Great Britain men scooped silver, whilst the women bagged a bronze, in the 2010 European Tchoukball Championships in Hereford.
The men missed out on the title to Switzerland by only five points - having beaten them earlier in the competition and qualified for the final by the tightest margin possible (one point) ahead of Italy. Switzerland led for most of the match - despite a ferocious effort by GB to claw back Switzerland's seven point lead to bring it level in the second period.
one of the greatest championships tchoukball has ever seen
Having beaten Italy in the preliminary rounds, the GB women lost to their Italian opponents in their semi-final by a mere two points, finally taking third place from Germany.
Switzerland's women went on to beat Italy 42 - 31 in the final.
GB Lions, Great Britain's second men’s team, finished sixth after a tight fifth place play off against Germany which ended 51 - 53.
The final standings were:
Men
1) Switzerland
2) Great Britain
3) Italy
4) Austria
5) Germany
6) GB Lions
7) Poland
Women
1) Switzerland
2) Italy
3) Great Britain
4) Germany
5) Poland
Phil Moore, Chief Executive of Tchoukball UK which organised and hosted the European Championships paid tribute to the athletes and volunteers who took part. He said:
"With so many exhilarating and closely-fought matches, 2010 will go down as one of the greatest championships tchoukball has ever seen. It's been a top class display of our sport and our ability to host major events. Well done and congratulations to everyone who played a part in a memorably weekend of tchoukball."
The results bring to an end the Fédération Internationale de Tchoukball's (FITB) continental championships for 2010 - with attention now turning to the World Championships in Ferrara, Italy, and the first ever World Youth Championships in Traiskirchen, Austria next year.
Back home, Tchoukball UK will be using the 2010 championships to engage more people in our sport - and kick starting the 2010/11 season with the first national league event on 31 October in Bedford.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
More information about the championships, including match results, our twitter feed and player details is available on the Euro 2010 pages of our website: www.tchoukball.org.uk/euro2010
Team GB is sponsored by the Herefordshire-based company allpay.