Plenty of positives at Raiffeinsen Youth Championships

Wales enjoyed a positive Raiffeinsen Youth Championships in Linz, with the team competing in the team and singles events over six days.

There were lots of matches and positive results, with some standouts being the U19 Girls Team (Lowri Hurd and Ruby Elliott) just missing out on a bronze, losing in the fifth match in the final set with a big fight back after going 2-1 down in the over match score.

The U17 Girls Team (Lily Walters and Isabella Turner-Samuels) also had a positive team event, coming fifth as they just missed out on medal positions.

The U17 Boys Team (Toby Harwood and Harry Street) also played well, getting into the championship competition. Coming up against strong opposition in their group, however, the boys had to play for 13th or 14th position, winning to secure 13th.

Then the singles competition started, with a match-packed final three days. There were some really strong performances from every member of the team.

Lowri Hurd played very strongly in her group to top the lot and make her way into the quarter finals. She subsequently came back from a set down to win 3-1. In the final four, Lowri competed against the eventual winner from Bayern Munich; it was a closely contested match but her German opponent came out on top.

Ruby and Lily had tough group draws and ended up in the challenge section of the tournament, where both played very well and both of whom went on to win silver.

Izzy played well in her group to get into the main draw of the competition, where she lost in the semi-final of the main draw consolation.

Harry and Toby both had strong performances in their groups to make it into the main draw, with Harry topping his group. The two boys then just missed out on a round of 16 place, losing in the round of 32.

 

Results:

Team:

U19 Girls – 4th

U17 Girls – 5th

U17 Boys – 13th

Singles:

Lowri Hurd – 3rd in Main Draw

Lily Walters – 2nd in Challenge Draw

Ruby Elliott – 2nd in  Challenge Draw

Harry Street and Toby Harwood – Top 32 in Main Draw

Isabella Turner-Samuels – 3rd in Main Challenge