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On an intense finals day in Uster, Switzerland, England captured gold and silver at the 2024 European Team Championships as the men’s team defeated France in a final for the 18th time while the women narrowly lost out to a strong Belgium side.
The women’s final was up first featuring six top 30 players across the two squads. An all top ten clash opened play as England’s World No.6 Georgina Kennedy took on World No.4 Nele Gilis. Kennedy, who recently beat Gilis 3-1 in the German Open final, was determined to repeat that to give England a strong start. It wasn’t to be however as Gilis came out on top 3-1 to give Belgium the lead.
No.3 string Lucy Turmel took on Marie Van Riet, needing to win to keep England in the contest. Turmel was far too strong for her opponent in every area, and despite some early pressure from the Belgian, Turmel showed her class to win in straight games.
Jasmine Hutton faced World No.9 Tinne Gilis in the decider, a repeat of last year’s No.2 string match which Hutton won in four games. After Gilis captured the opening game, Hutton came back firing, using her deception to trouble her opponent on several occasions and earn a game ball to equalise. The Belgian fought back to steal the game in a tiebreak before winning the third 11-2 to secure an inaugural title for Belgium. Meanwhile, a silver medal for England continued their run of a top two finish for the 12th successive year.
In the men’s final, just nine places separated No.3 strings Curtis Malik and Sebastien Bonmalais in the PSA rankings, which was reflected in the match. The Frenchman secured a 2-0 lead but in typical Malik style, Curtis fought back, showing his resilience to force a fifth game in a crucial opening match. Bonmalais stood strong in the decider to win 11-4 and give France a 1-0 lead.
Former World champion Mohamed ElShorbagy was looking for a repeat of last year’s final win over Victor Crouin and he delivered. ‘The Beast’ came charging out the blocks in the opening two games, not giving Crouin any time to settle before closing out the win in three games.
Tom Walsh fell to the experienced Gregoire Marche in straight games, leaving it up to the No.2 strings to decide their team’s fate.
The final match was full of quality and drama between Marwan ElShorbagy and Baptiste Masotti. Both players were spurred on by the support of their teammates and left it all on court. As the score reached 1-1, ElShorbagy fought back from 8-3 down in the third to win 11-8 to lead 2-1 before narrowly closing out the final game 12-10 and seal the title for England.
“I want to thank my team,” said captain Mohamed ElShorbagy after the win.
“Each one of us had a job to do this week and we did that and more so I’m very proud of all of them. Thank you to our coaches Nick [Matthew] and Tania [Bailey] for their help this week as well as England Squash and Mark Williams.
"None of this would be possible without their support so thank you. This year we came with a younger team and had many challenges thrown our way but credit to the team for coming through them and defending the title.”
For results visit the 2024 European Team Championships website.
