LES TABLEAUX LES PHOTOS
INCROYABLE. HISTORIQUE. INOUBLIABLE.
L’équipe de France U19 remporte la finale contre l’Angleterre au bout du suspense absolu : 2 matches partout, 7 jeux partout… et 134 points à 114 pour les Bleu(e)s !
Après les titres individuels d’Amir Khaled-Jousselin et Lauren Baltayan, les Tricolores décrochent la médaille d’or par équipe pour la 2e année consécutive, et signent un TRIPLÉ HISTORIQUE à Prague !
• Amir Khaled-Jousselin 🇫🇷 vs Dylan Roberts 🏴 : 11-3, 11-4, 11-3
• Lauren Baltayan 🇫🇷 vs Mariam Eissa 🏴 : 12-14, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4
• Ines Guyot 🇫🇷 vs Emily Coulcher-Porter 🏴 : 10-12, 8-11, 7-11
• Thomas Garcia 🇫🇷 vs Ismail Khalil 🏴 : 6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 10-12
Après les victoires de nos champions d’Europe individuels et une défaite courageuse d’Ines Guyot, Thomas Garcia nous a libérés en remportant le second jeu de son match, synonyme de victoire au total des points : 134 à 114.
Une performance majuscule. Une génération en or.
Merci à cette équipe de France U19 pour cette semaine magique !
LE DICO DU SPORT: UN TRIPLE HISTORIQUE
France won a dramatic European U19 Mixed Team Championship final against England in Prague to complete their first ever ‘triple’.
France’s immense young talents Amir Khaled-Jousselin and Lauren Baltayan won the Individual titles last week and both were victorious again in the Mixed Team final to complete a trophy lockout by Les Bleus.
England, however, ran them incredibly close in the final. It finished 2-2 in matches and 7-7 in games, but France were crowned champions on points countback, winning 134-114.
England had won 35 out of 39 editions of the Mixed Team event since it began in 1983, but went into this year’s championship as second seeds. France were defending champions, having won the title for the first time ever last year in Bucharest. The format changed this year, though, with two boys and two girls, which some felt gave England a slightly better chance.
Khaled-Jousselin gave the French a flying start. The 16-year-old from Nancy beat Dylan Roberts 11-3 11-4 11-3 in 32 minutes.
Mariam Eissa then came up against Baltayan, who is already an established member of France’s senior squad. Although the Frenchwoman won 12-14 11-6 11-6 11-4, Eissa taking the first game on a tiebreak gave England a foothold in the match.
Emily Coulcher-Porter, who finished runner-up in last week’s Individual event, began the England fightback with a straight games victory over Ines Guyot in the third rubber.
Heading into the final match, France knew that Thomas Garcia would probably only need to get one game to seal the title, as the points difference between the teams was significant. He did just that, taking the second game in a 11-6 6-11 11-4 12-10 defeat to England’s Ismail Khalil.
It was France’s second straight victory in the Mixed championship – and with Khaled-Jousselin and Baltayan both young enough to play in next year’s event too, the future looks bright for French squash.
Baltayan, 17, said: “We have dominated European squash! Winning both individual titles and the team title is incredible for us. We’re so proud of the squash we’ve produced in the last 10 days. It’s very inspiring for other juniors in France.
“This team will all be here next year so we’ll keep this team spirit. We’ve got a taste of winning and our team spirit is stronger than any other. We’re super close and that’s made us enjoy it even more.”
Team-mate Paola Lincou added: “We got a little bit stressed out when Lauren dropped a game and after the third match we started to do the maths and we weren’t completely sure. But when Thomas won that second game in the last match, we knew we were in a good spot.”
England coach Tim Vail said: “The new format this year suited us and I’m proud that we ran them so close. We weren’t expected to win in the first place. We were the second seeds. But we will come back next year and try to get the title back.”
Demies
[1] France 3-0 [6] Spain
Amir Khaled-Jousselin 3-0 Oriol Salvia 11-3, 11-4, 11-2 (19m)
Lauren Baltayan 3-0 Montserra Fajardo 11-6, 11-7, 11-5 (20m)
Thomas Garcia 1-0 Estela Martin 11-5 (10m)
[2] England 3-0 [3] Czechia
B1 Alex Broadbridge 3-1 Martin Stepan 6-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-4 (39m)
G1 Mariam Eissa 3-1 Karolina Sramkova 11-9, 16-14, 8-11, 11-8 (43m)
B2 Ismail Khalil 3-1 Vojtech Martinovsky 3-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-8 (33m)
Quarts de finale
Deuxième Jour
France 4-0 Pays-Bas
France 3-0 Irlande
Premier Jour
France 4-0 Danemark
France 4-0 Italie
Finales
[1] Lauren Baltayan 3-0 [13/16] Emily Coulcher-Porter (Eng) 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 (24mn)
[1] Amir Khaled-Jousselin 3-1 Maddox Moxham [9/12] (Bel) 11-2, 9-11, 11-6, 11-3 (45mn)
DICO DU SPORT L’EST REPUBLICAIN
DOUBLE DELIGHT FOR FRANCE AT ESF EUROPEAN U19 INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
France celebrated their second ‘double’ ever at the ESF European U19 Individual Championships as Amir Khaled-Jousselin and Lauren Baltayan won the titles in Prague.
Men’s top seed Khaled-Jousselin, who is only 16, wore down Belgian opponent Maddox Moxham, the 9/12 seed, in a high-class 45-minute final which finished 11-2 9-11 11-6 11-3.
Earlier, no.1 Baltayan made amends for her defeat to England’s Amelie Haworth in last year’s women’s final in Bucharest by defeating Englishwoman Emily Coulcher-Porter 11-5 11-3 11-4 in just 24 minutes.
It’s only the second time France has won both titles at the European U19 Individuals; the first was when Gregoire Marche and Camille Serme took the trophies in Stavanger in 2008.
Khaled-Jousselin had smoothly reached the men’s final without dropping a game, including a dominant performance against England’s 3/4 seed and European no.1 Alexander Broadbridge in Monday’s semi-finals. Moxham’s route to the final had seen him beat three higher-seeded players, Oriol Salva Ripoli of Spain [5/8] and Poland’s Jan Samborski [3/4], then Czech home favourite Jan Samborski [2] in the semi-finals in four games.
There was no apparent fatigue in Moxham’s legs in some thrilling long early exchanges, and after Khaled-Jousselin took the first, the New York-based player battled back to claim a thrilling second.
The tide turned towards the Nancy-born starlet in the third and fourth, however, and he celebrated becoming the fourth French winner of the men’s title (after Gregory Gaultier, Gregoire Marche and Victor Crouin) since the event began in 1989.
Khaled-Jousselin said: “It was a very tough final. There’s lot of emotion for me because I have been thinking about this for a year. Maddox played a great second game, but my coach told me to go more attacking in the third and it worked.”
After the victory, Jousselin put on a t-shirt which paid tribute to his French team-mate Ilyes Hammouche, who tragically died two weeks ago. “He was a really good friend and I’m really happy to win this title for him,” said the champion.
Earlier, 17-year-old Baltayan showed all her hard-hitting, street fighting qualities and never allowed England’s unique ‘hand-swapper’ Coulcher-Porter to settle in the women’s final.
Cairo-born Baltayan became the first French winner of the European U19 Individual women’s title since Camille Serme in 2008 – and the pair will be team-mates in Wroclaw in two weeks’ time when they line up for France at the ESF European Team Championships.
Baltayan had progressed to the final without dropping a game, whereas 13/16 seed Coulcher-Porter had to battle past 3/4 seed Renske Huntelaar in four games, her compatriot Olivia Owens in the quarter-finals and second seed Maya Weishar of Germany in the semis.
“It’s a title I wanted to win my whole life,” said Baltayan. “I have been preparing for this for four years. It’s a dream of mine to win this title against all of the top European players.
“I knew I was well prepared but what I felt was most important was to show that my body language was very good, that I was confident, that my shots are good and that I’m in the right place.”
The players now get one day’s rest before the ESF European U19 Mixed Team Championships begin. France will be bidding to retain the title they won last year in Bucharest.
“With the new format [two boys, two girls] it’s going to be a new challenge for the French team,” said Baltayan. “We have very good team spirit, which is what’s most important for us.”
Les Plateaux – Finales
Place 11/12
Maja Maziuk [9/12] (Sui) 3-1 Ines Guyot [17/24] 16-14, 9-11, 15-13, 11-2
Place 21/22
Paola Lincou [33/64] 3-0 Eva Ciceri [17/24] 11-9, 12-10, 11-2
Place 35/36
Axel Diet [25/32] 3-1 Alex Boni [33/64] 9-11, 19-17, 11-8, 11-7
Demi-finales
[1] Amir Khaled-Jousselin 3-0 Alexander Broadbridge [3/4] (Eng) 11-2, 11-7, 11-5 (52mn)
Lauren Baltayan [1] 3-1 Mariam Eissa [3/4] (Eng) 11-2, 9-11, 11-5, 11-2 (37mn)
L’EST REPUBLICAIN: AMIR EN FINALE
Si les deux tricolores reproduisent le niveau de jeu affiché ces dernières semaines, ils devraient marcher sur les traces de Camille Serme et Grégoire Marche, qui avaient réalisé le doublé en 2008. Avec deux tels fers de lance, les Bleuets viseront également l’or dans la compétition par équipe qui aura lieu du 17 au 20 avril.
Article de Jérôme Elhaïk
LAUREN BALTAYAN ET AMIR KHALED-JOUSSELIN, DEUX CARTES MAÎTRESSES
« Pour une fois, nous sommes les outsiders, » confie l’entraîneur anglais Tim Vail sur le site de la Fédération européenne. Les représentants de la perfide Albion ont remporté deux tiers des titres de champions d’Europe junior individuels depuis la création de l’épreuve en 1989 et réalisé trois doublés filles-garçons dans l’ère post-covid, mais la donne est différente cette année.
En effet, les deux têtes de série n°1 et grands favoris de leur tableau respectif sont français, on parle bien sûr de Lauren Baltayan et Amir Khaled-Jousselin. Responsable du groupe U19 en compagnie de Renan Lavigne, Malcolm Tullis ne se cache pas et affirme que l’ambition « est de remporter tous les titres, y compris la compétition par équipe. »
Malcolm Tullis
LAUREN. « Sur ce qu’elle a montré récemment, notamment en PSA, Lauren est nettement au-dessus de la concurrence, » affirme Malcolm Tullis. Après avoir atteint la finale à Odense, la Franco-Égyptienne a remporté le weekend dernier à Édimbourg son 3ème titre sur le circuit international, avec une victoire référence en finale sur l’Irlandaise Hanna Craig (n°65 mondiale). « On connaît les forces de Lauren mais aussi ses faiblesses, qui lui ont parfois joué des tours lors de certains matches en junior, par exemple sa finale perdue l’année dernière contre Amelie Haworth. Néanmoins, je crois justement que grâce à tous ces matches en PSA elle a maintenant plus d’expérience et de maîtrise. Ça dépendra de son état physique et mental, et même s’il y a quelques joueuses dont il faudra se méfier, par exemple l’Allemande Maya Weishar, l’Anglaise Mariam Eissa, voire la Belge Savannah Moxham, c’est avant tout elle qui a les cartes en main. »
AMIR. « Vu sa dynamique, et la maîtrise qu’il affiche sur le court, j’ai envie de dire qu’Amir est encore plus favori de son tableau que Lauren, » sourit Malcolm Tullis. La manière dont il a dominé le numéro 1 anglais Alexander Broadbridge – l’un de ses challengers les plus crédibles, avec le Tchèque Martin Stepan – en finale de l’open de France junior atteste de la marge qu’il possède sur la concurrence. Comment gère-t-on une compétition lorsqu’on est largement favori ? « Le plus important est d’être transparent, et de ne pas faire semblant, » explique Tullis. « On ne va pas forcément insister sur le résultat, plutôt sur les moyens de le mettre en œuvre. Même si Amir a d’autres choses en tête, comme le circuit PSA et le championnat du monde junior cet été, ce championnat d’Europe est un des objectifs majeurs de sa saison. » Et comme il est âgé de seulement 16 ans, le Nancéen pourrait devenir à terme le premier à remporter 3 titres continentaux junior, mais on n’en est pas encore là…
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The annual European U19 Champs take place from 11th to 15th April at Hector Sport Centre in Prague, Czechia. The team event follows from 17th to 20th.
Fo once England aren’t the hot favourites, with France providing the top seeds in both events.
Boys top seeds : [1] Amir Khaled-Jousselin, [2] Martin Stepan (Cze), [3/4] Alex Broadbridge (Eng), Jan Samborski (Pol).
Girls top seeds : [1] Lauren Baltayan, [2] Maya Weisher (Ger), [3/4] Mariam Eissa (Eng), Renake Huntelaar (Ned)
[su_button url=”https://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/tournament/c10635bd-13fd-4cd9-9a70-48c1d8bdf63b/Matches” target=”blank” style=”glass” background=”#026c73″ color=”#ffffff” size=”8″ icon=”icon: arrow-right” icon_color=”#ffffff”]TS Draws & Results[/su_button]
