Bronze at Europeans for Elspeth

Kinross squash player Elspeth Young helped Scotland secure a bronze medal at the European Team Championships in Helsinki.

The 20-year-old claimed a crucial win over Ireland’s Ciara Moloney, 11-4, 11-8, 11-5 in Scotland’s Division Two Pool B match which, coupled with a win for the Scots over Hungary, sealed a semi-final place.

The Scots, seeded seven, had few expectations after coming up from DivisionThree last year but they were narrowly denied back-to-back promotions losing to the top seeded Germans 2-1 in this year’s semi-final.

Young lost to German Nele Hatschek 11-8, 12-10, 13-11 who went unbeaten in the tournament as her nation claimed promotion and the gold medal.

However, the Scots bounced back on the final day, beating Austria in the bronze medal match 2-0 thanks to wins for Lisa Aitken from Montrose and Aberdeen’s RobynYoung.

Meanwhile Crieff youngster Rory Stewart played two matches for the men’s team in the Division One tournament in Helsinki.

Stewart, 20, played in Scotland’s semi-final defeat to England losing to Tom Richards 11-2, 11-5, 11-4, ranked 37 in the world.

He also played in the group match against eventual winners France, losing to Lucas Serme, ranked 45 in the world.

Scotland’s men finished fourth in Division One, just being edged out for bronze by seven points in their third and fourth play-off with Germany on Saturday which ended tied at two matches apiece.

National coach Paul Bell believes the experience gained by Young and Stewart at the Europeans will stand them in good stead moving forward.

He said:“They came up against some world class players but dug in hard. The future of Scottish squash is in good hands with these players.

“There is no doubt that this is a big leap from age-grade competitions, but the young players were selected on merit and did not let anyone down.

“The good thing is that we can integrate the young players into senior competitions.”