A nail biting and exciting finish saw England’s lionesses secure a bronze medal at the inaugural ladies World Carp Cup held at Villeneuve de la Rhao, Perpignan, France last weekend.
Home nation France took the honours with a magnificent display that secured them two section wins and a second. Their unbeatable four points could not be matched. It wasn’t plain sailing though as, with just over 12 hours to go both Romania and England threatened the top podium place. France held firm through the latter stages with a string of fish to take a convincing and well deserved gold. They also secured individual gold and silver medal positions with individual bronze going to Romania.
The team battle for silver and bronze raged right to the wire, with Romania and England changing places right up to the last 30 minutes of the 72 hour event. In the end the score sheet showed a tie for second place with both England and Romania scoring eight points. Tie back rules look at the greatest combined weight and the honours went to Romania, whose combined score was a mere 26 kilograms greater than England’s.
England Manager Rob Hughes had nothing but praise for all the teams. “France were outstanding in every way and made the most of their home advantage. They absolutely deserved gold. Romania and England were very evenly matched and it was virtually impossible to call who would win between the two teams. In the end it was Romania that won, but a couple of extra fish for us and it would have gone the other way. We certainly can’t grumble with the result and it shows how good also how even the level of competition is. All of the teams from all of the showed a fantastic spirit of fair play and battle hard for their countries.”
The history of women’s carp fishing competitions is now well and truly established. Discussions are currently in place for the hosting of next year’s event.
