Champions League Men | 6 Dec 2013

Niederosterreich cancelled Borussia!

After three consecutive MECL titles (2009-2011), Borussia will not play in quarter final second season in a row. The 2008 champion Niederosterreich won 3:0 at Dusseldorf, to reach next stage. In the other three tonight`s matches of Men`s European Champions League Round 4, reigning champion Orenburg defeated Angers at France 3:2, Saarbrucken overcame Eslov in Sweden, while current German champion Werder Bremen took quarter final ticket defeating Walter Wels 3:0 in Austria.

Group A provided super interesting clash between Angers and Orenburg. Three players from the podium of the 2013 LIEBHERR European Championships were involved: Angers` Panagiotis GIONIS (bronze) and Orenburg`s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (gold) and Vladimir SAMSONOV (silver). Greek beat him both, first SAMSONOV (Byelorussian eliminated him in 2013 ECH semis) and German in fourth encounter. But, that was not enough for host side. BROSSIER lost both his matches (last one in fifth game from SAMSONOV who won opening set 18:16) while Orenburg`s SMIRNOV confirmed why hi is the best no. 3 player in the competition.

Angers still has a good chance to progress in next stage, while Orenburg confirmed top spot of the Group A as unique unbeaten team.

In Group B first out of two games is finished, as 2012 MECL semi finalist had successful trip to Sweden. Host opened well the game, when Robert SVENSSON surprised Tiago APOLONIA in four games, but Bastian STEGER led his team to the victory. Individual bronze medalist from recent 2013 LIEBHERR European Championships took two points, against Kasper STERNBERG in second encounter and SVENSSON in fourth. Slovenian Bojan TOKIC had very easy job on no. 3 position, losing just nine points in total against Mattias OVERSJO.

The best Eslov`s player SVENSSON had a good try when he came from 6:9 to 11:9 in third set of last match. But, STEGER dominated in the rest of the game.

Werder Bremen got revenge at Austria, defeating Walter Wels 3:0 in Group C. Austrians surprisingly won 3:1 in opening round in Germany, but tonight The Greens confirmed why they are considered as one of main candidates for the 2013 MECL crown. Just opening clash was close, when ZHAN Jian and Adrian CRISAN played five games. The host managed to save one match ball (9:10 in fourth set), but he couldn`t repeat his achieve from the first clash when he was a hero (beat COTI and CHUANG). In ultimate set Romanian made decisive step when he took three points in a row (7:7, 7:10).

Serbian Zolt PETE, who beat CRISAN in Round 1, tonight had some good moments against CHUANG Chih-Yuan, especially in first set when he didn`t use set ball (7:9, 10:9). Werder`s best player managed to beat him in straight games. COTI concluded the match against DEMETER.

Daniel HABESOHN shocked the audience when he defeated Timo BOLL in five games of inaugural match at Dusseldorf. Austrian even had one match ball in fourth set (9:10) but six times individual European champion succeeded to survive in that moment. When German started 3:1 in fifth, it looked like that big surprise will not happen, but Niederosterreich`s player turned on 8:4 and won the encounter.

Patrick BAUM doesn`t like to play against experienced defender CHEN Weixing who beat him many times in last three seasons. Austrian scored new win against German. There were two crucial moments: in first set (host missed 10:7) and in fourth (8:8, 8:10 for CHEN). Indian ACHANTA was a last hope of The Lions, but FEGERL in a big style provided important win to Austrians.

Round 4 of Men`s European Champions League

Group A: Vaillante Angers – Gazproma Orenburg 2:3
Panagiotios GIONIS – Vladimir SAMSONOV 3:2 (11:4, 5:11, 11:7, 4:11, 11:6)
Benjamin BROSSIER – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 1:3 (11:8, 8:11, 12:14, 9:11)
Michel MARTINEZ – Alexey SMIRNOV 0:3 (8:11, 3:11, 8:11)
Panagiotis GIONIS – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 3:2 (15:13, 13:11, 6:11, 6:11, 11:9)
Benjamin BROSSIER – Vladimir SAMSONOV 1:3 (16:18, 11:7, 6:11, 8:11)

Group B: Eslov – Saarbrucken 1:3
Robert SVENSSON – Tiago APOLONIA 3:1 (11:9, 11:9, 9:11, 11:6)
Kasper STERNBERG – Bastian STEGER 1:3 (6:11, 11:6, 8:11, 6:11)
Mattias OVERSJO – Bojan TOKIC 0:3 (3:11, 4:11, 2:11)
Robert SVENSSON – Bastian STEGER 1:3 (6:11, 8:11, 11:9, 7:11)

Group C: Walter Wels – Werder Bremen 0:3
ZHAN Jian – Adrian CRISAN 2:3 (8:11, 11:8, 9:11, 13:11, 9:11)
Zolt PETE – CHUANG Chih-Yuan 0:3 (10:12, 9:11, 4:11)
Lehel DEMETER – Constantin CIOTI 1:3 (10:12, 11:3, 9:11, 9:11)

Group D: Borussia Dusseldorf – Niederosterreich 0:3
Timo BOLL – Daniel HABESOHN 2:3 (5:11, 5:11, 11:5, 12:10, 4:11)
Patrick BAUM – CHEN Weixing 1:3 (12:14, 11:9, 7:11, 9:11)
Sharat Kamal ACHANTA – Stefan FEGERL 0:3 (9:11, 5:11, 6:11)

Alex MILETIC, EWT, Alex MILETIC, EWT