Just ten nations were represented in the U15s category in the FIPSed 24th U15s World Youth Coarse Angling Championship on the Reservoir El Vicario, Spain from 6th – 11th August with England’s third year in this event.
Guru Team England U15s consisted of; Matthew Mollart, Billy Kirk, Harry Keys, Austin Jennings, Charlie Sibley, Joe Roberts (Manager/1st captain), Matt Godfrey (coach/2nd captain) and Billy Reynolds (delegate).
Despite fishing in a sizzling 35-degree heat on the bank it was always going to be a battle for a podium finish for England with alien fish of catfish and carrissos, which most of the team have never seen before.
The venue proved to be perfect for this World Championship with bites coming literally every cast.
On day one England finished in fourth place with only 3 points off silver with the team working really hard. Bad luck struck for Billy Kirk playing a 4kg carp for 20 minutes, when just a minute to go before the end of the match his pole broke, which would have booked his podium place finish.
On day two England started off much the same as the first day, but knew they had to push it up a gear to catch up with the other teams and as they didn’t catch enough carrissos they had to change tactics to target catfish.
Overall the results were in and England just missed out on the podium place to finish in 5th place with 41 penalties. France dominated the event to take the World Championship title with 27 penalties and Hungary in 3rd place with 32 penalties.
Guru Team England U15’s Charlie Sibley put in an outstanding performance on the day to take the bronze individual win.
Joe Roberts, Guru Team England U15s Manager stated “A brilliant performance by the team to finish in 5th place with the lads doing really well to fish in extremely tough conditions. It was a shame we just missed out on a podium finish, but we were fishing for alien fish and we just couldn’t match the Europeans on the catfish count. A fantastic result for Charlie getting the individual bronze medal. The team should be proud of themselves for a fantastic effort and all their hard work.”
“Fishing at this level is a fantastic experience and this squad have progressed through the Angling Trust’s England Talent Pathway programme, which has given them access to high quality coaching, focused around international style fishing, so fishing on the World Championship scene is one of the highest accolades for these youngsters. We are now looking forward to Hungary next year.”
Matt Godfrey, Guru Team England U15s coach/2nd captain said “Massive congratulations to Charlie and the team this year. The team have been fantastic throughout the whole trip both on and off the bank, showing the passion, drive and focus England teams are known for and we at Guru are extremely proud to support the England U15s team. Loads of lessons learnt for the team and a fantastic effort all round. The team are naturally disappointed by just finishing out of the team medal positions, however, after seeing how the team has performed, they should hold their heads up high!”
Results;
Top 4 teams
1st France 27 penalties
2nd Hungary 32 penalties
3rd Italy 35 penalties
4th Czech Republic 37 penalties
Top 4 individual results
1st Federico Nosotti, Italy
2nd Oliver Nagy, Hungary
3rd Charlie Sibley, England
4th Hunor Nagy, Hungary
The Angling Trust and the Guru Team England U15s (pictured below) would like to offer their appreciation to their sponsors Guru for all their continued support. Also to all the parents, guardians and supporters who support the team that make internationals like this possible.
