Edinburgh Sports Club lose to German giants Paderborn in Squash European Club Championships

Stuart George and Rory  Stewart both gave the home crowd a thrill and their world-class opponents a fright before Edinburgh Sports Club eventually conceded defeat to German giants Paderborn in last night’s European Club Championship semi-final in Edinburgh.

George threatened to pull off an upset when he won the opening two games against former world No 13 Raphael Kandra, but Kandra recovered to win 11-3 in the fifth and deciding game.

Skipper Stewart, inset, faced an even more daunting task when he took on world No 5 Simon Rosner in match two, but Rosner was forced to scrap for every single point as he ground out a 15-13, 11-9, 11-7 victory.

Simon Boughton then lost match three to Lucas Wirths, giving the defending champions an unassailable 3-0 lead and a place in today’s final. There they will meet another German team, second seeds Worms, who beat Edgbaston Priory 3-0 in yesterday’s first semi-final. Scottish No 1 Greg Lobban set Worms on their way by defeating Miles Jenkins in three straight games in the opening rubber.

Edinburgh can still salvage a bronze medal when they play Edgbaston in today’s third-place play-off, while Glasgow’s Newlands Club will finish fifth if they overcome Czechs Viktoria Brno. Newlands beat Dublin’s Fitzwilliam club 3-1.

In the women’s round-robin section, Edinburgh posted their second win of the week after whitewashing Newlands 3-0. Newlands later lost 2-1 to Swiss side Fricktal, leaving Edinburgh and Fricktal in a battle for fourth place today.