This is how Italians do it in Malta:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAFQFvSPhQ8
Norwegians:
Day 1:
- Start of with a 4-0 team win over Turkey on the first day. I started off on court 5 and our no2 Kristian played on court 4. I kept focused even with little sleep and heavy legs and pulled through 11-4, 11-4, 11-2. I did 1 or 2 personal errors throughout the match, and is quite happy with my performance. Kristian struggled slightly more, but still pulled through 3-0. Ronny and Eddy on 3 and 4 followed up with some good squash to put us into the lead of the group and a good start before we take on the rest tomorrow.
Day 2
- After a strong start of this years event, we were ready to perform in the same fashion in the beginning of day 2 against Gibraltar who were the top seed in our group. Myself and Håkon Standal started playing as respectively no1 and no4 string. Håkon started with a strong 3-0 victory and i needed to perform in the same fashion, not to disappoint, so I continued my good form and played well to take it 3-0 against a descent opponent Anthony Brindle who seemed to get fatigued in the end of the match.
Kristian and Ronny followed up with respectively a 3-1 and a 3-2 to take the team victory 4-0
- Our second match of the day was against Croatia who also is a relatively strong team in our group. Myself and Edvard got off to a bad start as the unsportsmanlike behavior of the Croatian team got to his head in a match I think all of us think that he should and normally would win. Playing conditions were very tough in this environment.
I took on the no1 Manuel Fistonic and the referee, in a comedy/tragedy musical and a pure repeat of the match we played last year, where the situation was exactly the same. It is unfortunate for squash as a sport to experience this stuff, but you face these players from time to time, and you just have to deal with it.I proved I was the better player, and did well. Did not play perfect, but quite well. He took the match 3-1. For me it did not matter much, but it is a real shame since this is a team event. Kristian won easily 3-0 versus the second string, and Ronny took the thriller of a last match 3-2 after a great performance in the last game. He had a tough one earlier in the day but the HSK "no complaining" rule still applied, so the team captain pulled through without a frown. AND its his birthday. Happy birthday Ronny!!!!
The girls played Sweden this morning as the only match, and the Swedes proved to be slightly stronger as they won 3-1, 3-0, 3-0. Now they need to win the rest to save some face, glory and all that. The spirit is still strong and it is great to also have both teams here for support and good fun. It is also fun to see that they are all improving well and are learning and gaining heaps of experience playing these tournaments :)))
The chilling in the sun before the match did the job. Luxembourg played 2-2 against Gibraltar, so we have good chances to finish as number 1 in the group if we win tomorrow. For now: Poker with all of us to change the euros around the table. Tomorrow is the most important match so far and the semifinal will follow after, most lightly against Poland if we win and Ukraine if we finish 2nd.
Alvilde e kul!
Edvard e ogsaa kul
Men Alvilde e kiulere
Edvard sier det absolutt ikke er sant
Cmooooooon Norwaay!!!
Day 3:
The first match of the day was the last one in the group stages against our mates from Luxembourg. We have memories of losing to luxembourg in the B pool 3 years ago in Malmø. Then I lost my match 2-3 against Sanjay. I was looking forward for my revenge for 3 years, and this would be the day, as we once against med as both no1 strings for our respective countrys. I continued my form from this week, and even though I felt the last few days in my legs, I pulled through 3-0. Ronny did his job on the other court and with those two victories we finished as no1 in our group avoiding the best team in the other group.
Later in the day we played the semifinals against Poland who finished second in group A. Ronny as captain continued his unbeaten record this weekend and won 3-1. I played at the same time on the other court and got a horrible start. Even though I felt fit, ready and motivated, some hidden nerves somewhere must have jumped up and bitten me in the ass as in the first game I hit 5 balls out of court. I had no idea what was going on, but I quickly found myself 1 and then 2 games down, in a match I would expect to perform better in. I was a mere shadow of my former self this week. However I was able to put together some descent squash and take the next 2 games. I felt physically fine and though this would go my way, but in the final game I twitched impatiently from time to time and hit 4-5 boasts from nowhere down :(((((( That was the game, match and end of the Norwegian fairytale. As Edvard and Kristian both lost 3-1 and 3-2 we were out of the fight for the gold medal after a huge blunder from my side, that will not be forgotten in a long time. The rest of the boys did a great job and played some great squash. Unfortunatelly it was not good enough this time.
Day 4:
On the last day of squash at the Marsa squash club in Malta we repeated our win over Luxembourg 4-0 to take the bronze medal, as they lost to Ukraine in the semifinals.
Ukraine went on to beat Poland 3-0 in the finals. This means Poland and Ukraine move up to the seconddivision next year in Amsterdam, while we have to do it all again in third division :/
The girls won their remaining matches to end up on a good 4th place. after Denmark, Sweden and host nation Malta. The norwegian girls were all hungry for a medal this year, and will come back 10 times stronger next year to hopefully take the double gold with the mens team ;)
On behalf of the players I would like to thank the Norwegian squash federation, with sponsors diadora and dunlop, Malta squash federation with sponsors for a great tournament and Mark Hornby as coach and manager for taking care of all the players, organizing and updates.
Personally I would like to thank my team compatriots Ronny Aasbø, Kristian Solhaug, Edvard Hegbom, Håkon Standal, Karoline Hegbom, Lotte Eriksen and Alvilde Sønju for a great trip and great effort and team spirit!!!!
Some action:
Norway versus Turkey
Norway vs Sweden
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