Turkington sisters strike bronze and gold!

EVE and Hannah Turkington’s trip to Holland for the 2022 European Dodgeball Championships couldn’t have gone much better as the Dungannon sisters enjoyed medals success with Northern Ireland.

Eve and Hannah were part of the women’s team who sealed a bronze, going two places better than 2019 when they finished fifth, and Hannah was also part of the mixed team who won the European title, going one better than three years ago when they claimed silver in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

“We’ve been working so hard since the last Euros in 2019,” beamed the Turkington sisters.

“It was such a brilliant tournament hosted by the Netherlands, the atmosphere was great!”

Things went well from the off for the sisters in Drachten, where the women’s team dominated Group A to breeze into the knockout stages thanks to a 15-7 victory over Scotland, a 28-0 thumping of Spain, a 20-6 triumph over Switzerland and a 23-1 win over their hosts to take top spot from the Netherlands.

That propelled the Northern Irish women into the positioning games where they defeated France 12-10 in the quarter-finals before falling 17-5 to England.

But they bounced back in the bronze medal match, defeating Italy 17-7, while Austria went on to win the gold with a 14-10 victory over the English.

“It was great to play against so many different nations and top our group!,” the sisters added.

“Italy was one of our biggest threats last time and we were a lot more prepared with our tactics to beat their high pressured playing style. All the hard work and great play from our team earned us the bronze medal which was fantastic!”

Hannah, meanwhile, was also playing in the mixed event and Northern Ireland topped Group C thanks to a 26-2 win over Spain, a 20-8 victory over Wales, a 25-1 derby success against Ireland and a 13-9 triumph over the fancied Austrians.
In the quarter-finals, Hannah and her team-mates eliminated Italy 13-11 before ousting Sweden 19-7 in the last four and they then captured the title with a 15-7 success over Austria.

“It’s absolutely amazing to have beaten Austria in the final as they such a strong team and have won several times before,” Hannah explained.

“We trained so hard for this, when we stepped onto the court as a team we just clicked and everyone played brilliantly there was nothing Austria could do to retain their title as European Champions!”

Northern Ireland’s men’s team were also crowned champions thanks to a 15-13 final victory over England to cap a weekend none involved are likely to forget.

“Winning two golds and a bronze means we were the nation to come with the most medals!,” Eve and Hannah beamed.

“As a full squad, we played 20 games and lost only one which is such a good reflection of all the hard work the teams and coaches have put in!”