Two medals and four World Championship places earned at European Youth Championships

England have enjoyed a fantastic European Youth Team Championships, which finished today in Slovakia.

The U26 Women and U21s won bronze medals, and all four teams qualified for next year's World Championships - England being the only country to achieve this. This exceeds the pre-tournament expectations with Alan Shillitoe, NPC of the U26 team calling it, "by far the best all-round performance we have achieved at this level". We echo his "congratulations to all the players who achieved this and thanks to all the coaches, captains and mentors who helped to develop and lead the players".

Under 21 NPC Michael Byrne says:
"I am incredibly proud of my team of 6 players Ben Norton, Sam Behrens, Liam Sanderson, Daniel Winter, Jonathan Clark, Kripa Panchagnula and Bryony Youngs as Coach who showed nothing but true grit and strength of character in the final day to win the Bronze medal.

"They played their hearts out and never gave up even when bad luck and illness threatened to ruin our success. They were all fantastic team players who gave their heart and soul to represent their country, and I am proud to stand alongside them as we collect our medal"

Alan and Michael have been writing blogs which you can read here. Alan has also been taking photographs which you can see here.

• Event website; EBL photos on Facebook
• NPC's blog, Alan's pictures