3 times silver, 1 bronze

The "LieGames2011" is now history! It was a very successful event for the Luxemburgish squash-team. In fact, we are proud to come home with 4 medals (out of 4 possible!): silver for the men's team, bronze for the women's team, and twice silver for Sanjay Raval and Sandra Denis in the individual event!

 (from left to right) Stéphane Ayache, Sanjay Raval, Daniel Kaiser, Keith Darlington, Mark Radley, Marcel Kramer and Jean-Claude Schmidt

Isabel Juan, Françoise Donven, Claudia Mich, Sandra Denis

Silver for the men, bronze for the women

On day 4 of the team event, Luxembourg played against Iceland, and had to win both encounters to keep the chances for a medal alive.

The women played excellent squash, and won their 3 matches, which meant we got the bronze medal!

The men also managed to beat Iceland, on a 4-1 score, with only Daniel Kaiser losing to Halldor Magnusson. Everything now depended on the outcome of Malta versus Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein had to win 4-1 to get the gold medal. They actually shocked by winning against the favorites Malta, but it was "only" a 3-2 win, which meant that Malta got gold, Luxembourg silver, and Liechtenstein bronze.

This is an excellent result for the Luxembourg squad, and we all are really happy about it!

Tough day for Luxembourg

Both Luxembourg teams lost their first match of the day against Malta.

The ladies lost 3-0, with only Sandra Denis winning a game off former world-top 30 player Diane Desira.

The men lost 4-1 against a strong Maltese team, who are now the big favorites for the gold medal. Marcel Kramer lost 1-3, Stéphane Ayache and Keith Darlington both lost 2-3, and Sanjay Raval lost 3-0 against the professional player Bradley Hindle. Daniel Kaiser player very solid squash, and secured the only win for Luxembourg against Joseph Desira.

The second game of the day was against Liechtenstein. The ladies unfortunately lost again, with only Sandra Denis winning her match.
 This means that the ladies have to win 3-0 tomorrow against Iceland to keep a very small chance of winning a bronze medal. At the same time Malta has to beat Liechtenstein 12-0!

The men had a good 3-2 victory over Liechtenstein and still are in race for a silver medal! In this match, our youngster Mark Radley had an excellent debut for the Luxembourg team by winning his match convincingly 3-0! It won’t be the last victory for Mark! Second on court was Marcel Kramer, who lost (again) his fourth set by the score of 10-12! Stéphane Ayache completely outplayed his opponent by winning 3-0. Daniel Kaiser did not have his best match, and unfortunately lost 0-3. This meant that Sanjay Raval had to win against Marcel Rothmund. This was not too difficult for Sanjay, as he managed to put out his best squash: he won 3-0.

If we manage to win our last match against Iceland tomorrow, we should get the silver medal!

Men win, Ladies lose…

The ladies played against Cyprus today, and were very unlucky, by losing 1-2. Claudia Mich lost in 5 in a very tough encounter, and Françoise Donven lost 1-3. Only Sandra Denis managed to get a close 3-2 win.

After both Keith Darlington, and Marcel Kramer lost their matches 1-3, the pressure was on the shoulders of our first 3 players, who had to win to secure victory for our team. Stéphane Ayache, Daniel Kaiser and Sanjay Raval hold their nerves together, played brilliant squash and won their matches. This means that Luxembourg won 3-2 against Andorra!

Tomorrow will be the toughest day, with 2 strong opponents on the same day: Malta and Liechtenstein!

click here for the detailed results:

• Men: Luxembourg – Andorra
• Ladies: Luxembourg – Cyprus

Good start for Luxembourg

Luxembourg had an excellent start into the competition. Both teams won against Monaco: the ladies won 3-0, whereas the men won 4-1.

In the evening, the opening ceremony took place. This was a great show with 6500 spectators. The picture below shows the mascot of the games, called Alfi or Elfi…

Françoise Donven, Alfi and Sandra Denis

• click here for pictures

click here for the results:

• Ladies: Luxembourg – Monaco
• Men: Luxembourg – Monaco20

For the 3rd time after 1999 and 2003, squash is part of the "Jeux des petits états européens", the so-called "mini-olympics".

The women's team competes against Malta, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, Monaco and Iceland, whereas the men will play against Monaco, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Malta and Iceland.

source: pressphoto.rtl.lu

• click here for the official website