Champions League Men | 18 Sep 2013
Ochsenhausen tests Orenburg’s power
All five Round 2 matches of Men’s European Champions League will be held this Friday, as 2009 finalist Liebherr Ochsenhausen tests the power of the best European team in last two seasons, Russian Orenburg. The city of Saarbrucken expects reprise of amazin
All five Round 2 matches of Men’s European Champions League will be held this Friday, as 2009 finalist Liebherr Ochsenhausen tests the power of the best European team in last two seasons, Russian Orenburg. The city of Saarbrucken expects reprise of amazing 2011/12 semi final, between German side and Russian UMMC.
Ochsenhausen`s squad is ready for fight against Vladimir SAMSONOV & Company. Dubravko SKORIC` players have won all two games in first two rounds of 2013/14 Bundesliga, but this is very special challenge for them. Club’s president Kristijan PEJINOVIC stressed: “Orenburg is a real table tennis brand. Coming of OVTCHAROV and SAMSONOV will be enjojment for our fans”
Victor ANDREEV, Vice-president and head coach of Fakel Gazproma Orenburg, is positive that his players must show their best table tennis to confirm no. 1 seed position: “Liebherr Ochsenhausen is a very strong rival. We are working hard to get ready for the match. All our players are healthy. We are having a short training session in Germany where we are going to plan our game. The style of playing of our rivals is familiar to Fakel Gazproma. Our sportsmen are aimed at winning, as our success in Germany will give us a good chance for getting into the final stage of this Men’s ECL”.
Portuguese Joao MONTEIRO will be man in the focus in the match at Saarbrucken. He knows very well how hard fights between these two clubs were, but this summer he replaced Saarbrucken`s jersey with UMMC`s one. “We think that UMMC is clear favorite, but we hope to have a tough match against them. Joao MONTEIRO, who played last season for us, can give his team for sure many information about our players. Our team is in good shape and we will try our best to create a surprise”, says Saarbrucken`s coach Slobodan GRUJIC.
UMMC starts new MECL season on the wings of success in Russian Super League where it became a champion. Newcomer, Japanese Jun MIZUTANI took the main role from Chinese HOU Yingchao who left the team. “Our team is new, so we are getting used to each other, we hope that we will be fine and win. After Round 1 I expect more power from the players”, said UMMC` s coach Coach Tatiana KUTERGINA.
New German champion Werder Bremen is looking for a chance to recover after surprisingly poor start (loss from Walter Wels). CHUANG Chih Yuan`s side goes to Hennebont where Kalinikos KREANGA, CHEN Chien an and Dimitrij PROKOPCOV will try to create a new surprise.
MEN`S EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ROUND 2
GROUP A: Ochsenhausen – Orenburg (September 20th, 19h30 CET)
GROUP B: Saarbrucken – UMMC (September 20th, 19h30 CET); Eslov – Pontoise (September 20th, 19h00 CET)
GROUP C: Hennebont – Bremen (September 20th, 19h30 CET)
GROUP D: Chartres – Borussia (September 20th, 19h00 CET), live on Laola1.tv
