England earn No1 world ranking

THE wave of success experienced by the nation’s teams has been rewarded after England was announced as the undisputed world match fishing champions.

After analysing results from the past five years, officials from FIPSed – the sport’s international governing body – revealed the new world rankings, and the numerous gold medals and podium place finishes has led to the country topping the pile in six of the 10 match fishing categories including the men’s, junior, club and veteran’s.

There was also reason to celebrate for England’s ladies, carp and feeder teams as each were placed in the top three of their respective divisions.

The news comes less than a fortnight after the under 18 squad made history by winning the World Championships in France with a record breaking score.

International Events Manager Dick Clegg has heaped praise upon the efforts of everyone involved and said: “A lot of people have contributed towards this accomplishment and it shows we have the best managers and anglers in the world.”

“It's about time that the government handed us some funding to help us push on even further. I can't think of any other sport that is as successful as we are and yet we don't get the recognition that our achievements deserve."

Those sentiments are shared by current world champion Sean Ashby who believes the continued success is down to a number of factors.

“England teams always put in a lot of preparation and are extremely professional. The mentality gets passed on throughout the squads and rubs off on everyone,” he explained.

“Other nations have a bigger backroom staff than us and are better funded. It makes it even more impressive that we win so many medals on such a low budget,” he added.

Angling Trust chief executive Mark Lloyd is confident the high standards that have been set will remain in place for decades to come and he told Angling Times: “The new Talent Pathway programme to develop young anglers is already generating new Team England squad members and this scheme will help maintain these levels of performance in the future.”

**The new FIPSed Rankings**
• Nations - No.1 (sponsored by Drennan)
• Under 23 - No.1 (sponsored by Drennan)
• Under 18 - No.1 (sponsored by Sensas)
• Euros - No.1 (sponsored by Drennan)
• Clubs - No.1
• Veterans - No.1
• Ladies - No.2
• Carp - No.3 (sponsored by Korda)
• Feeder - No.3 (After 2 years competing in this competition, sponsored by Preston Innovations)
• Disabled - no ranking (unable to fish every year due to lack of funding.)

**England’s world ranking in other sports**
Cricket – 3rd
Football – 15th
Hockey – 4th
Rugby League – 3rd
Rugby Union – 4th

**England’s Key victories**
Mens team (Word champs) – 1st
- Sean Ashby bagged individual gold in the World Championships in 2012.
- Team gold in 2008 and 2010.

Mens team (Euorpean champs) – 1st
- A team bronze in Slovenia in 2009.
- Team silver in Portugal in 2010 and Spain in 2012.

Under 23s – 1st
- Callum Dicks took individual gold in the 2008 World Champs in Serbia.
- Back-to-back bronze medals for the squad in the 2010 and 2011 World Champs.

Under 18s – 1st
- Record breaking team gold in 2013 World champs.
- Individual gold for Matt Godfrey in Belgium in 2008.

Clubs (World Club Champs) – 1st
- Kamasan Starlets secured bronze in Slovakia in 2009.
- Daiwa Dorking landed bronze in Portugal in 2012.

Veterans – 1st
- Team silver in 2009 and 2010 World Champs.
- Joe Roberts took individual gold in 2012, with the team also finishing in first place the same year.