In the Under 15 Boys event at the ORLEN European Youth Championships Romania halted the progress of the very good Ukrainian team to reach the semifinal stage.
Robert ISTRATE and Robert PODAR won both their singles and doubles matches.
“The most important thing is our team spirit. We are there for each other. We are not only friends at the venue but also outside the table. We support each other from the beginning until the end ” said ISTRATE.
Although it was Romania’s first clash against Ukraine for this team they had studied their adversaries well from their other matches in Gliwice.
“They are not very aggressive but they tried to push us far from the table with very well-placed balls. We didn’t allow that to happen ” explained ISTRATE.
Romania will meet Portugal the team that overcame Slovakia in four matches. Dinis YE Tiago ABIODUN and Carlos GONCALVES played for the team against Slovakia.
“It was an equally difficult match like the one we had against Germany. It was important that our doubles team won that point in order for us to win the whole match ” said ABIODUN who won both his matches.
France defeated the Netherlands in another exciting clash. Brent RONDE forced Nathan PILARD to go the full distance while Sandro CAVAILLE played four games against Ivan KAHN. The clash in doubles also lasted the full five games.
Austria’s Julian RZIHAUSCHEK and Petr HODINA overcame Italy in four matches. Danilo FASO managed to overcome HODINA after a full five games but in the fourth match RZIHAUSCHEK was better.
