Ukraine competed for the first time at the European U-19 Championship
In 2018, Ukrainian squash is represented on the European arena not only by the men's and women's national teams - our juniors also entered the battle.
As you know, the last time the junior national team of Ukraine played at the European team championship was exactly 4 years ago - then in the U15 category a trio represented by Nadezhda Usenko, Artur Sikora and Ilya Presman went to Prague to compete, since then the junior national team of Ukraine has never participated.
It is worth noting that our juniors continued from year to year to participate in tournaments in our country and in Europe, but they were no longer going to be a team. If it was possible to watch the games on the international arena, it happened only in individual competitions. At such a level as the U19 European Team Championship, our juniors have never been. Thus, 2018, in fact, became our debut year!
Our team logically includes some of the best squash players in Ukraine in the age category of the championship - Artur Sikora, Yulia Zhukovets, Yuliy Laukart and Efim Belikov.
The Ukrainians began their campaign for achievements in the international arena from Group A, along with the top teams of the world, members of the national team of England, Germany, as well as no less worthy competitors from Italy and Holland.
Unfortunately, as the participants and mentors of the national team predicted, we were crushed to smithereens by the titans of European squash, and our juniors took the last group place. It is worth noting the start of the games and the excellent performance of Artur Sikora, the most experienced team player, who won the first and only coveted victory in the group standings for Ukraine, beating the Italian Federico Belvedere.
Nevertheless, the games for the national team of Ukraine for 17-20 places ended in triumph. Our squash players were able to defeat rivals from Greece and Austria, thanks to which they significantly increased their team spirit. The victory in the match against the rivals of the "outsiders" of the tournament was given to us, first of all, thanks to the well-coordinated work of the juniors and the professional mentoring of coach Konstantin Rybalchenko.
Despite the fact that Sikora flew to Poland, not yet fully recovered from his injury, the experience of playing in international tournaments was very useful to Arthur, who did not give his rivals Kyriakos Tzanakis (Greece) and Jan Gastl (Austria) a single game. However, the rest of the teams also showed good results, with a score of 3: 0, the Ukrainian team put the Greeks on the shoulder blades, and then the Austrians with a score of 2: 1.
As a result, along with experience, incredible emotions, a colossal charge for the future and development, our juniors took 18th place at their debut championship!
European Team Championship Results 2018 U19.
Note that this trip became possible thanks to the financial support of the Squash Federation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.
After talking with the Ukrainian national team in the U19 category, we learned about the impressions the team returned with, what they liked, and most importantly, their plans and dreams.
Efim Belikov (17 years old, № 106 ESF Ranking BU19)
"I am very pleased with the result of ETC 2018, because thanks to this opportunity I got an incredible experience of playing with such strong teams as Holland, England and Germany, met the best players in my category, and also, I hope, made the right conclusions regarding my mistakes. I would like to note the work of our coach, Konstantin Rybalchenko, who not only gave useful advice, but also created harmony and good mood in our team, added faith in winning even in the most difficult moments.
Many thanks to the Squash Federation of Ukraine, because thanks to their work, our journey from beginning to end brought us pleasure. Also, I thank our team, because this journey has extremely united our team, which together fought for our country. Thank!"
Zhukovets Julia (16 years old, №23 ESF Ranking GU17)
“The whole team was waiting for the trip to the European Team Championship! There were trainings, discussion of tactical and technical aspects in the game, thorough preparation for the competition was carried out! We went with a clear understanding that this year we would hardly get into the top 16, not to mention about the top 10 😂 but despite this, every match was played at full strength, like “the last time.” Every evening, we conducted a debriefing and tried to correct mistakes in subsequent games!
For me, the most anticipated game was with the Englishwoman Lucy Turmel (European champion 2018 and 66th racket in the PSA rating). It was a completely different level of play and an irreplaceable experience that you don't often get in the Super Series. Most importantly, we realized that there are many details that need to be worked on, each of us has already built a training plan and set goals for the next year. Now all that remains is to carry it out!
Thank you very much FSU for such an incredible opportunity to play with the best players in Europe. Also thanks to the coach of our national team - Konstantin Rybalchenko for mentoring! Looking forward to next year to show the best results! "
Sikora Arthur (17 years old, №44 ESF Ranking BU19)
“The trip to Poland for the European Team Championship was very instructive in terms of how you need to train to be the best in Europe. I am sure that both me and the guys have a clear goal for the next tournament, this is at least the top 15, and better top 10. Therefore, we will work, achieve maximum results next year and try to achieve! "
ETC 2018 has once again confirmed that a worthy change is growing in our country, the guys are in a very high spirits, give all their best and train hard. We are very pleased to see our young athletes again as one team and one whole.
But most importantly, their eyes are shining, and this inspires and gives hope that next time they will perform even better, give all of themselves for every ball in favor of Ukraine and bring the victories that we are waiting for!
© Anna Tesleva
