History was made in the Men’s Doubles event at the ROMSTAL European Under 21 Championships as Connor GREEN of England and Mael VAN DESSEL of Luxembourg secured a medal and guaranteed both nations their first-ever podium finish in the discipline at the competition.
The Anglo-Luxembourgish pairing defeated Dutch duo Gabrielius CAMARA and Ivan KAHN in straight games (11-7, 11-8, 12-10) in a quarter-final that carried extra significance. Both pairs were aiming to secure a historic first Men’s Doubles medal for their respective countries, but it was GREEN and VAN DESSEL who rose to the occasion.
“We played together before, at the previous Under 21 Championships,” explained VAN DESSEL. “Last year we reached the quarter-finals, so this is already our best result.”
The partnership has continued to grow throughout the tournament.
“We combine very well and complement each other as a team,” said GREEN. “The more we play together, the more we understand each other.”
Asked about the historic achievement, both players struggled to hide their satisfaction.
“Very happy. I’m happy to play with him,” smiled VAN DESSEL, with GREEN quickly adding: “Me too.”
Germany’s Andre BERTELSMEIER and Wim VERDONSCHOT also booked their place in the semi-finals with an impressive 3-0 victory (11-5, 11-7, 11-5) over Romanian pair Robert ISTRATE and Darius MOVILEANU.
The Germans arrived in Cluj-Napoca as one of the most established partnerships in the field and the top seeds.
“We have played together many times before. We are German champions in doubles and have played together for several years,” said BERTELSMEIER. “We have won the national title twice in a row.”
VERDONSCHOT was pleased with how the tournament has unfolded so far.
“The Greeks were our first opponents. We felt confident, played well, found a good rhythm and continued to play well today,” he said.
Communication remains simple for the experienced duo.
Danilo FASO of Italy and Görkem ÖÇAL of Türkiye continued their remarkable run by defeating Slovak pair Damian FLORO and Samuel PALUSEK 3-2 (11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4), while Tom CLOSSET of Belgium and Stepan BRHEL of Czechia recovered from two games down to overcome Daniel BERZOSA of Spain and Samuel ARPAS of Slovakia 3-2 (5-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8).
PHOTO by: Mihaela-Ionela BOBAR and Simion Sebastian TĂTARU
