Compass European Junior Challenge 2017

Friday 7th July 2017

Final Play offs

The strong Italian side triumphed over Great Britain to win the Compass European IC Junior Challenge and secure their place in The Worldwide Finals in Japan October 8th-12th 2018.  It was a good match and for a while it looked like the British team would push Italy harder.  In the No.I girls singles Destinee Martin of GB took the first set from Biagainti 6-2 but Italy came back well to take the second set 6-3 and then 10-2 in the match tie break set. Meanwhile a very exciting match between the two boys number 1's .  Maggiore  from Italy, already ranked 180 in the ITF 18 & under rankings while still only 16, came out very strong to a 3-0 lead in the first set. However the one year younger Oscar Weightman from GB is a versatile player and worked his way back in to the match to lose the first by a score of only 6-4.  Then a very exciting next set where spectators and coaches all said it looked more like an ATP match , and certainly worthy of a very top  boys 18 & under match despite both being two and three  years younger.  The set went to 5 all then 6-5 to Italy when GB  had several points  to tie it at 6 all and go in to a tie break but  Maggiore  rallied well take all these key points and win the second set and the overall match for Italy  at 7-5.

In the other play off matches Israel were winners over Austria to take third place with Austria fourth. Germany took 5th place with a win over Ireland who unfortunately had an injured player all week and ended up in 6th place.  In the other match Belgium record their first win over Russia for 7th and 8th places.

Many thanks go out to The IC of Belgium who organised the event efficiently and in a very welcoming and friendly manner typical of the IC motto of " Hands across the net, friendship across the ocean".  This attitude was also well in evidence from the juniors who not only showed good sportsmanship and attitude on court but also mixed well and made many tennis friends from several countries during the week.  There were many candidates for the IC Sportsmanship awards.  The girls went to Juliana Carton of Ireland who still 14 & under, and eligible to play in the next European event in two years time, acquitted herself well on court and in a good manner.  For the boys both the Austrians Marco Koppensteine and Adrian Vormehus were great competitors on court but also very friendly off the court.  In the end the Sportsmanship was given to Adrian Vormehus - perhaps a little because of his unique playing style  which was two handed but not in the common modern way -  he hits both left and right handed with two forehands…..…and two overhead smashes!  Great to see some variety in modern play that has not been coached out of him.

In conclusion another great Compass Junior Challenge week and for more detailed results and more photos of the week go to the IC Belgium website https://sites.google.com/site/riltcb/.

An exciting day with a bit of rain making  scheduling more difficult but in the end all matches completed to a result.

Once again the Italians came through strongly to make their place in the final play off.  However in the other group Great Britain and Israel had some great individual matches with Britain eventually coming through.  In the singles they won 3-1 and in the second girls singles the British came back from 6-0 down in the final tie break set to a match point at 10-9  before Israel came through with the win.  So it was now down to the doubles.  The boys had the "match of the week" with some excellent play from both teams before the British boys won to give their team an overall team victory.  So GB will now play Italy for the overall winner to see who goes to Japan for the Worldwide finals in October 2018.
Friday's matches will also see all the other places from 1 to 6 being played for with Austria and Israel competing for third and fourth places.

For full detailed individual results and additional photographs go to the Belgium IC website and click on European Junior Challenge (  https://sites.google.com/site/riltcb/ ).   This can also be reached via the main IC Council website by clicking the Belgium IC logo.

On Thursday evening everyone had a visit to Belgium's Grand Place where a dinner was enjoyed at The Hard Rock Cafe. There was  great spirit among all the teams and the IC organisers with speaking contributions including something from all the teams of juniors who embraced the IC concept of "hands across the net, friendship across the ocean".

Another good day of tennis in excellent weather.  Once again the top two seeds continued their progress to the play offs with Italy winning 6-0 over Austria which despite the score had some good and entertaining matches in which the Austrians gave 100% effort. GB also continued their run with a 6-0 win over Russia. In other matches Israel won 5-1 over Ireland to set up a day 3 match with GB to determine the winner of that group.  In the remaining match Germany won over Belgium 5-1 to give both Austria and themselves one win each. 

So we go to Day 4 with Italy v Germany, Austria v Belgium, Russia v Ireland and the match that will determine the winner of their group between GB and Israel. 

At the evening dinner which was outdoors at The Royal Leopold clubhouse it was the birthday of Daria Shvartsmann from Israel which was celebrated with a cake and candles.  Tomorrow evening everyone is being taken to The Grand Place of Brussels where dinner will be at The Hard Rock Cafe there.

We look forward to the Thursday day 4 of the groups matches which follow on Friday with the Finals play offs.

In the first day of play both the two seeded teams in their respective groups got off to a good start in fine weather at The Royal Leopold Club in Brussels.  Italy looking strong had a 6-0 win over Belgium while Great Britain also had a 6-0 win over Ireland.  In the other matches Austria won 5-1 over Germany and Israel won 6-0 over Russia.  The Russians had an interesting team as most of their players came from Siberia and for several it was their first time outside their own country - so a great experience.

The spirit of the players and their attitude both on and off court has been great and in the IC motto of "Hands across the net, friendship across the ocean".  This included a game of cards that the Austrian and Israeli teams played together !

In Day two matches Italy will play Austria and Belgium play Germany in that group.  In the other group GB will play Russia and Israel will play Ireland

Monday 3rd July 2017

Teams from Austria, Belgium, Israel,Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland  and Russia have arrived in Brussels for The Compass European IC Junior Challenge. They have been practising at The Royal Leopold Club to be ready for the start of matches.

At the draw Italy and Great Britain have been seeded in their round robin groups. Italy will play Belgium in their first match while Austria will play Germany in the same group.  In the other group seeded Great Britain will play Ireland while Israel play Russia

Location: Brussels, Belgium 

For guides and competition rules please visit the further Information page to view available downloads.