European Team Championship: 2016

Women's European Championship: The roster is new, the task is the same

On April 20-23, Bucharest will host the next European Team Championship in the third division. Ukraine will be represented here by the women's national team, which will start the tournament in group B - they will have to play against the teams of Finland, Belarus, Italy and Israel. In case of successful performance - first or second place in the group, the Ukrainian women will continue to fight in the playoffs for 1-4 places, and in the future they may advance to the second division of the continental championship, in which they will continue to fight next year.

Almost on the eve of leaving for Romania, the task for our girls became more complicated. Nadezhda Usenko, the best squashwoman of Ukraine and multiple champion of our country, will not be able to go to the European Championship because of an injury. Following her, the second racket of the national team Alina Bushma refused to travel. I had to urgently adjust the composition of the team. As a result, we had to abandon the idea of ​​sending to Bucharest the four, which two years ago won bronze medals in Zagreb, stopping just a step away from getting into the second division. The company of Yulia Pugach and Liana Sardak will now include Anastasia Fesenko and Yana Kovalskaya. Their experience should help the Ukrainian national team withstand this test in battle and, even in the absence of leaders, still get a long-awaited ticket to a higher-ranking tournament.

ALEXEY USENKO: "THEY ARE AFRAID OF US NOW"

Our team leaves for Bucharest this coming Tuesday. And on the eve of the trip, Alexey Usenko, the permanent curator of the women's national team, spoke about the reasons for the rearrangements and the tasks assigned to the girls:

- Ten days ago, at a tournament in the 5 Element club, in the final match against Dmitry Shcherbakov, Nadezhda Usenko received an ankle injury. Until now, Nadia has not even started training yet. Previously, the doctors issued a verdict that she would not be able to train for six weeks. However, the recovery is going faster, and, perhaps, she will have time to return to the game by the start of the PSA Lion Squash Cup tournament in Lviv, which starts on April 27. But the national team should leave for Bucharest on the next Tuesday, April 19. So, unfortunately, this year Nadezhda will not be able to help our team. As for Alina Bushma, as I understand it, she and her parents decided to refuse to play for the national team this year. She is also not all right with her health - she was injured at a tournament in Switzerland in December last year, and recovered for a long time. It is rather difficult for me to comment on her decision, and I would not like to.

- Do you think the national team in its original composition would have advanced to the second division?

- We can never predict anything. Yes, the probability was high, albeit in the third division there is a very strong lineup of rivals. But our girls, I think, would certainly be in the prizes. You must understand that the Ukrainian national team in the third division is always regarded as one of the leaders. They were afraid of us - both two years ago, when we made our debut at the European Championship, and a year ago, when they built all sorts of intrigues for us (then our team was disqualified during the tournament due to violations of the rules of the rules - approx. A. M.). They are afraid of us even now - simply because we are strong.

- But has the task set for the national team changed due to the adjustment of the composition?

- The task remains the same - to play to the end with full dedication in every match, to try to win. We have analyzed all our rivals, we know their strengths. There are strong squashists both in the Scotland team and in the Finnish and Italian teams. The leader among Latvians is the eternal rival of our girls, Ineta Matskevich. But, believe me, you can play with everyone. Everything is in our head - we just have to fight. Therefore, our chances of winning this tournament have not diminished. But let's not put too much pressure on our girls. Their job is to go out and play. Let the fans, the squash federation, the coaches think about the final result. And they just have to show the game that they can show. If they do this, then the desired result will come. It makes no sense to put pressure on them with some tasks, believe me.

- What is the line-up of this squad in terms of numbers?

- We have consulted with the European Squash Federation, in order not to receive again an unexpected disqualification for incorrect placement. According to the latest instructions from ESF, it should be in line with the internal rating. So the first racket of our team will be Anastasia Fesenko, the second - the captain of the team Yulia Pugach, the third - Liana Sardak. And the fourth is Yana Kovalskaya.

- Which of the group stage rivals are you most afraid of?

- The leaders of the group are the national team of Finland. She has two fairly strong squats - Emilia Soini and Riina Koskinen. The Italians have one strong leader - Monica Menegozzi. But we will play with everyone - that's why it is the team championship. And the composition of our team is quite even, in contrast to the opponents.

- They leave for Bucharest on the eve of April 19 ...

- Yes, the girls go to Romania by minibus, Alexey Kostyukov will accompany them. I will coordinate everything from Kiev. Unfortunately, the work schedule does not allow me to personally attend the tournament. This was known in advance, in any case, I would not have been able to go, and even if my daughter Nadia had not been injured and went to Bucharest, it would have been my wife Olesya Tretyakova who would have gone with the team. But we agreed that Kostyukov will go as a manager (his task is to do all the administrative work, which, believe me, is enough at tournaments of this rank), and I will communicate with the team every day via Skype, suggest what and how best to do, what avoid mistakes in the next games ...

YULIA PUGACH: "WE ARE ALL CAPTAINS!"

Following the curator and main ideologist of the creation of the women's team of Ukraine to perform at the European Championships, Oleksiy Usenko, the captain of our national team Yulia Pugach also commented on the upcoming trip to Romania. This time one of the most experienced squashists of Ukraine will perform at the continental championship as the second racket of the national team. But, as before, this does not bother her - since she puts the interests of her quartet above all else. After all, it is about the honor of your country.

- Two years ago you made your debut in the national team. How can you assess her prospects this year?

- Even though this is not the first time I will defend the colors of our flag at the European Team Championship, but still, every trip is a new feeling. We do not know any of the players of the opposing teams who will oppose us. I can only say that we are all set to try to win in every match, and we all want that. We will sort it out on the spot. It is difficult for me to talk about specific tasks, since we do not know the strengths of each of our rivals. But we are all set to fight.

- Was it psychologically influenced by the fact that almost before leaving for the tournament you had to reshape the squad because it was impossible for the two leaders of the national team to go to Bucharest?

- Specifically, it influenced me (smiles). Because we have already traveled together with the previous line-up, we have decided on our issues, we know each other both by human qualities and by playing. Now Anastasia Fesenko and Yana Kovalskaya are traveling with us - this will be the first joint trip with them. We don't know them as team players yet. But we are all athletes, adults, and we will still find a common language. We are one team. And in any case, we will support each other, encourage each other, pull out ...

- Two years ago, the Ukrainian women's team won bronze medals, a year ago there was an absurd situation with disqualification. Do you think you will now be able to get a ticket to the second division of the European Championship?

- Now, naturally, the task before us is not an easy one - after all, the composition of the team has changed. Therefore, it will be more difficult. But, believe me, we still want to prove that even in this line-up we are capable of being called the best. We have been preparing very seriously for this tournament throughout this year - physically, mentally, and in terms of play. All players are ready to give 100% and even more in every match.

- Does the responsibility of being the captain of the team put pressure on you?

- Yes, we are all captains! We are all one. A team is a team. I do not distinguish myself from my partners - their captain's qualities are no less than mine. We are all at one!

- Who are you most afraid of in the group stage - Finland, Italy, Belarus or Israel?

- Better if they fear us (laughs). In general, I said that I am not so familiar with future rivals. Judging by the conversations with Valery Fedoruk, our curator Alexey Usenko, we have serious competitors in the face of the national teams of Finland and Italy. But we are not afraid of anyone - we will fight everyone who comes across at the same level.

- Doesn't it bother you that at this championship Usenko will work only as a “remote coach”?

- I would like, of course, that there was a person nearby who knows more about our rivals. But already as it is - we agreed that we will maintain contact with him all the time. We already know all the bells and whistles, Alexey warned us as much as possible about everything. Now everything depends only on how we ourselves can prove ourselves on the courts in Bucharest.

Schedule of matches of the women's national team of Ukraine European Team Championship (April 20-23, Bucharest, Romania)

Group B

20 April

Finland - Ukraine, Italy - Belarus, Finland - Israel, Ukraine - Belarus

The 21st of April

Italy - Israel, Finland - Belarus, Italy - Ukraine, Israel - Belarus April 22 Finland - Italy, Ukraine - Israel

April 22-23 Playoff Games

A detailed schedule of ETC3 2016 games. The broadcast of the matches will be available at www.frsquash.ro/etc-2016-live/.

Women's European Championship, day 1: getting involved in the process

Games of the European Team Championship in the third division started in Bucharest. Among other applicants for a ticket to a tournament of a higher rank, the women's national team of Ukraine also competes here. Two years ago, our women stopped one step away from this, having won bronze medals of the championship, which, unfortunately, was not enough to move to the second division. Last year, our chances were also extremely high, however, some discrepancy with the rules of the tournament rules dashed all hopes. Now we were also considered one of the favorites of the championship. However, this year it will be a little harder for Ukrainians - injuries of the leading players forced to update the national team literally on the eve of departure. But even with this line-up, our girls can show a bright game, which was confirmed by the first game day.

On Wednesday, we immediately had to fight with one of the strongest teams of the continental championship - Finland. The girls passed the exam with excellent marks, but still lost in each of the matches. But there is nothing to scold them for. At first, the third rackets of their national teams fought, and Liana Sardak, in the confrontation with Henrietta Huuhka, fought to the end throughout all three games, twice transferring the game to a tie-break. But at the last moment, luck was on the Finnish side. The match between the leaders of their teams lasted for four games, and Anastasia Fesenko managed to write one of them to her asset. Yes, and Yulia Pugach made Emilia Korhonen nervous, only by the third game letting fatigue take its toll.

But in the second half of the day, the Ukrainian women came off on squash shoes from Belarus. Fesenko and Sardak left no chances for Irina Kulbatskaya and Kristina Zanevskaya. The hardest part was Pugach, who was opposed by the second racket of the Belarusian women Olga Khmelevskaya. Twice in the course of the game, the opponent led the score, but our captain returned everything to square one. Yulia won the fourth game dry. In the decisive game, everything was decided by the last couple of blows. Thus, the Ukrainian national team opened the score for their victories. On Wednesday, our girls will face Italy, which has also managed to beat Belarus today. And now we find out if Monica Menegozzi and Co are as scary as it seems at first glance. “The first day was difficult, we got used to it and took aim at the courts, the atmosphere and even at each other,” the captain of the national team Yulia Pugach commented on the opening games. - So there are a lot of emotions. We lost one meeting, won the second. Fought, gave all the best. I remember Fesenko's worthy game against Finland's first racket Riina Koskinen. We will play with Italy tomorrow. We're going to rest, analyze mistakes and tune in for tomorrow's games."

European Team Championship (April 20-23, Bucharest, Romania)

First day

20 April

Group B

Finland - Ukraine - 3: 0 (9: 1)

Riina Koskinen - Anastasia Fesenko - 3: 1 (11: 4, 11: 6, 7:11, 11: 3)

Emilia Korhonen - Julia Pugach - 3: 0 (11: 8, 11: 8, 11: 5)

Henrietta Huuhka - Liana Sardak - 3: 0 (11: 8, 12:10, 12:10)

Ukraine - Belarus - 3: 0 (9: 2)

Anastasia Fesenko - Irina Kulbatskaya - 3: 0 (11: 6, 11: 3, 11: 3)

Julia Pugach - Olga Khmelevskaya - 3: 2 (7:11, 11: 4, 6:11, 11: 0, 11: 9)

Liana Sardak - Christina Zanevskaya - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 3, 11: 6)

Other matches

Italy - Belarus - 3: 0 (9: 0)

Finland - Israel - 3: 0 (9: 2)

Tournament table

Announcement on April 21

Italy - Israel, Finland - Belarus, Italy - Ukraine, Israel - Belarus

April 22

Finland - Italy, Ukraine - Israel

Group A

Scotland - Latvia - 2: 1 (7: 3)

Luxembourg - Gibraltar - 3: 0 (9: 0)

Latvia - Gibraltar - 3: 0 (9: 0)

Scotland - Romania - 3: 0 (9: 0)

Women's European Championship, day 2: real fight

Unfortunately, the Ukrainian women's national team was unable to advance to the main playoffs of the European Team Championship. The defeat from Italy put an end to the hopes of our girls to continue the fight for 1-4 places and, in the future, compete for an exit to the second division. However, it should be noted that this victory was extremely difficult for the Italians, which was confirmed by the participants of this meeting themselves.

“Anastasia Fesenko and Liana Sardak showed a real fight, played very well and plowed in every rally,” captain of the national team Yulia Pugach commented on these games. - I won't talk about my game, but the team itself said that I was great (smiles). Despite the defeat, we are now sure of one thing for sure - Italy will know that they know how to run and play well in Ukraine. And we saw and understood that we can play, we know how and, most importantly, we want. Lack of experience is very affected, but, in fact, for this we came here. And in the last game of the group stage against Israel, we are not going to concede to the opponent.

Yulia's words are confirmed by the results of the past meetings. Suffice it to say that Pugach and Sardak withstood five games on the court and had real chances of winning in the latter. Everything was decided by the last rallies. And Monica Menegosia turned out to be not such a terrible rival for Fesenko, even if today the level of her game will be a little higher, but here, as mentioned above, only a lack of experience affects. In any case, now we have to fight in the playoffs for 5-8 places. There we will be awaited by representatives of Group A - the hosts of the tournament, the Romanians and, most likely, the Luxembourg team. But who exactly will be the first contender in the games for the places will be decided only tomorrow, after the final games of the group stage. It is only worth noting that the morning rival of the Israeli national team today with great difficulty defeated the outsider of our quintet Belarus with a score of 2: 1.

European Team Championship (April 20-23, Bucharest, Romania)

Second day

The 21st of April

Group B

Italy - Ukraine - 3: 0 (9: 4)

Monica Menegozzi - Anastasia Fesenko - 3: 0 (11: 7, 11: 4, 11: 6)

Elisabetta Priante - Julia Pugach - 3: 2 (6:11, 11: 5, 11: 3, 10:12, 11: 9)

Eleanor Marchetti - Liana Sardak - 3: 2 (6:11, 9:11, 15:13, 11: 3, 11: 8)

Other matches

Italy - Israel - 3: 0 (9: 3)

Finland - Belarus - 3: 0 (9: 0)

European Team Championship (April 20-23, Bucharest, Romania)

The third day

April 22

Group stage

Group B

Ukraine - Israel - 2: 1 (6: 4)

Anastasia Fesenko - Mikal Dikastro Keidar - 3: 0 (12:10, 11: 8, 11: 3)

Julia Pugach - Jackie Goldride - 3: 1 (1:11, 11: 9, 12:10, 11: 4)

Yana Kovalskaya - Elanit Alaiof - 0: 3 (4:11, 6:11, 7:11)

Another match

Italy - Finland - 2: 1 (6: 4) Final table

Israel - Belarus - 2: 1 (7: 3)

Tournament table

Luxembourg - Romania - 2: 1 (7: 3)

Scotland - Gibraltar - 3: 0 (9: 0)

Luxembourg - Latvia - Romania - Gibraltar - Day One Results

Women's EURO Day 3: Playoff Time

As promised by the captain of the national women's team of Ukraine Yulia Pugach, the absence in the playoffs for 1-4 places did not affect the level of our girls' preparedness to fight. Against the Israeli team, even though this meeting was practically devoid of tournament intensity on this day, the Ukrainians came out as if they were the last fight - and at the end of the group stage they showed very good squash. And then, on the crest of the wave, they immediately took the first playoff game for 5-8 places against the hostesses of the 2016 European Championship.

In this match, Yana Kovalskaya took to the courts: “Liana Sardak asked for a rest due to a minor injury in her groin, which bothered her even before leaving for the European Championship,” Yulia Pugach said the day before. And so it happened - it was Kowalska who came out against Elanit Alaiof. And even though by this time the fate of the entire meeting had already been decided (Yulia and the first racket of the Ukrainian national team Anastasia Fesenko won their matches), Yana immediately joined the struggle. Kowalska's debut ended in defeat, but one that is not ashamed of - Alaiof had to work hard to defeat the fourth racket of our team, which had no competitive practice for two days before.

As Pugach later said: “The games with Israel were quite interesting and really useful for us. Israelis are very experienced and uncomfortable opponents who know how to "cheat" on the court. This is their style, it was new for us, but we managed it anyway. "

As predicted, representatives of Group A Romania and Luxembourg, along with Ukraine and Israel, entered the playoffs for 5-8 places. The hosts of the tournament, judging by the results shown, did not at all look like the favorites of the future meeting with our team - before that they beat the Gibraltar national team and with great difficulty took one match in the meeting with Luxembourg. However, this did not mean that it makes sense to relax - squash is squash. And our girls did not allow themselves this - after all, now it was about the elimination games. Pugach and Fesenko from the start took such a crazy pace that the Romanians were simply confused on the courts. And when the score was already 2: 0 in favor of the Ukrainian national team, it was decided to play the third match before winning two games. Having rested in the morning, Sardak, even in this match that no longer determined anything, left no chances to Florentina Constaninescu, easily taking both games.

Now our team has only one ahead, tomorrow's game, in which the fate of the fifth place in the continental championship will be decided. Taking into account the absence of two leaders of the Ukrainian national team, even the fight for 5-6 places can be called a great achievement for the Ukrainian women. At the same time, we should not forget that for each of the four of our team, performing at this level is an invaluable experience that they will certainly use in the future. As for the atmosphere at the tournament, Pugach was delighted: “The atmosphere is pleasant, everyone is friendly. It's just that we don't have time to watch all the games and communicate with other squash players - we trained, went to eat, then back to the games, rest, play again ... But we are always looking for an opportunity to watch the matches of other teams, and when we have time - we watch and get real pleasure. Absolutely all teams show good squash!"

Group A

Latvia - Romania - 3:0 (9:0)

Scotland - Luxembourg - 3:0 (9:0)

Play-off

Match for 9th place

Belarus - Gibraltar - 3: 0 (9: 0)

Matches for 5-8 places

Ukraine - Romania - 3:0 (8:0)

Anastasia Fesenko - Blanar Carmen - 3:0 (11: 1, 11: 4, 11: 2)

Yulia Pugach - Alexandra Kazhan - 3:0 (11: 5, 11: 3, 11: 5)

Liana Sardak - Florentina Constaninescu - 2:0 (11: 6, 11: 4)

Another match

Israel - Luxembourg -

Matches for 1-4 places

Scotland - Finland - 3:0 (8:0)

Italy - Latvia -

Announcement on April 23

7th place match

Luxembourg / Israel - Romania

5th place match

Ukraine - Israel / Luxembourg

Match for 3rd place

Finland - Latvia / Italy

The final

Scotland - Italy / Latvia

Women's European Championship Day 4: Good Finish

The women's national team of Ukraine has completed the European Team Championship in the third division with dignity. Even after our girls failed to advance from the group to the playoffs for prizes, they did not give up, but continued to fight to the last. Victories over Israelis and Romanians on the third day of the championship spoke about this, and the game against the Luxembourg national team in the decisive match for fifth place showed this.

In the second four of the playoffs, which fought for the fifth place in the continental championship, we were undeniably the best. True, the team from Luxembourg tried to stop us, but this team included only one experienced squash player - Sandra Denis. She managed, albeit with difficulty, to cope with the first racket of our team, Anastasia Fesenko. But then Anastasia's partners got down to business. And no matter how hard Julia-Simone Boucourt and Françoise Donven tried to be cunning on the court, at the decisive moments our Liana Sardak and Julia Pugach were at their best. The most difficult was the last match, where the second rackets of their national teams Pugach and Donven met. It was he who was decisive in determining the owner of the fifth place in the championship. The captain of our team had a very difficult time. But, despite the fact that the girls fought for every point, in the end Julia still squeezed her rival, never allowing Françoise to take at least one game.

At the end of the tournament, two teams that were initially considered one of the favorites of this championship - Scotland and Italy - will enter the second division. Their final confrontation was more "for show" - after the Scottish women took the lead 2: 0, the third match was simply canceled. Finland and Latvia fought for the bronze medals much more powerfully - even if this did not mean entering a tournament of a higher rank, they still wanted to return home with medals on their chest.

Everything was decided by the third match, in which Elisabetta Priante managed to defeat Liene Rieba in four games. As for our team, the fifth place in this championship is a very good indicator. Without two leaders who failed to take part in the 2016 European Championship, the girls showed an excellent game. And, most importantly, we gained experience that will certainly help them in the upcoming tournaments. You can be sure that next year, no matter what squad our team was in, it will be able to show a much stronger squash and achieve the right to enter the second division without any reservations.

European Team Championship (April 20-23, Bucharest, Romania)

Fourth day

23 april

Play-off

7th place match

Israel - Romania - 3: 0 (8: 0)

5th place match

Ukraine - Luxembourg - 2: 1 (6: 3)

Anastasia Fesenko - Sandra Denis - 0: 3 (9:11, 4:11, 6:11)

Julia Pugach - Françoise Donven - 3: 0 (11: 9, 12:10, 11: 7)

Liana Sardak - Julia-Simona Bukur - 3: 0 (11: 4, 11: 7, 11: 8)

Match for 3rd place

Finland - Latvia - 2: 1 (7: 3)

The final

Scotland - Italy - 2: 0 (6: 2)

Final position

Scotland
Italy
Finland
Latvia
Ukraine
Luxembourg
Israel
Romania
Belarus
Gibraltar