ITTF European Team Championships Stage 1
The official start of the ITTF European Team Championships Stage 1 was today. Beside Russia and Belarus in Women’s Event the remaining 24 matches were played today.
In A Groups in Men’s Event Slovenia secured home win against Belgium in Otocec. Darko JORGIC Deni KOZUL and Bojan TOKIC needed only three matches against Cedric NUYTINCK Robin DEVOS and Florent LAMBIET. In Athens Panagiotis GIONIS lead Greece to victory over Luxembourg. He beat Traian CIOCIU before Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS and Georgios KONSTANTINOPOULOS prevailed against Eric CLOD and Marc DIELISSEN in three straight matches.
Michael MAZE returned to the International scene but Denmark failed to beat Sweden in Halmstad. Kristian KARLSSON overcame MAZE and Jonathan GROTH whilst Anton KÄLLBERG prevailed against LIND Anders. GROTH scored one point in the match against Jon PERSSON. Turkey create the upset and beat Croatia in Varazdin. In the decisive match LI Ahmet beat Tomislav PUCAR. Andrej GACINA won both his matches but Ibrahim GUNDUZ also prevailed against PUCAR and Abdullah YIGENLER overcame Frane KOJIC.
Ukraine lost on home soil against Belarus. Guests lead by Vladimir SAMSONOV and very good PLATONOV and KHANIN beat KOU Lei EFIMOV and PRYSHCHEPA. Portugal’s João MONTEIRO Joao GERALDO and Diogo CARVALHO had very difficult match against Hungary’s Adam SZUDI Bence MAJOROS and Tamas LAKATOS but eventually prevailed in four matches. LAKATOS was the only player in guest’s team to score. He overcame CARVALHO. João MONTEIRO in the fourth match was two games in reverse before he recovered to win the duel.
First to secure the win in Men’s Groups B was Israel. In Tel Aviv Israel easily prevailed against Kosovo. Omri BEN-ARI Shimon RABINOVICH Matan SIMON proved too strong for Baton CITAKU Mentor SHABANI and Yilli MALOKU. Finland followed same path. Benedek OLAH Alex NAUMI and Toni SOINE overcame Sean DOHERTY Colin DALGLEISH and Niall CAMERON.
Czech Republic continued the winning series of host with the victory over Cyprus. Tomas TREGLER Tomas KONECNY and Tomas POLANSKY beat Hristo HRISTONOV and brothers Marios and Yiangos YIANGOU. In Terni Italy with Jordy PICCOLIN Mihai BOBOCICA and Antonio AMATO prevailed against Norway’s Marcus WAERSTAD Frederik MERINGDAL and Borgar HAUG. England was not under pressure at any stage. Against Bosnia and Herzegovina Tom JARVIS Sam WALKER and Liam PITCHFORD recorded three 3:0 wins. Admir DURANSPAHIC Edin KONJIC and Armin ALICIC had no game for World Cup bronze winners.
Netherlands beat Montenegro by narrow margin. Laurens TROMER beat Filip RADULOVIC but suffered by the hands of Luka BAKIC Rajko GOMMERS also had one victory over Filip RADULOVIC but lost against Luka BAKIC. Ewout OOSTWOUDER overcame Filip RADOVIC. Ireland beat San Marino 3:0. Owen CATHCART Gavin MAGUIRE and Ryan FARREL overcame Federico GIARDI Mattia BERNARDI and Marco VANNUCCI.
In Women’s Event in A Groups Spain beat Hungary in Budapest. They needed four matches to secure the opening win. XUAN Zhang gave guests dream start against Szandra PERGEL and Galia DVORAK continued in same pace. Dora MADARASZ was the only player to score for Hungary. She beat Sara RAMIREZ before Galia DVORAK sealed the match.
Germany needed only three matches to please home crowd. HAN Ying Sabine WINTER and WAN Yuan beat Azerbaijan’s Nazakat GARAYEVA Billura EMINOVA and Maryam IMANOVA. For Poland it was easy 3:0 win and it was only Alex GALIC who put Natalia PARTYKA under pressure. LI Qian and Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA overcame Manca FAJMUT and Ana TOFANT in straight games.
Austria gained points in match against Switzerland. Sophia POLCANOVA Karoline MISCHEK Amelie SOLJA all won their matches in straight games against Salome SIMONET Celine REUST and Mireille KROON. Netherlands was forced to go full distance against Italy. LAURENTI and PICCOLIN scored for guests whilst LI Jie was the back bone of Dutch success. She won both matches before Kim VERMAAS sealed the match.
In Groups B Turkey prevailed against Estonia. HU Melek Sibel ALTINKAYA and Özge YILMAZ showed no mercy against Valeria PETROVA Airi AVAMERİ and liidia ANDREEVA. Represented by Andrea TODOROVIC Aneta MAKSUTI and Sabina SURJAN Serbia overcame Scotland with Rebecca PLAISTOW Gillian EDWARDS and Lucy Elliott. By same 3:0 margin Belgium beat Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lisa LUNG Nathalie MARCHETTI and Margo DEGRAEF accounted for Snezana MARKOVIC Sanja MILOJICA and Elda SEHIC.
England’s Tintin HO Kelly SIBLEY Maria TSAPTSINOS and overcame Norway’s Rebekka CARLSEN Maja GJELLE and Ilka DOVAL in four matches.
