Belgium’s pairings Adrien RASSENFOSSE and Olav KOSOLOSKY secured first medal for the host nation in the Men’s Doubles Event at the 2021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Spa. In the semi final they will meet Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria and Vladislav URSU of Moldova. In other duel Lev KATSMAN and Maksim GREBNEV of Russia will meet Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary and Ivor BAN of Croatia. In the semi final of the Women’s Doubles Event Sabina SURJAN and Tijana JOKIC of Serbia will meet Tatiana KUKULKOVA and Ema LABOSOVA of Slovakia whilst in other match Mariia TAILAKOVA and Elizabet ABRAAMIAN of Russia will play against Ozge YILMAZ and Ece HARAC of Turkey. In Mixed Doubles semi final Irvin BERTRAND and Leili MOSTAFAVI will meet Bastien REMBERT and Isa COK in all French encounter whilst Rares SIPOS and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania will play against Vladimir SIDORENKO and Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia. Adrien RASSENFOSSE and Olav KOSOLOSKY secured the medal in the big style. They overcame last year’s champions Cristian PLETEA and Rares SIPOS of Romania (13:11 11:9 11:7). In their half of the draw Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria and Vladislav URSU of Moldova overcame Pedro OSIRO and Dorian GIROD of Switzerland in straight games (11:7 11:8 11:5). The top seeds Lev KATSMAN and Maksim GREBNEV of Russia needed one more to beat Borgar HAUG of Norway and Thor CHRISTENSEN of Denmark (11:2 11:6 11:13 11:9).Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary and Ivor BAN of Croatia overcame Fanbo MENG and Benno OEHME of Germany (11:6 11:2 7:11 11:7). No. one seeds Mariia TAILAKOVA and Elizabet ABRAAMIAN of Russia overcame Franziska SCHREINER and Annett KAUFMANN of Germany in four games (11:7 9:11 11:9 11:6). No. two seeds Sabina SURJAN and Tijana JOKIC of Serbia overcame Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia and Linda ZADEROVA of Czech Republic in straight games (11:8 11:7 11:8). On their way to the medal rostrum Ozge YILMAZ and Ece HARAC of Turkey was stretched to full distance against Jamila LAURENTI of Italy and Anastasiya DYMYTRENKO of Ukraine (8:1 1:5 11:3 8:11 8:11). Tatiana KUKULKOVA and Ema LABOSOVA of Slovakia beat sisters Anna and Katarzyna WEGRZYN of Poland (11:8 11:8 8:11 11:8).    

The ultimate round of Group Stage in Men’s Singles Event at the 2021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Belgium’s Spa brought dramatic moments. One of the greatest matches at the Championships so far has been seen in Group A and involved Lev KATSMAN of Russia and Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia. The day commenced with Lev KATSMAN topping the standings with two wins followed by top seeded Cristian PLETEA of Romania with one less as well as it had Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia. PLETEA did all he can do and beat Artur GRELA of Poland in five games before he moved to tribunes to follow in agony what is happening in the match between LEVAJAC and KATSMAN. On everyone’s surprise LEVAJAC left KATSMAN with only one point in opening game then win the next one lose third by narrow margin and put the fourth on his account as well. “I needed only one game to pass to the knock out stage but LEVAJAC took me by the surprise. I know how good he can play but today he played one of his best matches in the career. I said I needed only one game to pass but I never love to lose and the defeat before the start of the Round of 16 could really put me in bad spirit so I fought hard to prevent it. At 2:2 he played unbelievable rallies he blocked he was on fire. I managed to make 3:3 but then again he had advantage 8:6. Only in the last moments I changed the service to his forehand; it paid of and I finished it with the win by narrow margin ” explained KATSMAN. At the end of the thriller PLETEA was equally relieved. He also pass to the knock out phase. “Lev saved me. I will never let this happen again. It is so unbelievable hard when your fate depends on someone else ” said PLETEA. No. two seed Rares SIPOS progressed further despite the defeat previous day against Matteo MUTTI of Italy. Today he overcame Adrien RASSENFOSSE of Belgium. However Belgium’s representative will also play in the Round of 16 thanks to previous victories over Vladislav URSU of Moldova and MUTTI. “As it happened before I lost the opening match and I still managed to go through. I was not very worry I am confident with my play here ” said SIPOS. From the Group C Greek player Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS and Maksim GREBNEV of Russia moved to best 16 whilst no 4 seed Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia failed to follow. From Group D Irvin BERTRAND of France and Carlo ROSSI of Italy progressed further. In the Round of 16 will also play Bastien REMBER of France and Ivor BAN of Croatia Leo NORDEST of France and Samuel KULCZYCKI of Poland Fanbo MENG of Germany and Niciolas DEGROS of Belgium Cedric MEISSNER of Germany and Olav KOSOLOSKY of Belgium.  

The Group Stages in the Women’s Event of the 2021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Belgium’s Spa concluded on the third day of the play. Best 16 players tomorrow will continue their fights in the main draw. In the top four Groups today there were few upsets but the leading name Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia justified her rankings. Mariia progressed to the Round of 16 after she beat all three players in her Group. Last one to suffer was Zdena BLASKOVA of Czech Republic. With one win less Camile LUTZ of France will also play tomorrow in the knock out phase. No. two seed Sabina SURJAN of Serbia is also through but she was only second in the Group. With three wins Annett KAUFMANN of Germany secured the leading position. Both players recorded victories today. Sabina beat Helga DARI of Hungary whilst Annett overcame Leili MOSTAFAVI of France. In Group C no. 20 seed Lucie GAUTHIER of France remained unbeaten in Stage 2 and overcame Anastasiya DYMYTRENKO of Ukraine in straight games. Elena ZAHARIA of Romania followed her steps and after victory over Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia no. three seed at the Event also moved to the Round of 16. No. 4 seed Ozge YILMAZ of Turkey was also halted in this stage. To the knock out phase from the spot no. one goes Poland’s Katarzyna WEGRZYN after three wins. In the last round of the Group stage in direct clash for the top position she overcame Ema LABOSOVA of Slovakia. Ema moved forward with two previous wins over Isa COK of France and YILMAZ. Winner of the Juniors Singles and Doubles titles earlier this year at the European Youth Championships Elizabet ABRAAMIAN of Russia is-in the powerful run in Spa. No. 11 seed is unbeaten after six matches in Belgium. Today she overcame Gul Pembe OZKAYA of Turkey to move forward in knock out stage. “ I was very cautious before the duel against OZKAYA. In the first phase she overcame GAUTHIER so I was sure it will not go easy ” explained ABRAAMIAN. “Yesterday I was challenged in the match against LAURENTI. I knew she improved her game very much and since we did not play against each other for two or three years I did not know what to expect. She changed her play with backhand and in the opening game I was completely lost. I could not read her game. It took me a while before it happened but from the second game I found the right tactics for her.” LAURENTI beat Alma ROOSE of Sweden in seven game thriller to secure her place in the Round of 16. In Group F no. 6 seed Anastasia KOLISH also departed earlier then he seedings predicted. From the top of the Group with three wins Tania PLAIAN of Romania will move to the Round of 16 followed by Kornelija RILISKYTE of Lithuania. Tania recorded all three wins in straight games. “I was playing for the top spot in the Group and I was very focused today against KOLISH. Of course I got some extra confidence from yesterday’s good result. The match against RILISKYTE was not easy especially as I saw her beating KOLISH before our duel. I was a-little bit afraid before the start but as the game progressed everything went well ” said PLAIAN. Another Romania’s player Andreea DRAGOMAN is also safely through to the knock out stage. With three wins in second stage Andreea booked the top position in the Group H. “For me the hardest part was coming from Stage one after defeat against Anastasiya DYMYTRENKO. I was under pressure at the beginning but after the win over Franziska SCHREINER it was was much better. I managed to forget the defeat and to play with lot of confidence ” explained DRAGOMAN. SCHREINER is second in the Group. In Group G Tijana JOKIC no. 7 seed failed to win the place in next stage Anna WEGRZYN of Poland and Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia are placed at the positions no. one and two in the Group.

Not as much as in Men’s Singles Event but in the Women’s Event of the 2021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Belgium’s Spa we saw few shocking defeats. Only by narrow margin top seeded Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia escaped the defeat against Camille LUTZ of France in the second round of the Stage two. TAILAKOVA faced the match ball against her before she finished the match in furious style. “At the beginning I did not attack strong enough and LUTZ had advantage. After I managed to save the match ball I changed the approach. I played much more aggressive and attacked on the firs ball. I also put more variation in my rhythm ” explained TAILAKOVA. In the opening round Mariia overcame Nomin BAASAN of Sweden in straight games. “It was much closer than the result predicts. I needed some time to settle into the rhythm since it was my first match at the tournament ” explained Russia’s player. Zdena BLASKOVA of Czech Republic also overcame BAASAN. In Group B no. two seed Sabina SURJAN of Serbia suffered by the hands of Germany’s Annett KAUFMANN in six games. Previously Annett overcame Helga DARI of Hungary and clinched the top spot in the Group. “I was not very happy with my performance in the opening match of the day. I beat DARI but my game was not at the good level. I knew DARI’s style but she improved her game a lots recently. Against SURJAN I enjoyed to play. That is the kind of style I like to face. It was very close games that went from one side to another but I was much better in the decisive points ” explained KAUFMANN. SURJAN beat Leila MOSTAFAVI of France in the opening match in the Stage two. In Group C Lucie GAUTHIER of France upset the rankings and overcame no. three seed Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania. “Last time I have played against KUKULKOVA in Spain just before Pandemic and I lost that match. One thing is certain with her – Tatiana never gives up. That I had on my mind when she leveled at 2:2 after being 2:0 in reverse. I just continued to play like it is a new match and stayed calm. Against ZAHARIA I have never played before but I saw a lot of her matches. Every game was very close today but her style allowed me to make a lot of good spins and I was very good in the service and return game ” explained GAUTHIER. In Group D no. four seed Ozge YILMAZ of Turkey is without win today. Katarzyna WEGRZYN of Poland is at the top of the standings with two wins. In the opening match of the day WEGRZYN overcame Isa COK of France in seven games. “It was 12:11 for Isa in the last game it was very close match. She recovered from 1:3 in reverse to almost beat me. At the end COK was too nervous and I managed to win. Against Ozge it looked easier but every game was very close ” said WEGRZYN. In Group E Elizabet ABAAMIAN of Russia plays in very good shape. Elizabet concluded the day with two wins against Alma ROOSE of Switzerland and against the top seed Jamila LAURENTI of Italy. Anastasia KOLISH of Russia lost to Kornelija RILISKYTE of Lithuania . In Group Anna WEGRZYN of Poland and Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia are both unbeaten. Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania was seeded only at the position no. 4 but she won both her encounters. Andreea overcame Franziska SCHREINER of Germany and Ece HARAC of Turkey.

Top 8 names entered the game at the second day of the play at the 2021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Belgium’s Spa. In the Men’s Singles Event and the upsets commenced from the beginning of the day. The list of favorites who faced defeats commenced with the very no. one seed Cristian PLETEA of Romania. In the opening match he beat Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia in full distance match but in the next round Cristian lost to Lev KATSMAN of Russia. Lev topping the Group A; he beat Artur GRELA in the opening round. Next in line of favorites who lost one match today was the no. two seed Rares SIPOS of Romania. Last year’s runner up suffered by the hands of Matteo MUTTI of Italy in straight games. In the second match Sipos beat Vladislav URSU of Moldova. “It was never easy when we played against each other. I lost against MUTTI but I did not let it affect my later performance completely. Last year I lost the opening match and I reached the final afterwards. I never won the Group at the European Under 21 Championships so I was not worried to much but against URSU I was a little bit under stress before the start of the game. In case of the defeat I will be out I had to stay very cautious” explained RARES. That Group provides more upsets. Host nation representative Adrien RASSENFOSSE emerged successfully at the top of the Group B by beating both URSU and MUTTI. “I did not have good start of the tournament. I lost to Carlo ROSSI of Italy in the first stage. However I managed to continue quite well. I overcame Maciej KUBIK of Poland and Radim BAKO of Czech Republic. I got confidence and I am improving my game match by match. Against MUTTI I had some difficulties caused by his pimples game but it ended well. I am focused only to the next point ” explained RASSENFOSSE. In Group C no three seed Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece Overcame both Maksim GREBNEV of Russia and Borgar HAUG of Norway. “Borgar improved his game a lot since our last match. I did not feel much confident with his style at the beginning. I needed some time to get into my game. Against GREBNEV I started very goos and i had 3:0 lead but then he completely slowed the game. He slowed the ball…it destroyed my rhythm. I needed some time to recover ” explained SGOUROPOULOS. Among top favorites Vladimir SIDORENKO suffered the hardest blow. He lost both his encounters today. Russia’s player lost to Irvin BERTRAND of France and Carlo ROSSI of Italy. Both players are unbeaten today. “ I have not play against SIDORENKO for a quite long time and last time we met as juniors it was 3:2 and 11:9. Today I played at a very high level to beat him. Playing against Adam KLAJBER was difficult for other reason – I did not know much about him. He is the new player at the “circuit” ” explained Irvin. Bastien REMBERT of France Fanbo MENG of Germany and Cedric MEISSNER of Germany all justified their rankings. In Group F Leo DE NODREST upsets the odds and overcame Belgium’s Laurens DEVOS. Top two players from the Group stage that finishes tomorrow will progress in the Round of 16.

Greek player Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS is seeded at the position no. three in the Men’s Singles Event at the 021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Spa. The winner of the title in Gondomar in 2019 is coming fresh from the success in Champions League with TTV Neu Ulm – they reached the quarterfinal. “I am little bit tired from the matches in the Champions League and the matches in Bundesliga but for sure I am in good shape. I am also very happy for Neu Ulm’s result. We showed good team spirit and we have really good guidance by MIZUNOV. When we saw the draw and FAKEL Gazprom Orenburg and KS Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki in our Group we were sceptic but we fought hard ” explained SGOUROPOULOS. SGOUROPOULOS beat LIN Yun-Ju and Panagiotis GIONIS last week. “Against GIONIS it was really hard one. Past seven years we train together. Since 2015 we are in the same team. He knows everything about me and I know everything about him…I was under great stress before the match. However it is finish now and we are still friends ” said Ioannis laughing. The list of the participants in Spa is impressive. Top seed is Cristian PLETEA followed by Rares SIPOS. Vladimir SIDORENKO is just one place below Ioannis. “Russia’s players are dangerous Romania’ toos but the French line up is also very strong with Bastien REMBERT Irvin BERTRAND…There are a lot of players who can clinch the title. “ In the doubles SGOUROPOULOS will play with SIDORENKO. “We played only once before. It was three or four years ago and it did not end well. We lost in the opening round. I hope it will be better here.”

Only months ago Lev KATSMAN and his teammates rewritten the history books by being the youngest ever team to reach the final of the European Team’s Championships and by doing so they become first ever team of Russia to clinch the silver. Bronze medal was the Russia’s top result before great performance of KATSMAN Vladimir SIDORENKO and Maxim GREBNEV in Cluj. All three players are on duty at the 2021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Spa this week. Despite great success at the senior Championships and more recently in the Champions League last week KATSMAN was required to go through qualification stage of the Men’s Singles Event. He overcame Mattias MONGIUSTI of San Marino in the opening match then Matthew DAISH of England and Gabrielius CAMARA of Netherlands on his way to the main draw. “It was a good start for me. Unfortunately MONGIUSTI had problem with the service game. The umpire did not allow his service so he had to change completely his game and that did my job even easier ” said KATSMAN who won all three matches in straight games. Last week KATSMAN added few fantastic wins on his record whilst creating another peace of history. TTC Neu-Ulm reached the quarterfinal of the Champions League. “I had a amazing performance last week. I had 5:1 record. I beat Panagiotis GIONIS CHUANG Chih-Yuan LIN Yun-Ju and also Jakub ZELINKA Jiri VRABLIK. I lost only one match and it was against Hugo CALDERANO. It is first time that we reached the quarters and we did it in fierce competition. We played in Poland at KS Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki’s soil and there were also Fakel Gazprom Orenburg and SF SKK El Nino Praha ” explained KATSMAN. However in Spa he had to start from the basics. “I am not thinking a lot about what happened. This is completely new tournament and a new challenge. I have to be focused on what is going on here in Spa. Maybe here I am under greater pressure. All the players are my age the win is here must to and it is far from easy with so many good players listed. I have to prove myself among the players of my own generation ” added KATSMAN.  

After the break at the 021 GAZPROM European Under 21 Championships in Belgium’s Spa Romania’s Cristian PLETEA will play his first tournament in national team’s jersey since March. He is topping the list of the seeds in Men’s Singles Event in one of the most competitive European Under 21 Championships since ETTU launched it in 2017. Speaking about his return and current shape Cristian said: “I gave my best to stay in good form. I played for TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau in the Bundesliga and it kept me in good shape so I am ready for the challenge here. The competitions is really fierce there are top players like Rares SIPOS Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS Vladimir SIDORENKO but the list is far from over. I think we can look for the winner of the tournament even between the names of all top 16 players. It will be much harder than it was last year in Varazdin ” said PLETEA. Being at the top of the list is a hard task. “I am not under great pressure. I will give my best to enjoy the games. I already won the silver in Minsk three years ago and I am looking forward good result again. I am also looking forward the Mixed and Doubles Event ” explained PLETEA who won gold medals in both events last year in Varazdin. PLETEA will try to defend his title in Doubles with his teammate Rares SIPOS. They are seeded at the position no. two below Russia’s pairings Lev KATSMAN and Maxim GREBNEV. Third seeds are Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece and Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia. In Mixed Doubles Cristian is also at the position no. two with Tania PLAIAN. SIDORENKO and Mariia TAILAKOVA are the top seeds. Last year CRISTIAN clinched the title with Adina DIACONU.