England girls finish fourth in Spain

Ladies World
Championships (Sat & Sun)

River Guadiana, Merida, Spain (15 teams)

Result: 1 Poland, 33pts; 2 Spain, 35; 3 Italy, 39; 4 MAP England, 52; 5 France, 70; 6 Czech Republic, 74; 7 Hungary, 76; 8 Belgium, 79; 9 Croatia, 95; 10 Finland, 97;  jt11 Portugal and Netherlands, both 101; 13 Russia, 104; 14 Serbia, 113; 15 Slovakia, 131.

England’s quest to be crowned Ladies World Champions ended in frustrating fashion as the girls finished a red hot weekend in Spain in fourth place.

They finished 13 points from taking bronze, well clear of the fifth-placed team, after being unable to make a dent in the overnight leaders Spain and second-placed Poland who swapped places on day two.

Poland were crowned champions with host nation Spain in second and Italy third, leaving England, backed by tackle firm MAP, next best. 

Managed by Dave Brooks, the team of Wendy Locker, Helen Dagnall, Kayleigh Smith, Julie Abbott, Sam Sim and Abbi Kendall were ultimately just off the pace required when faced with catching masses of small carrasio in the river.

“Fourth place is the worst place to finish, but I feel a little sorry for the girls because they had the tactics spot on. They fell down by perhaps not attacking the river enough,” said outgoing Angling Trust international competitions director Dick Clegg. “There were millions of tiny carassio around 40g apiece to catch and it developed into a bit of a fish race where you couldn’t afford to fall behind. In some sections we were just 10 fish off scoring more points.

“There were also very few carp to catch as a get out of jail fish – 15kg was a great weight and if you could snare a 3kg carp you’d do a world of good. However, they never showed all week or across the weekend.

 “The team fished it spot on with a short line at 6m and then the whip to hand, aiming to catch a fish on every drop-in.”

The match also marked the end of an era for Wendy Locker, who retired after 23 years.