The second and final day of the Sjoelen World Cup saw the knock-out stages of the individual tournaments unfold, along with the finals of the team competition.
James and Bethany were up against the fourth-ranked male and fifth-ranked female competitors, respectively, both of who are Dutch. Somewhat predictably, both were thrashed in the first knock-out round, but this gave them the opportunity to learn even more from some excellent players – a real privilege. The men’s singles title went to Siem Oostenbrink and the women’s singles competition was won by Elly Mensen, both from the Netherlands.
The team competition was won by the Netherlands, with Sweden taking the silver and Germany the bronze.
The competitive highlight of the UK players’ World Cup came in the pairs tournament, where they beat a Dutch pair in one out of the five boards of their match!
Sjoelen UK would like to thank all of the organising committee for their work in putting together such an amazing event for all the competitors and the Algemene Nederlandse Sjoelbond for hosting the world sjoelen community. We had many interesting and fruitful discussions with players and organisers from all over the world about how to develop the game in our own countries and globally.
We can’t wait for the next World Cup and, thankfully, we won’t have to because it’s in May 2024 in Strasbourg, France!
