European Youth Championships | 9 Jul 2016

France going forward in full speed

European Youth Championships

 

France progressed to the second phase of the Junior Boys Teams Event at the European Youth Championships undefeated. Top seeds beat Austria, Slovakia and Spain to secure top spot in their Group.

 

In the ultimate match of Group stage Joe SEYFRIED, Nolan GIVONE and Jules ROLLAND beat Slovakia in straight games. In the same Group Spain is second followed by Slovakia and Austria.

 

In Group B Russia’s Aleksandr TYUTRYUMOV, Denis IVONIN and Maxim KISELEV beat England to justify their leading position. Poland is second, followed by Italy and England.

 

In the battle of epic proportions Turkey overcame Slovenia to beat the odds and reach the top position in Group D; they climbed from the bottom of the Group. The duel against Slovenia was the match for the first place, since both teams were undefeated in previous two rounds.

 

Once again the instrumental of Turkey’s success was Batuhan ULUCAK. He beat the no. one player from the European Junior Rankings, Darko JORGIC and he succeeded in the decisive match against Tilen CVETKO. ULUCAK recovered from two games in reverse to win the match.

 

“We were down in last match, but we believed in victory, like yesterday. I am so happy with our performance. We were brave,” said ULUCAK.

 

Coach Ufus ALTINAKAYA praised the efforts of his team.

 

“Before the match against JORGIC I told Batuhan to be calm and to keep with his game. I told him to play what he knows best; to play spin on spin. It is like our dreams come true, but I have to admit we did not expect such result even in our dreams.”

 

Slovenia finished at position no. two in their Group.

 

“In past three years we played against each other few times. We know they are very dangerous. They do not play many tournaments, so for most of the players they are unknown, but their quality is unquestionable,” said Darko JORGIC.

 

Silver medalist one year ago, Sweden finished the first stage at the position no. four.

 

Czech Republic beat Sweden in Group D, but it was sufficient only for the third position in the Group. The chance is missed on the opening day, when Turkey created upset and beat Tomas POLANSKI and his teammates in the first round.

 

“We came here aiming the top spot in the group, or at least expecting the fierce fight against Slovenia for that position. Unfortunately I lost one match against ULUCAK, and we suffered defeat against Turkey in first round. I played against ULUCAK three times before and I always won. Last time in Poland I beat him in straight games. But we were very nervous, under pressure and we paid the price. Latter, against Slovenia we could not recover soon enough.”

 

In Group C Germany won all three matches against Belgium, Belarus and Hungary in straight matches. Hungary beat the odds and finished second, after being ranked at the fourth position in the Group. Belgium is third and Belarus fourth.