Beset by injury problems before the event, England's chances of a 44th men's title in the 50th edition of these prestigious championships looked slim when they found themselves 2-1 down in matches and with Baptiste Masotti 1-0 up in the deciding rubber with Marwan ElShorbagy.

But the younger ElShorbagy brother, competing in his second tournament for England after switching nationality from Egypt last year, dug in to win the match 12-10 in the fourth.

The final had started with an eventful 102-minute five-setter between Sebastien Bonmalais and Curtis Malik which the French no.3 took 11-8 12-10 4-11 10-12 11-4. He needed a 15-minute timeout at the start of the fourth following a nasty collision, after which he had to be helped off court by the physio. Malik took that game on a tiebreak, but the decider slipped away from the Englishman.

England no.1 Mohamed ElShorbagy beat a disconsolate Victor Crouin in straight games, including a bagel in the third. When 34-year-old Gregoire Marche achieved a 11-7 12-10 11-6 win over Tom Walsh, who was making his senior debut at this event, France led 2-1 and 6-5 in games heading into the final rubber between Marwan and Masotti.

It was a tension-filled epic. Masotti took the first game, ElShorbagy responded in the next, but Masotti was 8-4 up in the third only to lose it 11-8. Amidst a bear pit atmosphere and a flurry of refereeing decisions, ElShorbagy took the fourth 12-10 after a distraught Masotti tinned two drop shots in succession.

"I love it!" said Marwan afterwards. "I've played close, tense deciders before and I love those moments. I'm so buzzing. I didn't want to lose my first Europeans. I love this country, they have done so much for me so this was the least I could do. 

“I messaged each one of my team-mates this morning and said, 'Let's fight for each other.' I can't feel my body - I don't know how many minutes I've played this week. My body was numb this morning but honestly, I wasn't going to lose today, that's for sure.”

"I love it!" said Marwan afterwards. "I've played close, tense deciders before and I love those moments. I'm so buzzing. I didn't want to lose my first Europeans. I love this country, they have done so much for me so this was the least I could do. 

"You don't understand the pressure we were under with the amount of injuries that we had. This is one England were not supposed to win with all the circumstances. It was a hard week for me because I played every match. We knew French were the favourites with four solid players of the same sort of level. 

"I messaged each one of my team-mates this morning and said, 'Let's fight for each other.' We had a young team and Curtis and Tom did what we needed them to do. Curtis did amazing to get us two games. I can't feel my body - I don't know how many minutes I've played this week. My body was numb this morning but honestly, I wasn't going to lose today, that's for sure."

Switzerland won the men's bronze medals 2-1 against Wales - repeating their performance of last year in Helsinki and at the WSF Men's World Team Championship in Tauranga, New Zealand last December.