In the Under 19 Boys Doubles Event Darius MOVILEANU and Eduard IONESCU of Romania successfully defended the title they won one year earlier in Belgrade. In the ORLEN European Youth Championships they prevailed against their teammates Iulian CHIRITA and Teodor ISTRATE of Romania.
The bronze medalists are Thibault PORET and Hugo DESCHAMPS of France along with Marcel BLASZCZYK and Alan KULCZYCKI of Poland.
In the all-Romanian final Darius and IONESCU won in straight games but the matches were closely contested (9 8 8).
“Even though it was 3-0 it was tough. Just like in the singles event I had to face ISTRATE and it was very difficult. We know each other very well and the decisions we made in the finishing stages of the games were crucial. We performed better towards the ends and it gave us the edge today ” said IONESCU.
MOVILEANU added: “They won the bronze at the Under 21 European Championships so their skills couldn’t be underestimated. They are very strong but we proved once again that we can beat anyone.”
In the semifinals Iulian CHIRITA and Teodor ISTRATE overcame Thibault PORET and Hugo DESCHAMPS of France in a thrilling five-game match (-5 6 5 -11 5).
“We are very happy that we finally managed to beat the French pairings. It never happened before we lost against them was most recently in Podgorica and after that they beat us in the semifinal of the Under 21 European Championships. I remember that match; we had the advantage in the initial games but eventually they beat us before they won the title. However this time it was third time lucky for us and we are in the final ” said ISTRATE.
CHIRITA added: “We played very well today because we were well-prepared. We learned from our defeats. We played perfectly in the finish after being tied 2-2 in the games.”
Darius MOVILEANU and Eduard IONESCU succeeded against Marcel BLASZCZYK and Alan KULCZYCKI of Poland inflicting pain in the hearts of the home nation supporters (-9 9 6 3).
“It was difficult especially as they had a 1-0 lead at the beginning. They had a better start ” said MOVILEANU.
Eduard IONESCU underlined his teammate’s thoughts: “They started very strong; it was the first time that we played against them. At first it was hard to adapt to their game but then we found a way by changing our tactics.”
