Double Euro joy for Scots in team event

Scotland’s women and men will both feature in today’s semi-finals after securing the results they needed at the European Team Squash Championships in Birmingham yesterday.

The women were up against fifth seeds Wales, and Alison Thomson beat Elin Harlow in the opening tie before Scottish champion Lisa Aitken lost to world No 9 Tesni Evans.

Edinburgh teenager Georgia Adderley then came from a game down to defeat Stacey Goulding 7-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-3 in the deciding match. Following promotion from Division Two last year, the Scots will now play second seeds France in the last four.

“All the pressure is off us,” said Adderley. “Nobody expected us to get this far, although we thought we could do it. It’s been a great couple of days for us and we can hopefully take it from here.

“I was obviously quite nervous going out to play the deciding match, but I enjoy being in that situation. I played a shaky first game but then I found my groove and played some pretty good squash.”

The men’s squad needed to beat Pool A outsiders Hungary to be sure of qualifying, and they duly won 4-0 following routine victories for Greg Lobban, Angus Gilliams, Alan Clyne and Stuart George. They play either England or Spain in today’s semis.