Emilia Soini’s bronze is Finland’s first European squash medal in more than ten years. The tournament had a special decision when the medal was placed around Soin’s neck without a match.
Emilia Soini won the bronze medal at the European Squash Championships in Poland. It was the first European Championship medal won by a Finnish squash player Olli Tuominen European Championship 2012.
The bronze medal came in a special way. Soin had to face a Frenchman in the bronze medal match Marie Stephanbut the bronze match was not played at all.
– I was in the hall ready to play the match. I looked at the order of play and it read “not played” for the men’s bronze medal match. The race organizers said that the two Swiss men who were in the bronze medal match decided not to play because they have a big race starting in Paris on Sunday and they don’t want to risk injury, Soini told Urheilu from Poland.
Soin’s opponent Stephan was also going to the Paris race. Soini himself is second reserve to Paris.
– He asked what I think about the distribution of the bronze. I would have been ready to play, but I also didn’t mind giving out the bronze and making sure I got a medal, because the places were so sore for me too.
On Thursday, Soin had a place in the final close to the Frenchman in the match Enora Villardia against. The way he lost it was upsetting.
– I led the match 2–1. We had a really bad referee and bad decisions came in both directions. At a critical point in the fourth set at 9-9, I hit the winning shot. The ball bounced twice and I already stopped playing. The referee insisted that there was nothing wrong with the opponent’s search, although everyone could see that it had two bounces.
Villard won the match 3–11, 11–7, 9–11, 12–10, 11–7.
– I’m happy with the medal, but it’s also sad. When I saw the diagram, I thought there would have been a chance for a different color medal.
Soin, who is playing on the world tour, will next have a race in Qatar and after that a longer trip to the United States. Soini is satisfied with his situation at the moment.
– The attitude has changed during the year. There has been a lot of pressure and stress from big competitions, but now I have learned to approach them in such a way that it is nice to be able to participate in them.