Spanish player Iker Pajares won the bronze medal this Saturday in the European Individual Squash Championship, which was held in Chartres (France), without having to play, due to the injury of his rival, the Swiss Nicolas Müller, while Marta Domínguez was one step away from the podium after falling to the French Melissa Alves 1-3 (11-7, 6-11, 6-11, 8-11).
The Catalan, the current Spanish champion and bronze medalist at the last European Championships, was awarded the medal due to the absence of his opponent, who was injured during their semifinal match and was unable to recover for the bronze medal match.
"I'm very happy to return home with a bronze medal. I'm still sad about having reached the final and having a chance at the gold medal, but it's given me a lot of strength and motivation for next season, which is going to be very long," said the Sabadell native, currently number 31 in the world.
For her part, Vigo's Marta Domínguez narrowly missed out on the third spot, as she did in 2002, when she lost to France's Melissa Alves in the fight for bronze. Even so, the Galician, who was coming to the event after winning bronze at the World Games in Chengdu (China), demonstrated during the tournament that she can compete against players with higher world rankings.
"I'm happy with the result. They were very good matches for me, and they give me confidence for the season. But seeing the medals so close is annoying. Today, when I won the first match, I was dreaming of winning the bronze medal, but that's sport, and last week I won the World Games," said Domínguez, world number 58.
For the first time in its history, Spain entered the European Championship with eight players. In the men's category, Iván Pérez finished in tenth place, Edmón López was twelfth, and Hugo Lafuente improved on his position from last year and finished eighteenth. In the women's category, Sofía Mateos finished 22nd, and Noa Romero and Cristina Gómez, both with physical issues, were unable to compete for all the spots.
Women's national team coach Margaux Pitarch accompanied the team in Chartres. "Going to the European Championships with eight players and having two of them reach the semifinals is a historic achievement for Spanish squash. Everyone has put in a great effort on the court, and Marta Domínguez and Iker Pajares have shown that Spanish squash is competing head-to-head with the best players in the world. This is a great motivation to keep working and for our players to continue climbing the world rankings, with the added incentive of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games," she noted.
