Katriona fires Scots back into top flight
Perth star praised for helping seal promotion
Head coach Paul Bell was full of praise for Perth’s Katriona Allen as she helped Scotland earn promotion back to the top flight of European squash last week.
The 20 year-old debutante won a vital rubber against Russia’s Alesya Aleshina 11-9, 11-8, 11-7 on the opening day of the 2018 European Team Championships in Poland.
Scotland won four of their five Division Two matches to land a silver medal, with Spain beating them in the final on Saturday.
That result sees the national team return to Division One for the first time since 2012.
Bell said: “It was great for Katriona, she has worked really hard over the years to try and make the team so it was good to see that hard work pay off and winning her first match.
“Hopefully it will give her a bit of confidence moving forward to keep pushing on.
“We have a young team which is great and they will keep getting better all the time.
“They will be more experienced in a year’s time and should be able to do something in Division One.
“England and France are the top two teams but there is nothing to be too scared of in Perth’s Katriona Allen (far right) impressed in Poland
the rest of the division.”
He continued: “We took five players and the fact we were able to use them all and they all won shows the strength in depth we now have.
“The main thing was to get back up to Division One and we have managed to do that.
“Our number four and five players can now come in and win matches at European level which is great.”
Perthshire squash player Rory Stewart was also in great form as Scotland secured a fifth place finish in Division One.
The Crieff ace (21) won three of his four matches in Poland, including the vital rubber against Wales on Saturday.
He lost his opening match against Spain’s impressive Carlos Cornes 13-15, 1-11, 119, 8-11 on day one but followed that up with an 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 win over Denmark’s Thomas Laursen.
His second win of the event was against the Czech Republic’s Viktor Byrtus 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 which helped ensure Scotland retained their top flight status.
However, he saved his best squash for the final match against Wales.
After Scotland’s top two players Alan Clyne and Greg Lobban lost, Stewart had to win to keep the tie alive.
He did so in impressive fashion, recovering from 1-0 down to win 10-12, 17-15, 11-7, 11-6 against Emyr Evans.
Stuart George then sealed a 2-2 draw for Scotland in the next tie, with the Scots winning on point count back.
Head coach Bell said: “Rory was our number four player for the first time after being a reserve in the past.
“He played in some important matches and the manner in which he performed was a positive sign for the future.
“We are in a bit of a transition period with the team and it was Rory Stewart was in fine form time for the younger players to step up and they did that really well this year.
“We can’t expect them to straight away match what the other players have achieved, but to do what they did this year was really positive.
“I didn’t envy Rory and Stuart being in that position (against Wales) and they probably weren’t expecting to be 2-0 down walking on court.
“They dealt with that brilliantly and it is such valuable experience for them which will do them the world of good for future European Championships and their individual careers.”