Congratulations!
Italy and Israel the New Champions

Italy Juniors, npc Gianpaolo Rinaldi, coach Andrea Pagani, Furio di Bello, Stelio di Bello, Ruggiero Guariglia, Francesco Mazzadi, Fabio lo Presti, Stefano Uccello

Israel, npc Yaniv Zack, Eliran Argelasi, Eran Assaraf, Ory Assaraf, Lotan Fisher, Idan Grunbaum, Gilad Ofir

Italy won the Junior Euopean Team Championship today. Early in their final match against Norway the Italians trailed by 25 IMPs but they held their collective nerve to come back to win by 41-32 IMPs, 17-13 VPs, to assure the gold medal, irrespective of results in other matches.

In a dramatic finish, Denmark snatched the silver medal thanks to a 23-7 victory over Russia, with Norway taking the bronze. France lost their last match 11-19 against Sweden to finish just half-a-VP behind Norway. If a fifth European team gets a place in next year's World Championships in Beijing, it will be Poland, who took fourth place ahead of England.

In the Schools, Israel's morning maximum against England put them in a strong position going into the final round. Thought they trailed Poland by 5 VPs, Israel had to play near-bottom-placed Scotland in the final round, while Poland faced third-placed Netherlands. Sure enough, Netherlands held the Poles, losing only by 13-17, and Israel's 25-4 win over Scotland earned them the Schools European Team Championship and the gold medal. Norway took the bronze, overtaking Netherlands thanks to a 24-6 last round victory over Germany. Scotland's 4 VPs against Israel just held off Wales so that the Welsh had to take last place.