European Championships | 8 Mar 2018

Konstantinos ANGELAKIS beats the odds in Minsk

BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships

Unlike the Women’s, the Men’s Singles Event at the BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships did not conclude with so many major upsets in the initial phase. One of the biggest was caused by Konstantinos ANGELAKIS of Greece, who progressed to the second stage of the Event as no. one after being placed only at the position. no. four.

 

ANGELAKIS recorded all three victories. He beat Joan MASIP, Thomas GRININGER and Simon SODERLUND.

 

“I was determined to fight until the end, even if I lose. I lost one game, indeed, and made a lot of mistakes. I missed four returns, after which I re-focused on the game, did my best and finish the match victoriously,” said ANGELAKIS.

 

In Group one Tobias HIPPLER of Germany moved from position two to no. one, whilst in Group two Deni KOZUL preserved his status. Andres LIND of Denmark joined them.

 

“I have got little to say about this match. Everything was smooth all the way, no surprises, no falls. I’m pretty satisfied with how I played,” explained shortly LIND who beat Aleksandr LUSIN in the last round.

 

 Carlo ROSSI of Italy changed his position in the group with Ibrahim GUNDUZ of Turkey, unlike Denis KLEIN of Germany who called off the day as leader. Andrei PUTUNTICA of Moldova and Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary progressed further from the Group 6. Tom JARVIS of England is also safely through with three wins. Last one came against Malte MOREGARD of Sweden.

 

“My adversary is really strong, even tricky, I’d say. He produced many strange shots, which was hard to predict, so I had to stay focused all the way. I kept to the strategy of playing backhand most of the time,” said JARVIS.

 

The list of group winners goes on with Jiri MARTINKO of Czech Republic, Vladimir SIDORENKJO of Russia, Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece and Tomasz KOTOWSKI of Poland.

 

“The match against Bathuan ULUCAK was not very tough, maybe because my adversary didn’t fight in his full strength due to his position in the group. His receives were rather weak. Me and my coach developed a strategy for this match, which was to cut the shots and play forehand. Such shots were hard for my opponent to receive.”