European Youth Championships | 12 Jul 2014
Croatia on the good run in Riva del Garda
Top seeds in the Junior Boys Teams’ Event, team of France, justified their rankings and concluded Group stage at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Italian Riva del Garda at top position. Can AKKUZU, Europe’s no. two at the rankings, Ale
Top seeds in the Junior Boys Teams’ Event, team of France, justified their rankings and concluded Group stage at the 57th STERILGARDA European Youth Championships in Italian Riva del Garda at top position. Can AKKUZU, Europe’s no. two at the rankings, Alexandre CASSIN, Romain RUIZ, Paul GAUZY and Joe SEYFRIED proved to strong for adversaries from Denmark Portugal and England.
In Group B Croatia had performed expertly to reach top position. In full distance thriller against top seeded Sweden, they secured first place. Filip ZELJKO, Tomislav PUCAR, Vedran BAKAC and Josip MUSTAPIC easily prevailed against Slovakia in the last duel in the group. Sweden beat Slovakia and Italy in straight matches but defeat against Croatia cost them first place.
Hungary had problem-free path in the group stages. Adam SZUDI, Nandor ECSEKI and Janos MAJOROS overcame Russia, Poland and Belgium. The upsets came with the lower position fights. Poland overcame Russia to take their position at the end of the first phase. The team that proved how dangerous could be- Czech Republic justified its status. David REITSPIES firmly holds his position among top players as Europe’s no. one. Crowned cadet champion Tomas POLANSKI still looking for his place among juniors this season, but his win over 4th European player Kilian ORT of Germany proves he is on the good path. In Group D, Germany is second.
However, Germany concluded their group phase’s journey at the first place in the Junior Girls Teams’ Event. Nina MITTELHAM, Chantal MANTZ , Alena LEMMER and WAN Yuan, beat Croatia, Israel and Sweden as the seeding predicted. However, Israel was close to upset the order when Nicole TROSMAN beat MITTELHAM and MANTZ, but just day after those great victories it was Croatia’s Lea RAKOVAC who halted Israel’s progress by beating TROSMAN in the direct clash for the second position.
Quiet but determent and firm Russia’s squad is on their way to the medal rostrum. Maria MALANINA, Ekaterina GUSEVA, Daria CHERNOVA, Elizaveta KHLYZOVA, Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA were stretched to full distance in the duels against Italy and Netherlands, but they showed they can deal with the pressure. Today they overcame Turkey in straight matches. French side with Pauline CHASSELIN, Laura PFEFER, Audrey ZARIF, Marie MIGOT and Oceane GUISNEL left only one point to Poland, Serbia and Slovakia failed to leave the arena with any.
In the match for the second place Poland overcame Serbia in full distance duel. Romania’s Mihaela LUPU, Bernadett BALINT and Andreea CLAPA were under pressure against Belarus, but today, Hungary failed to endanger their leading position. Czech Republic lost against Romania, but in the duels against lower ranked teams they showed no mercy.
