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European Club
Championships 2004
16-18
Sep, Linz, Austria
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18-Sep, Finals:
Paderboner & Bonn
share soils in Linz
Paderborner SC defended their European Club Championship title,
but not before being given a scare by Court Weisel-Bonn. It was
Bonn who had derailed the Paderborner express back in May to pick up the
German title against the odds in Stuttgart, and it looked as though
another upset might be on the cards as the first two matches unfolded.
First Christian Drakensburg demonstrated again why there was an
early objection in his placing in the Bonn line-up with a faultless
display to topple German Champion Stefan Leifels in straight
games. The German played well enough but had no answer to Drakensburg's
quality of shot. One-nil Bonn.
Meanwhile, Oliver Pettke was compounding a miserable weekend for
Paderborner's Tim Garner by racing to a 2-0 lead. However, Garner
clearly felt this was a cause worth fighting for and dragged his way
back into the match. At 2-2 Pettke looked dead on his feet, but then
Garner was not looking too sprightly either! It was nip and tuck in the
fifth but Garner finally levelled it after 90 mins 9/7 in fifth. One
apiece.
Tim's younger brother Ben Garner carried things on for the
Paderborners as he raced to a 6-0 lead in the first against Swedish
Champion Daniel Forslund. However, Forslund battled back to 6-6
before he was shut out and his challenge was finally doused by Garner
relatively comfortably in straight games. Two-one Paderborner.
So to decide the destination of this year's title it was a battle
between the energetic Lars Harms for Paderborner and the
experienced Simon Frenz of Bonn. Frenz started well enough but
from 4-4 in the first it was clear that the exertions of the weekend had
taken its toll and Harms' squash jumped a level as he sensed Frenz
tiring running out an easy winner in the end. Three-one and the title to
Paderborner!
Once again it was a nail-biting finish to a great championship and with
paderborner hosting next year's event it should prove to be even better!
There was better news for Court Weisel in the women's final as
Linda Elriani and Sabine Tillman led the German outfit to a 3-0 win
over defending champions Pontefract.
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2003 Event
Official site from Austria
with full results
Men's Final:
Paderborner 3-1 Court Weisel
Ben Garner bt Daniel Forslund
9/3, 9/4, 9/1
Lars Harms bt Simon Frenz
9/5, 9/1, 9/0
Tim Garner bt Oliver Pettke
5/9, 3/9, 9/5, 9/2, 9/7
Stefan Leifels lt Christian Drakenberg
3/9, 5/9, 6/9
Women's Final:
Court Weisel 3-0 Pontefract
Linda Elriani bt Becky Botwright
9/3, 9/2, 9/3
Sabine Tillman bt Kirsty McPhee
9/7, 7/9, 9/4
Karin Berierre bt Sarah Bowles
9/2, 9/0, 9/6
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Reports |
17-Sep, SEMI-FINALS:
Paderborn and Pontefract
through to Euro Club Finals
Defending champions Paderborn managed to scrape through into the
men's final of the European Club Championships but only by the narrowest
of margins.
Stefan Leifels displayed all the skills that took him to German
National Championship in disposing of Colet's Clive Ewins in four
games. However, the second game secured by Ewins looked as though it
might prove decisive as the drama unfolded.
First on the adjacent court Danny Meddings rolled back thge years
with a vintange display that had the crowd, and opponent Tim Garner
in awe. "He and I had one of those days, sadly his was a good day and
mine was a bad one" said Garner shortly after his straight games defeat.
Meddings hit clinical widths and lengths before finishing things off
with pin-point accuracy. As Garner added "Too good!".
There was help at hand though for the Garner name, as younger brother
Ben put in a masterclass display to dispose of Lee Drew for a
handful of points. This set up a nail-biting finish to what on paper
should have been the final but for the 'rules gone mad' approach to the
seeding.
With Lars Harms needing to secure a game for Paderborn to send it
to 'countback', Scott Handley raced to an 8-5 lead. Harms pulled
things back to 8-8, but Handley edged it 10-8. Harms then lead 5-3 in
the second, but again Handley dug deep and secure it 9-5.
Ryder Cup? Who needs it? This was matchplay at its best. Harms again
built up a lead in the third and this time he was able to convert it 9-2
thus giving Paderborn the all important game and a 10 point lead that
was insurmountable despite Handley's 9-1 win in the fourth.
So the 'final' that was a semi-final lived up to expectations.
Bonn-Mulheim eased their way past surprise second seeds Vienna to
set all up an all German clash on Saturday. If it s half as good as this
semi then the crowd are in for a treat.
Men's Semi-Finals:
Paderborner 2-2 Colets (91-89)
Ben Garner bt Lee Drew
9-3, 9-4, 9-1
Lars Harms lt to Scott Handley
8-10, 5-9, 9-2, 1-9
Tim Garner lt to Danny Meddings
1-9, 7-9, 2-9
Stefan Leifels bt Clive Ewins
9-7, 4-9, 9-3, 9-5
Court Weisel 3-1 Neudorf
Daniel Forslund lt to Alex Gough
4-9, 5-9, 5-9
Simon Frenz bt Andreas Fuchs
9-6, 9-2, 9-2
Oliver Pettke bt Leopold Czaska
10-8, 9-1, 9-1
Christian Drakenberg bt Andreas Freuden
9-1, 9-0, 9-1
PREVIEW:
The 17th Edition of the European Club Championships gets under way at
the Pueblo Freizeitzentrum in Linz, Austria, with entrants from
16 countries vying for the titles.
Germany's Paderborner SC defend the men's title, with England's
Pontefract the defending women's champions, both being top seeds.
The clash with the US Open and Bahrain Classic means that the teams are
weaker than in previous years, with Tim and Ben Garner leading
Paderborner, who are likely to face English opposition in the semi-final in
the form of Colets, who lost the last two finals, both on
countback. Home hopes rest on USC Neudorf, the second seeds led
by Alex Gough.
In the women's event Linda Elriana and Annelize Naude lead the
challenges of second and third seeds Court-Weisel
and Amstelpark, respectively.
The pool stages take place on Thursday and Friday, with finals on
Saturday.
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