Finnish delegation arrived already yesterday in Die Turnhale the main venue of EMIC 2009 to find out that conditions are very hard at least what comes to the temperature. Outside it is around 30 C and inside several degrees warmer as there is no air-conditioning.

First thing that paid the attention when arriving was the Welcome poster with 9 languages including Hebrew, but missing Finnish even if the Finnish delegation is one of the biggest ones. For next tournament, please be informed that the missing word is “tervetuloa” (welcome in Finnish). Otherwise tournament organization has been working as a clock.

Eetu Tuominen (M55) played an excellent match against David Adams (ENG) by winning 3-2 (11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9). In the 5th game Eetu was loosing 5-9, but then he got his fight spirit and won 6 points in a row taking the the match home. Best fight of the day. Congratulations Eetu

For all draws and results click here.

Tags: Masters

EMIC 2009 draws have been published. From the Finnish players point of view the draws does not look too bad. In M35 Tatu Murronmaa (FIN) got bye on 1^st round and on the 2^nd he plays with Zsolt Kovacs (HUN). In quarterfinal Tatu must play his best game against the 1^st seed Stefan Leifels (GER).

In M40 5/8 seed Anssi Määttänen (FIN) meets first a qualifier and then possibly 9/16 seed Roberto Rodriques (ESP) whereas Jouko Puustinen (FIN) may have a chance against Andrea Monfardini (ITA) but is certainly in trouble with 3/4 seed Farman Khan on the 2^nd round.

In M45 Kari Lehtola (FIN) plays first with Istvan Dakai (HUN) and then probably with 3/4 seeded Martin Font Tous (ESP). In the same age group Teuvo Määttänen (FIN) meets first Henning Beckmann (GER), but on the 2^nd round he needs to beat 2^nd seeded Eamonn Price (ENG). Juha-Matti Parmonen (FIN) is 5/8 seeded and plays against Ferdinand Bullach (GER) on the first round, and then with the winner of Udo Sarge (GER) and 9/16 seeded Antonio Frias Peinado (ESP). From Finland point of view it would be nice to see a Finnish quarterfinal in M45 with Määttänen and Parmonen.

Tags: Masters

1^st European Masters Individual Championships (EMIC 2009) in Squash will gather over 200 players in Krefeld, Germany. Tournament will be played in two venues i.e. Die Turnhalle Krefeld (main venue and tournament office) and World of Sports.

Seedings have been published on tournament’s web page and according to Tournament Director Peter Köck the draws will be published on Tuesday 23 June 2009. Before tournament all players should get familiar to the player’s manual.

Tags: Masters