By Oliver Deakin

Group Stages
The girls had a slightly nervous start in the groups - as Cameroon pulled out we did not get any warmup in the group matches before meeting France, our strongest opponents on a table we had little experience on within the team outside of Emily. That said, the girls put up a good fight and took a couple of legs off them. The French women's team were all very friendly people and the match was played in good spirits. After France, we played Japan who had chosen Tornado. They only had a team of 4 and so automatically forfeited 2 doubles legs. We took (if I remember correctly) 5 of the remaining 6 legs. The Japan team were all really sweet and just seemed so excited to be at this event - to think they didn't even have a full team but still traveled half the world to be there, when it's a struggle to get teams to come from Europe in some cases! Amazing!

Although I imagine they are relatively new to the game, they had an incredibly relaxed playing style, shooting smooth pull shots on the 3. They didn't seem nervous or phased by the size of the competition at all - I think they will be a nation to watch in the future. Speaking to them later I found out they hold about 4/5 tournaments a year of 60 to 70 people, which makes me think their scene is a similar size to ours. I'd love to go out there and play at one of the tournies one day!

Quarter Final
We met Slovakia on Tornado in the first round of the knockouts. I think they were the most skilled and dangerous team we met in the competition, and we were impressed they topped their "group of death" ahead of some really tough competition. We were also very pleased not to have to meet Belgium on Bobby Sport! We ended up at 2 matches each and had to go to the extra doubles match, with Jody and Mayya pairing.

In sum, the extra doubles match was a nail-biter. Let's say things got a little heated, but we got it sorted out and let them have it on the 3 bar. The poor Slovakian girl must have been a bit nervous because I think she just turned the ball over straight to Mayya's 2 bar, losing her pin. After that it was all over for the Slovakians - Mayya and Jody were fired up and the opponents were nervous and probably a little scared. I think it finished 7-3 and we were through to the semi-final!

Semi Final
Next up was the Netherlands on Tecball. Strangely, going into this match I felt very comfortable and confident that we were going to win. I had heard that the only reason the Netherlands beat Bulgaria in the previous round was because Bulgaria had to forfeit one doubles match and had setup a crazy team order which meant their top player never played! I had a feeling that the Netherlands were a weaker team than us and it turned out I was right.

Hannah and Sarah took the first doubles game 2-0 I believe, quite comfortable with both girls playing really strongly in both home and away legs. It never looked like they could lose the match. The next game was Jody vs Tessa, the coach's wife.

Sadly Alina and Emily lost their match against the 2nd doubles team, even though they played really well and were fairly evenly match with their opponents. Luckily Mayya was still fired up from before, and caned their 2nd singles player 2-0, putting us 3-1 in matches and through to the final. We couldn't believe it!!!

The Final
The final was incredibly exciting. Hannah and Sarah played the first doubles match. After narrowly losing the first game on Bonzini, they caned the French 5-0 on Garlando! Hannah was blocking unbelievably well on both tables against everything they had, and Sarah was passing and scoring up front well. Although it was very clear we dominated on Garlando as much as the French did on Bonzini, the French got a couple of lucky goals on Garlando and managed to take the 3rd game to win the match. What a shame because both girls were playing really well and it could have gone either way.

The 2nd match was Jody against the strongest French girl Estelle. Again we lost the game on Bonzini and won very easily on Garlando, going to a third game. Jody fought hard but just could not get the ball in the net on Bonzini. Estelle played well and we had a little bad luck on Garlando giving her enough of an edge to closely take the match. Again, Jody played an amazing game and with just a little luck on Bonzo the match would have been ours.

At 2-0 down, the third game became crucial. Alina and Emily were to meet the 2nd French pairing. They played a really strong game, better than I've ever seen them play before I think, taking the first game on Garlando 5-3. Unfortunately the French were too strong on Bonzini and took the 2nd game. Again we were into the 3rd game and, although Alina and Emily played a great game, they could not quite hold off the attack enough to take it. They played so well together - I know it sounds like a broken record, but again we were so close to taking the match that it really came down to just 1 or 2 goals which could have turned it into a completely different result.

Sadly this put us 3-0 down in matches, meaning the French had won and Mayya would not get to play her singles match. This was a real shame - partly because I believe Mayya would have come out and won taking us to the extra doubles match which I believe we could have also won, but mainly because all the girls had played so well, were equally or better skilled to their opposition on their respective home tables and put in such a great fight that I truly believe they deserved to win. I think on the day we were beaten by the table and not our opponents - if an equally skilled team to the French had played us on any other table we would have won, but sadly our general lack of experience on Bonzini tables stole the match from us. If we can get a little more practise on this table this year, I think we will be in an incredibly strong position at the next World Cup to win it.

Well done to the girls for getting 2nd place in the World Cup - you thoroughly deserved it and more. Amazing to think we were so chuffed to qualify to the knockouts and then went all the way to the finals We came back with a massive cup and silver medals (I got one too as coach - brilliant!), so that was really great!

Anyway, that's a massive writeup when I wasn't expecting to write very much at all! It was a great nail-biting adventure with lots of thrills, spills and controversial moments! Looking forward to the next one!