Champions League Men | 29 Nov 2013
Optmistic Orenburg on the way to Angers
Reigning Men`s European Champions League winner, Fakel Gazproma of Orenburg is preparing for the trip to France where it will play its penultimate game in 2013/14 group stage. Round 4 to be held at Angers next Friday, as Russian side goes for the third vi
Reigning Men`s European Champions League winner, Fakel Gazproma of Orenburg is preparing for the trip to France where it will play its penultimate game in 2013/14 group stage. Round 4 to be held at Angers next Friday, as Russian side goes for the third victory in a row this season.
Orenburg won both previous games in Group A, against Angers at home (3:1), and Liebherr Ochsenhausen away (3:0).The team is in very good shape, taking the lead in Russian League, but also all three players had excellent results in last couple of months. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV is the finalist of recent 2013 GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open, and Vladimir SAMSONOV reached semis. Both were beaten by Chinese 16 year-old prodigy FAN Zhendong.
That is the reason why head coach Viktor ANDREEV is an optimist: “Our players had very serious preparation for game at France, having successful start in Russian League. They also played very well on international events. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV won two gold medals on recent European Championships, Vladimir SAMSONOV also took two medals – one silver and one bronze, and Alexei SMIRNOV reached bronze in team event. SAMSONOV was second and OVTCHAROV third on 2013 World Cup, whilst they changed their places on recent German Open. Too many reasons for optimism”.
