Croatia & Hungary Win Maiden European Nations Challenge Cup Titles
22 Sep 08
The 2008 European Nations Challenge Cup - the European Squash Federation event in its 6th year - produced maiden title victories for Croatia and hosts Hungary at the Griff Squash & Fitness Club inBudapest.
Domagoj Spoljar led Croatia to success in the men’s event. The 33-year-old from Zagreb needed five games to overcome fellow squad number one Anthony Brindle in the semi-final as Croatia beat Gibraltar 3/0 to reach the final.
In the final, Spoljar put Croatia in the lead against Serbia after despatching Dennis Drenjovski 11-7, 11-6, 11-9. But team-mate Robert Petrovic had to fight back from 2/1 down before beating the Serbian second stringIvan Djordjevic 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9 to give Croatia the title for the first time.
Hungary swooped to a straightforward victory in the women’s final - Zsuzsa Biro, Helga Kecse-Nagy andKrisztina Szekely all winning in straight games to beat Poland 3/0.
Men's Final:
CROATIA bt SERBIA 2-0
Domagoj Spoljar bt Dennis Drenjovski 11-7, 11-6, 11-9
Robert Petrovic bt Ivan Djordjevic 12-10, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9
Ozren Lapcevic v Goran Milicevic (dead rubber - match not played)
Women’s final:
HUNGARY bt POLAND 3-0
Zsuzsa Biro bt Anna Jurkun 11-0, 11-4, 11-6
Helga Kecse-Nagy bt Dominika Witkowska 11-4, 11-6, 11-4
Krisztina Szekely bt Anna Sikorska 11-7, 11-9
source : SquashInfo
En remontant encore dans le temps :
The European Nations Challenge Cup was officially inaugurated in Bratislava in 2003 (after an successful pilot in the same city in 2002). This was the brainchild of Rusty Koys who is now the ESF Marketing Director.
The idea behind this event was to offer the smaller and developing squash nations the opportunity to compete on equal terms in Europe with many Countries that are at a similar stage of development. Once a Country had won this event on two occasions it was deemed to be too strong to enter again, so was encouraged to play in the European Team Championships, the flagship of European squash.
The ESF Board tries to find a new Host Country every year from within the target geography of Central and Eastern Europe . To date, the ENCC has been held very successfully in Bratislava , Ljubljana and Tallinn . By restricting hosts to this Region, we hope that many teams will be able to travel overland, thus keeping costs as low as possible for those competing.
However, before selecting a Host, we carry out an Inspection Visit to ensure that the venue has sufficient courts and facilities; and that the Host has experienced tournament organisers . We also wish to ensure that the potential Host will use the event to promote the game within his Country and the Region.
From my personal knowledge, I am confident that in Piotr Samborski, the PFS has an experienced tournament organiser; and after visiting the Kahuna Club in Warsaw , I believe that PFS has chosen a most suitable, modern venue. With careful scheduling, we will make maximum use of the 4 courts available and hope that all matches can be completed in time for the players to enjoy the Finals Party!
I know there will be a feast of top squash, so hope that this event will attract lots of spectators and media attention; and will encourage many more people to take up the game.
Chris Stahl
[President ESF and ESF Technical Director for ENCC 2006]
L'année d'avant :
Trois ans après, on retrouve Andrej Schmidtmayer (Slovakia) à Mons où il joue la finale contre Gregory Lecerf au tournoi de l'Aramis. Victoire de Gregory en 4 sets (
En décembre 2004, les classements publiés par l'ESF mentionnaient :
26 Schmidtmayer Andrej SVK 19/06/1986 48,938 6.
Vous aurez peut-être remarqué que le compte à rebours du Belgian Dunlop Junior Open a été réinitialisé, le nouveau compte à rebours mentionne le laps de temps restant pour les premiers matchs prévus le 31 octobre. Un vent favorable nous a laissé entendre que plus de trois cents jeunes seront présents à Bruxelles à cette occasion. Plus de nouvelles bientôt.
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