Edinburgh players help Scotland to claim bronze in European Team Squash Championships

Players based at Edinburgh’s Oriam Performance Centre made a massive contribution to Scotland’s sensational bronze medal at the European Team Squash Championships in Birmingham.

A squad led by nine-time Scottish champion Alan Clyne - unbeaten all week - and also featuring fellow Oriam players Rory Stewart and Chris Leiper, stunned top seeds and defending champions France 3-0 in the third place play-off. New boy Angus Gilliams claimed the winning point and has also been training in Edinburgh, while Scottish number one Greg Lobban, who scored a key victory in the top match, only recently moved from the capital to Sheffield.

Former team member Kevin Moran played his part, too, as Clyne explained: “Kevin brought a big bus full of juniors down to Birmingham and we’ve hopefully inspired them this week. Their support definitely inspired us and they made it sound like a home match!

“We were on the podium three years ago but went down to fifth place last year. A lot of the teams are stronger than they were before, but this medal shows that all the work we’ve been doing is paying off.”

Scotland women's squash squad, left to right, Alison Thomson, Lisa Aitken, Katriona Allen, Georgia Adderley.

Meanwhile, skipper Lisa Aitken focused on the positives after the women’s team lost a bronze medal play-off to Belgium.

“We were in Division Three in 2016 and we didn’t win Division Two last year, but now we’re ranked fourth in Europe,” she pointed out.

Edinburgh student Katriona Allen played one match out of five, but the undoubted star of the week was 18-year-old Edinburgh girl Georgia Adderley who posted three huge wins against Holland, Wales and France but was frustrated against Belgium when the final “dead” rubber was not played. “Georgia will be a year older in 2020 and we’ll be a stronger team then,” warned Aitken.