Team Wales were victorious at the European Team Squash Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
They earned success against some of the finest players and strongest teams from across the continent.
Wales’ women won the Division One bronze medal, while the men’s team have returned to the top group for 2018 after sweeping all before them to finish first in Division Two.
Despite being drawn in a tough pool, the women got off to a fast start with the team of Tesni Evans, Deon Saffery and Jenny Haley beating Belgium (2-1) and Denmark (3-0).
Consecutive 3-0 defeats against England and France dampened spirits, but the players were not to be denied a medal position and a 2-1 win against the Netherlands in their final play-off match ensured Wales won bronze..
The Welsh men stormed to the top of their group with 3-0 wins against Portugal and Austria. Emyr Evans, Joel Makin, Elliot Morris-Devred, David Haley and Peter Creed all played their part.
A 3-0 quarter-final win against Belgium, courtesy of Creed, Makin and Haley, followed by victory against the Netherlands set the team up to play Denmark in the final.
Wales finished in style, beating the Danes 3-0 and topped their division, ensuring they will be among the elite of Europe once again next season.
Congratulations to Elliott Morris Devred, who earned his first senior cap for Wales, and Chris Neye, refereeing at his first European Team Champions.
There was good news for Wales when the World Rankings list was issued with Makin (number 47), Peter Creed (60), Emyr Evans (159), Tesni Evans (16) and Deon Saffrey (92) all earned career high positions.
Wales finished sixth at the under-19 European Championships in Lisbon, Portugal.
The young squash players Wales produced encouraging performances that underlined their potential in the team and individual event.
They started the tournament in exhilarating fashion, winning 3-0 against Greece and Norway before beating 2-1 against the Netherlands.
A 2-1 defeat against Switzerland meant the team had to settle for second in their group and a 2-0 win for heavy favourites England ended any medal aspirations.
Wales won 2-1 against Scotland, but went down 2-1 against Germany in a tight and nervy final game to finish sixth overall.
In the individual event, Elliot Morris-Devred led the way for Wales, reaching the third round after beating Adrien Douillard of France 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 11-9 and Ireland’s Sam Buckley 8-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 before being edged out after a titanic tussle against England’s Harry Falconer 12-10, 13-15, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4.
After further wins against Sergio Garcia (Spain) and Stuart Macgregor (England), Morris-Devred again tasted defeat against an English player, this time losing out to Adam Corcoran 11-7, 11-3, 14-12 to finish 10th.
Daniel Christopher and Jordan Williams suffered first round disappointment as they fell to Nils Roesch (Switzerland) and Oisin Dunne (Ireland) respectively.
Christopher finished his tournament in fine form, beating Bruno Gomes (Portugal), Fritiof Jacobssen (Sweden), Tood Gowdy (Ireland) and Alexandre Dubarry (France) before eventually losing out to Frenchman Douillard.
In the girls’ draw Ciara Richards lost in her first game with England’s Jasmine Hutton proving too strong (11-2, 11-5, 11-4).
Richards finished 29th place following good wins over Meeri Sarka of Finland (11/6, 11/5, 11/7) and Ireland’s Laura Neill (11/7, 11/9, 11/7).