European superpower Germany proved too strong for an English team with two teenagers in the last sixteen of the European championships in Croatia.
Germany went for its third straight women’s team title, finishing with three players in the top 70 in the world.
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Despite this, England approached the match positively having made it through the January qualifying tournament and then beating ninth-placed Italy in the groups to reach this stage.
When Tin-Tin Ho played the first match against Annett Kaufmann, last year’s junior world champion and ranked 65th in the world, hopes were perhaps a little raised.
But that was just the invitation for Kaufmann to go one step further and keep Ho (WR 247) at bay for the next three games.
Tianer Yu, brilliant in Italy’s defeat, did as well as she could in the first two games of her match against Sabine Winter and was 262 places above her at world number 28. It wasn’t until the third that Winter finally managed to subdue her opponent.
Ella Pashley (WR 908) was unlucky not to play in the qualifying tournament, having been selected to play No. 3 against a Greenland side that ultimately fielded only two players.
She showed few nerves in her late debut in the senior tournament and tried to attack at every opportunity, although her opponent Nina Mittelham (WR 69) unsurprisingly had the greater consistency. Still, Pashley (pictured above) will only benefit from a match in which she hit some fantastic winners and held on to them throughout.
All things considered, England will take a lot of positives from finishing in the top 16.
The England men faced the Netherlands in 17th-24th places and brought in Connor Green for his first senior tournament match.
Tom Jarvis won his two matches, including a nip-and-tuck opener against Milo De Boer, while Groen led Gabrielius Camara 2-1 before his opponent came back to win 3-2 in match 2.
Sam Walker’s 3-1 defeat in a thrilling match against Kas Van Oost proved crucial as although Jarvis defeated Camara in four, Green could not win a game against De Boer in the decider and the Dutch team triumphed 3-2.
Results
Women’s team
Round of 16
Germany 3 England 0
Annett Kaufmann bt Tin-Tin Ho 3-1 (7-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-8)
Bint winter Balt 3-10 (11-9, 11-9, 11-4)
Nina Mittelham v Ella Pashley 3-0 (11-6, 11-7, 11-7)
Men’s team
Positions 17-24
Netherlands 3 England 2
Tom Jarvis bt Milo De Boer 3-2 (11-7, 11-13, 12-10, 7-11, 11-7)
Gabrielius Camara with Connor Green 3-2 (11-5, 8-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8)
Kas Van Oost bt Sam Walker 3-1 (13-11, 11-13, 11-8, 12-10)
Jarvis bt Camara 3-1 (10-12, 11-4, 11-8, 11-7)
De Boer bt Green 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-7)
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