Carp Team England came very close to a medal following one of the most incredible comebacks in the history of the World Carp Fishing Championships.
Ukraine took the title following a near perfect score at the 19th FIPS Ed World Carp Fishing Championships on Lake Deseda in Hungary. Scoring an incredible four points with two section wins and a section second the Ukrainians were untouchable. The results at the end were so close that just one fish in each of the three sections could have put England onto the podium as The Lions accelerated through the field after a very slow start.
The history books show an 11th position, but, sitting stone cold last after almost 24 hours, England made an incredible comeback rising 15 positions in just one day and looked like they would attack the podium.
Team England manager Rob Hughes told Carp-Talk: “We took a gamble at the beginning of the match, a brave decision that I standby, as we fish for gold and anything less is a consolation. I knew some of the teams would be incredibly strong following two events that had been fished at Deseda this year, so we developed a tactic that worked very well for big fish. In practice we caught consistently. However in the two weeks between our practice and the event itself the weather dropped by 15 degrees making us question whether to use it. We had to try it for the first day but it didn’t work so a change to plan B was required. Our match effectively started on Saturday midday.”
What a comeback it was, from nowhere the teams worked their way through the back markers and eventually started snapping at the heels of the Romanian, French and Russian teams that were trying to catch the runaway leaders Ukraine. At one stage interim calculations showed them in seventh, with Ukraine so far out in front and untouchable, all eyes were now on a three way battle between France, Russia and Romania for the final two podium places. England were being watched though, as their charge continued, but a change in weather on the last night killed the fishing stone dead in all sections. The charge was over. Romania took second and France third.
Rob added: “Although on paper this is the lowest score we have had since I was appointed manager, I feel that it has been our strongest performance. The lads fought with maturity and tenacity which is exactly what we need. Ukraine were outstanding and untouchable. We also knew that both France and Romania would be powerful forces, hence the initial gamble.”
England’s next outing is for the inaugural Home Nations competition at the end of October.
