Thursday 16 October 2008

Thoughts of a Selector (5)

Well done to both our Open and Women’s teams who have both made the final of their events. Both are now guaranteed at least the Silver medal, but of course will be going for Gold.


Open team

The first half of the semi-final was very close and the match looked like to might go the wire. The coach in his posting, promised a step up in performance in the second half, and he was so right, as England won it resoundingly. Meanwhile Italy beat Norway by a similar margin in the other semi-final, so they will be England’s opponents in the final.

Looking at Italy’s form, they were comfortable winners of Group A, quite a tough group, and then in the knockouts have beaten India, Poland and Norway. They will undoubtedly be England’s toughest opponents, but you would expect that in a final. I’m sure England will be up to the challenge.


Women’s team

The England Women took the lead in the second set, and from that point on never looked in danger of losing their semi-final against Turkey. They won the match comfortably in the end. The other semi-final was a close battle between two strong teams and in the end it was China who emerged the victors, so they will be England’s opponents in the final.

China started slowly in the event. They struggled in the qualifying, only getting through in 4th place in their group. However they seem to have stepped up a gear when they reached the knockouts. First they beat Poland by a large margin, and they followed that with wins against two of the fancied teams, Germany & USA. The last time they played in a knockout match China were the winners, so England will be eager for the chance to reverse that result here.

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