In the Women’s Teams Event at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan on the second day of play top European teams secured victories while Italy caused an upset by beating Puerto Rico.
The best-seeded European team at the Championships ranked No. 3 in the World Germany succeeded against Mexico. They recorded a smooth 3-0 victory against the team ranked 34th in the world rankings. Nina MITTELHAM Xiaona SHAN and 17-year-old Annett KAUFMANN who made her debut in Busan didn’t give the Central American trio any chance in the match lasting only 75 minutes.
“I am very pleased that we won the game 3-0 ” said leading player MITTELHAM. “Whether we lose one more game or not doesn’t matter in the end.”
It was the first match of a German national team against Mexico in the 99-year history of the German Table Tennis Association.
“For me the nervousness is higher on the bench when I’m not playing than when I’m playing ” explained the youth European champion of all categories KAUFMANN for whom this is already the third World Championship participation with the women in South Korea.
The No. 12 seed Portugal was stretched to the full distance in the duel against Austria currently occupying position No. 21. Austria had a 2-0 lead after LIU Jia beat SHAO Jieni and Sofia POLCANOVA overcame YU Fu but the pendulum swung after the match between Ines MATOS and Anastasia STERNER when Portugal took control and recovered to win the match.
Another thriller was played in Group 1 where Hungary prevailed against Spain after a long five matches. Maria XIAO won both her encounters but it was insufficient because on the other side Georgina POTA Dora MADARASZ and Bernadett BALINT all scored for Hungary.
France Women’s team beat Ukraine. Only in the opening duel was the French team under pressure. Prithika PAVADE went the full distance against Solomiya BRATEYKO. Jian Nan YUAN and Charlotte LUTZ posted straight games wins.
Slovakia’s Tatiana KUKULKOVA Barbora BALAZOVA and Ema LABOSOVA posted a victory against Nigeria in straight matches while Italy was stretched to the full distance against Puerto Rico. Adriana DIAZ was unbeatable today so Nikoleta STAFANOVA Giorgia PICCOLIN and Gaia MONFARDINI all had to be at the top of their game.
“We feel great. It was an important match because we know that the first player from Puerto Rico is very good. So we had to win against the other players ” said Giorgia PICCOLIN.
“Yesterday we prepared for this encounter. We analyzed the matches and talked together giving each other ideas about tactics and everything ” added Gaia MONFARDINI.
The leader in Group 7 Romania beat Canada who played without Mo ZHANG. Elizabeta SAMARA Bernadette SZOCS and Adina DIACONU recorded a 3-0 win.
Sweden needed the full five matches to upset the favorite Singapore in the last match of the program today. Kristina KALLBERG recorded two wins against ZENG Jian and ZHOU Jingyu while Lina BERGSTROM suffered at the hands of both players. Filippa BERGAND overcame WAONG Xin Ru.
