Wales Under 17 returned home from the Netball Europe Under 17 Open Championships in Huddersfield this weekend as runners-up after three fantastic victories in the European showpiece competition.
The Welsh youngsters faced a demanding schedule of four fixtures in three days and began the tournament with two huge games in the first day. The tournament got off to the best possible start for Wales as they overcame their Celtic rivals Scotland in the first game, winning by 9 goals, 55-46. There was then a rapid turnaround for the squad as they had to face hosts England. With little recovery time, it was always going to be a huge challenge for the team and Wales showed resilience and camaraderie in their performance, going down 72-26 to the eventual winners.
The second day saw Wales face new entrant, the United Arab Emirates. The UAE defeated Northern Ireland in a nail-biter on Day 1 and so Wales were taking no chances in preparing for the match. The team were clinical and in beating the UAE by 58-34 set themselves up for a shot at silver on the final day of competition.
Wales showed few signs of nerves as they took on Northern Ireland at lunchtime on Day 3. Keen to finish with a flourish, Wales put Northern Ireland to the sword and recorded a mightily impressive 69-19 victory to round off their weekend and secure the second place finish.
Welsh Netball would like to congratulate the management team and players on such a successful tournament. Welsh Netball would like to thank all of the volunteer management for their hard work and also the families and friends of the players for their support during the intense schedule of training and warm-up games. The players were brilliant ambassadors for the Welsh netball community and we wish them well for the rest of the season.
You can watch all of the games here via our Facebook page: