England’s Harris and Bryant Crowned European U19 Champions

England’s Asia Harris and Jonah Bryant have been crowned the European U19 champions after final victories over Amelie Haworth and Rowan Damming in Zurich.

In the women’s final, it was an all-English affair between top seed Harris and 3/4 seed Haworth.

While Harris had won all six of her previous official meetings against Haworth, their last contest was a close one, with Harris clawing her way back from 2-0 down in the semi-finals of the English Junior U19 Championships in February.

Today, though, it was a simpler affair for the 18-year-old from Pontefract. After falling behind early in the first game, Harris impressed as she took the ball on early to claim the opener 11-9 and then was good value for an 11-6 victory in game two.

In the third game, Harris was able to dominate the centre of the court and drew errors from Haworth as the Isle of Wight native tried to force the issue, with Harris cruising to an 11-4 win to take the title.

In the men’s final, English Junior U19 champion Bryant was in top form as he beat reigning World Junior champion Damming of the Netherlands in straight games.

Game one was initially even, with Bryant’s attacks well matched by Damming’s defences, before a run of four consecutive points for the Englishman helped him pull away from 4-4 to 8-4 and then 11-7.

Bryant’s ability to put together scoring runs came to the fore once again in the second game when, having seen a 6-2 lead reeled in to 6-6, the Brighton native recovered brilliantly to win the next five points and take a 2-0 lead.

The 17-year-old, with momentum behind him, continued to attack in the third game. After cagey opening rallies, Bryant soon began to dominate and deservedly put the match to bed with an 11-4 victory to win the championship without dropping a game in any of his six matches.

Reflecting on the finals, England Development Head Coach Tim Vail said:

“The England team as a whole performed very well. All ten players made us proud, each making their seeding or exceeding it.

“Asia played her game excellently today; she kept the pace high and volleyed well. It was a hard atmosphere as we decided to let them work it out for themselves with no coaching from anyone.

“Jonah has really kicked on and you could see that with his performance today. He was very assured and in control, and it looked like Rowan ran out of ideas in the end. He's been working hard with Rob Owen and his control of the ball is getting better.

“If we get it right, we should be in with a winning chance [next week at the team event].”

For Bryant, Harris and Haworth, attention turns immediately to the European Mixed Team U19 Championships, which will take place from April 6-9 in Zurich, with the trio being joined by Abdallah Eissa and Yusuf Sheikh.

Click here for all the results from the European Junior U19 Championships.

Result

Women's European Junior U19 Championship 2023

[1] Asia Harris (ENG) bt [3/4] Amelie Haworth (ENG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-4

Men’s European Junior U19 Championship 2023

[1] Jonah Bryant (ENG) bt [2] Rowan Damming (NED) 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-4