John Culatto
SQUASH players from Gibraltar did themselves proud on home soil by tackling much larger nations at the excellent Europa Sports Park facilities.
The men and women’s squads both faced tough opposition in their group matches of the European Team Championships Division Three at Europa Point’s high quality sports hall.
Gibraltar Squash Association members helped organised the event through the weekend which will surely improve the Rock’s standing in the sport.
The competition involved nations from four groups within the third division.
Gibraltar’s men lost to both Italy and Jersey on the first two days of the event to place them last in Group A.
In the resulting play-off, Greece beat them on Thursday but the local side then roared to victory against Guernsey on Friday.
Gibraltar will take on Latvia on Saturday to see in which group they end up next season.
Gibraltar’s women lost all four Group A matches against Sweden, Italy, Croatia and Malta.
Malta and Luxembourg beat them in the play-offs too, ending a miserable week where they did not win a single game.
But the Rock’s Minister for Sport Steven Linares chose to concentrate on the positives at the Europa Sports Park he helped bring to life.
“When considering whether to embark on the largest investment ever in Gibraltar’s sporting infrastructure the aim at the time was to attract top level competitions and, by default, visitors to the Rock under the event-led tourism banner.
“It is fantastic to see that those original concepts are becoming a more frequent reality.
“This is in addition to the benefits that local sportspeople will derive from such events from a purely sporting context,” he added.
The GSLP/Liberal government built the Europa Point sports facilities after selling off Victoria Stadium to the Gibraltar Football Association.
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