remained in the top three in terms of the overall ratio of matches won.
As for the standings, Hungary unexpectedly took the lead. However, there is an explanation for this - it is not difficult for anyone to defeat the initially weak Luxembourg today, and victory in the opening match against Latvia was possible only for the reason that, apart from Ineta Matskevich, there are no strong enough squash players in the current roster of Latvians. Yes, and Ineta herself was able to win her match against Zofi Marton with great efforts - she lost with a score of 0: 2, and then she simply turned the tide of the fight on her character and took three games in a row.
However, Ukrainian girls will be able to feel the strength of the national teams of Latvia and Hungary on themselves today - for Friday, the games of our national team against both of these teams are scheduled. However, the atmosphere at the European Championship is really friendly - the rivalry takes place only on the courts. At least the fact that teams are not limited to playing games in the official standings can speak of the warm relationship between different teams.
For example, as the coach of the Ukrainian national team Alexei Usenko said, on the first day of the competition, all four of our squashists played against the Croatian national team. The game between Liana Sardak and Katarina Milas, in which the Ukrainian woman won - 3: 1 (7:11, 11: 7, 11: 8, 11: 3), was organized by a common agreement between the teams. And we hope that the meetings between the reserve players of the national teams will become a good tradition in the future. Practice at this level will not hurt any of the participants in the European championship.
European Team Championship. III division (Zagreb, Croatia)
April 23-26
Women:
Sweden (1) - Ukraine (5) - 2: 1 (6: 3)
Lovisa Forstadius - Julia Pugach - 3: 0 (11: 8, 11: 6, 11: 8)
Eira Mooney - Nadezhda Usenko - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 6, 11: 8)
Sofia Orneberg - Alina Bushma - 0: 3 (6:11, 7:11, 6:11)
Other matches
Latvia (2) - Croatia (3) - 2: 1 (6: 4)
Hungary (4) - Luxembourg (6) - 3: 0 (9: 2)
Day Three: Day three of the European Team Championship in the third division was the busiest for the women's teams. If on the other days each of the national teams played only one meeting (all the rest of the time was given at the mercy of the confrontations of men), then on Friday the women had two official games.
For the Ukrainian national team, this day became a real test, which, alas, ended with nothing more than the acquisition of the necessary experience of playing at the international level. The fact is that on this day we had to meet with the second seeding team - the Latvian national team, and after a few hours pass the exam with the unexpected leader of the Hungarian standings. It was necessary to mobilize our forces as much as possible, since after the defeat to the Swedes, any misfire could cost us an exit to the second division.
Our girls played with Latvians beyond praise. The second rackets of their national teams Nadezhda Usenko and Baibe Lulle were the first to enter the court. One of the strongest juniors in Europe showed maximum concentration and easily defeated her opponent in each of the three games.
This was followed by the team leaders' match. And here we were in for an unpleasant surprise - the captain of the Ukrainian national team Yulia Pugach, who did not have time to recover from a sprained leg, damaged her completely. If Yulia had few chances to defeat the strongest squashwoman of Latvia Ineta Matskevich, I must admit, now they are completely gone. Having fought in the first game, Pugach in character came out on the second. But she could not finish it to the end, refusing to continue the struggle already with the score 3: 9. The outcome of the meeting between the national teams was in the hands of only Alina Bushma. And our young starlet has once again justified all hopes - Linda Svilane simply did not know what to do with the accurate and strong blows of the Ukrainian woman. Alina's triumphant victory - and Ukraine records its second overall victory at the European Championship. Now all that remained was to hold out against the Hungarians. It was extremely difficult to do this in light of the staff weakening, because now Nadezhda Usenko was on the first racket. This meant that both she and Alina Bushma got stronger rivals, and the reserve national team of Ukraine Liana Sardak played only her first official match in this championship (a friendly game against the fourth racket of the Croatian national team does not count).
Unfortunately, the worst fears came true - Zofi Marton, Esther Csokashi and Luca Polgar did not give us a single chance, having won their meetings together with the same score 3: 0. Bushma, who was clearly at the peak of her form, could have taken at least one game, but Alina just lacked a couple of accurate punches in order to drag out her meeting against Chokashi for one or two more games.
Ahead we only have a meeting with the Luxembourg national team, which caused a lot of problems for the Latvians in the last match (last night our future rivals were able to win one game against the Baltic squash players, and in three more they gave up only in tie-breaks).
At the same time, Sweden and Latvia will fight for the second ticket to the second division in a head-to-head confrontation. Judging by the results of the current championship, the Swedes, who are very eager to return to the elite of European squash, have the most chances for an increase in class.
European Team Championship III Division (Zagreb, Croatia)
April 23-26
Women:
Latvia (2) - Ukraine (5) - 1: 2 (2: 6)
Ineta Matskevich - Yulia Pugach - 2: 0 (11: 5, 9: 3, refusal)
Baibe Lulle - Nadezhda Usenko - 0: 3 (6:11, 6:11, 3:11)
Linda Svilane - Alina Bushma - 0: 3 (5:11, 4:11, 6:11)
Hungary (4) - Ukraine (5) - 3: 0 (9: 0)
Zofi Marton - Nadezhda Usenko - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 4, 11: 5)
Esther Chokashi - Alina Bushma - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 7, 11: 9)
Luka Polgar - Liana Sardak - 3: 0 (11: 1, 11: 5, 11: 4)
Other matches
Sweden (1) - Hungary (4) - 1: 2 (5: 8)
Croatia (3) - Luxembourg (6) - 2: 1 (7: 4)
Sweden (1) - Croatia (3) - 3: 0 (9: 0)
Latvia (2) - Luxembourg (6) - 3: 0 (9: 1)
Final: Even before the trip to Zagreb, the coach of our national team Aleksey Usenko said that the most important reward for our girls would be the experience of meetings at a high international level. To achieve championship awards, it was mentioned as something possible only in the future.
But our squatters exceeded all the expectations of the mentor. Yes, we did not qualify for the second division of the European Team Championship, but the Ukrainian players' performance deserved to be worthy of at least bronze medals. And they got them.
This was achieved thanks to two juniors - Nadezhda Usenko and Alina Bushma, who pulled out the bulk of the victories won. However, we should not forget about Yulia Pugach and Liana Sardak. Despite the fact that Yulia was losing more, and Liana played only one match at all, their presence in the team raised the morale of the entire team and became a guarantee of the morale of the entire four. In the match against the Luxembourg national team, Pugach returned to the court, however, she has not yet fully returned to her usual form, because her defeat to Sandre Denis is understandable.
But the meetings of the second and third rackets were a triumph for Usenko and Bushma - Françoise Doven and Michel Meyer were absolutely helpless on the court. As a result, the return of Ukraine to the third line of the standings and the medals won.
As for those who achieved a promotion, Hungary had a real holiday on Saturday, whose squash players issued a gold double - both women and men will play in the second division next year. Also, the Swedes qualified for the women, having dealt with their rivals from Latvia on the last day of the tournament, and for the men, after a year's absence, the Poles returned to the elite. The very ones who were preparing for the championship together with the strongest squashists of Ukraine.
Let us remind that in a week in Riccione the baton of the European team championship will be taken over by the first and second divisions, where the Ukrainian national team will also play in the men's tournament, now training intensively on the eve of the start of the championship.
European Team Championship III Division (Zagreb, Croatia)
April 23-26
Women:
Ukraine (5) - Luxembourg (6) - 2: 1 (6: 3)
Yulia Pugach - Sandra Denis - 0: 3 (2:11, 5:11, 2:11)
Nadezhda Usenko - Francoise Doven - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 6, 11: 0)
Alina Bushma - Michelle Meyer - 3: 0 (11: 5, 11: 3, 11: 6)
Other matches
Croatia (3) - Hungary (4) - 0: 3 (1: 9)
Sweden (1) - Latvia (2) - 2: 1 (6: 3)
