n the afternoon session at the European Games in Krakow we witnessed the departure of another favorite in the Women’s Singles event. No. 11 seed NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg lost to Prithika PAVADE of France in the Round of 32. The young French player defeated the experienced NI in six games (10 -8 10 -3 7 9). “She beat me at the European Championships 4:3 and even then it was a close match where I had a chance. That’s why I wanted to beat her so badly here. NI is an amazing player with so much experience. She has been in the game for a long time and I can learn so much from her ” said PAVADE. Surprisingly it was PAVADE who showed more patience in this match. “In the third game NI had the lead but I kept persisting. Then she called for a time-out and I thought that she is not as self-confident as she looks. It could be that she is under stress as well. So I took my chance and seized the opportunity ” explained PAVADE. Linda BERGSTROM of Sweden defeated Sabina SURJAN of Serbia (6 11 10 -6 10). “Each game was close but I put her under pressure. Sabina was forced to make difficult decisions ” said BERGSTROM. The last time they played against each other was a year ago in Bulgaria. “That is a very long period so I didn’t want to rely too much on that experience. You never know what she could have learned from that defeat.” Portugal’s YU Fu showed no mercy against Sofia ZHANG XU winning 4-0 (8 4 6 5). “For me it is always difficult to play the first match at the tournament and it had been a long time since I played against Sofia ” said YU. Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA also concluded her Round of 32 duel in straight games defeating Zdena BLASKOVA 4-0 (4 8 7 7). “For me it is not easy to play against a player whom I have never played before. It was difficult to have such an adversary in the opening match. The good thing is that I feel very well I am in good shape and I am moving very well. So when my body listens to me I am happy ” said SAMARA.  

In the semifinal of the Mixed Doubles event at the European Games Krakow tomorrow will feature a match between QIU Dang and Nina MITTELHAM of Germany against Alvaro ROBLES and Maria XIAO of Spain. In another penultimate stage duel Nandor ECSEKI and Dora MADARASZ of Hungary will meet Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania. The top-seeded pair Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania defeated Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria in four games (-12 7 3 4). “It was a very difficult match for me. Firstly we faced very dangerous opponents. It was a rematch of our semifinal duel at the European Championships. Secondly this match came just a few hours after my defeat in singles against Darko JORGIC. I won the opening game against Darko and had an advantage in the next one before he made a comeback. Unfortunately in mixed doubles we encountered a big problem right from the beginning. We lost the opening game by a close margin. Thankfully Bernadette and our coach knew how to handle this situation well. They helped me to regain focus and stay on the right path ” said IONESCU. SZOCS had no doubts about their victory even during the tough moments. “We lost the opening game but I felt that we were playing well. At no point did I think we could lose ” said SZOCS. Bernadette emphasized their strong partnership with IONESCU. “We have been playing together for a long time and I know how to reach and calm him in tough situations. Ovidiu is a very sensitive person so our friendship is a crucial part of our success. Last time we won silver in Minsk and now I hope for gold ” stated SZOCS. No. four seeds European mixed doubles champions from 2020 in Warsaw QIU Dang and Nina MITTELHAM proved too strong for Türkiye’s pair Ibrahim GÜNDÜZ and Sibel ALTNIKAYA 3-1 (-9 6 3 9). Nina MITTELHAM: “We started well in the first game and led 6:2. At 8:7 for us from our point of view GÜNDÜZ makes a serve on the wrong side I stopped playing but the referee didn’t see it. There was a discussion and afterwards I was very very angry. We lost the set unfortunately but then we managed to focus and play better won more rallies. I made a few simple mistakes at the beginning. It was important that we stayed calm and didn’t let the guy get to us. I’m glad we won the match.” Dang QIU: “On paper we were the clear favourites. In the first game there were a few arguments that cost us the game. We were actually well prepared and started well. In the last game we were 0:4 behind and still turned it around. I still know GÜNDÜZ’s very good serves from the European Championships in Munich. In the best-of-five mode everything happens very quickly. So we were already in the fifth set with one leg in between.” The second-seeded duo of Alvaro ROBLES and Maria XIAO of Spain managed to overcome Serbia’s Dimitrije LEVAJAC and Izabela LUPULESKU in a close five-game contest (-6 10 3 -9 7). “LEVAJAC and LUPULESKU played at their highest level until the very last point. It was not easy for us to find our rhythm against them. That’s why I believe the key to our success was maintaining a positive spirit after losing the opening game. We were in a difficult position in the first game and throughout the second but we never gave up. We stayed focused and fought for every ball ” said ROBLES. Nandor ECSEKI and Dora MADARASZ of Hungary defeated the 3rd-seeded pair Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia in straight games (7 5 8). “The match was much closer than the results predicted. It was our best performance since we teamed up together at the World Championships a year and a half ago ” said Nandor ECSEKI. MADARASZ added “I believe the key to our success was our ability to read their receiving game.” Nandor also mentioned that they learned from their victory over Samuel KULCZYCKI and Katarzyna WEGRZYN of Poland the previous day. “We were up by two games before they made a comeback to level the match. We managed to withstand their comeback but today we were determined not to let our opponents create a similar scenario. We remained focused and played our best on every point.”    

On the first day of the 2023 European Games spectators in Krakow and all across Europe witnessed an extraordinary match that resulted in a staggering total of 172 points. In a historic feat Mercedes NAGYVARADY of Hungary emerged victorious against Christina KÄLLBERG of Sweden with a thrilling 12-10 13-15 11-9 10-12 9-11 13-11 19-17 scoreline. Since the introduction of 11-point games this match is likely to be the longest ever recorded in terms of points played.

In Women’s Singles Event at the 2023 European games in Krakow top seeded HAN Yang of Germany moved to the Round of 16 without due alarm. In the Round of 32 match HAN prevailed against Italy’s Giorgia PICCOLIN 4-0 (2 3 1 7). “I am glad that I could play in the main hall now. The conditions in the training hall are completely different it’s even more humid than here. I am satisfied I played relatively relaxed. I manage to do that much more often than before. In past I was often very tense. I expect a defence-versus-defence match against Linda BERGSTRÖM in the round of 16. That’s not easy but I’m very confident.” No. 14 seed Natalia BAJOR made homecrowd proud by progressing to the Round of 16 after victory over Sarah DE NUTTE of Luxembourg 4-2 (9 7 -12 -3 6 7). After yesterday’s defeats in women’s and men’s singles as well as mixed double Natalia BAJOR remained the only Poland’s representative. “The fourth game lasted something like 2 minutes. It was hard for me to regain the focus and rhythm but I managed to come back and emerged victorious in the end. I work with psychologist on daily basis and knew how to come back” said BAJOR who will face European champion Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria in the next round. In the bottom half of the draw the second seed in Women’s Singles Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria also had a trouble-free match against the 33rd seed Aikaterini TOLIOU of Greece winning 4-0 (5 5 6 7). “It wasn’t as easy as the result might suggest but I managed to maintain my focus on the game. I hope to continue on the same positive path in the upcoming matches ” stated POLCANOVA. However not all matches went according to the seedings in the morning session. The 31st seed Solomiya BRATEYKO of Ukraine emerged victorious against the 15th seed Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia with a score of 4-1 (7 6 10 -7 7). “I was quite worried coming into this tournament. I couldn’t feel the ball or get used to the table. Everything felt strange to me. Fortunately everything fell into place after yesterday’s matches. I feel comfortable in this venue and I have adjusted well to the conditions. The two matches from yesterday a victory in singles over Charlotte CAREY and a defeat in mixed doubles helped me prepare for today’s match ” said BRATEYKO. BRATEYKO pointed out a few key moments in the match. “I expected a much tougher match. Her pimples are very dangerous and I am not very comfortable playing against her style. However everything went smoothly in the first three games. That’s why I started to get a bit worried that they came too easily. Consequently I lost the fourth game but managed to remain calm and focused on the next ball rather than the result ” explained BRATEYKO. One of the favorites who cruised through the Round of 32 was Bernadette SZOCS of Romania. She defeated Ana TOFANT of Slovenia 3-0 (6 7 7 7). “I came here with a positive mindset and the outcome of this match proves it. I hope to maintain this mentality because my aim is always to be at the top ” said SZOCS.

On the second day of play at the 2023 European Games Krakow big guns enter the stage in Hutnik Arena. The upsets commenced from the very first round of the competrition today. In the Round of 32 the morning session was highlighted by the departure of the 10th seed Joao GERALDO of Portugal. Geraldo was defeated by the 30th seed Cedric NUYTINCK of Belgium who managed to come back from a three-game deficit to win four consecutive games (-8 -10 -4 8 9 4 7). “In the first three games I struggled with my service and return game. It was only in the fourth game when I found my rhythm and managed to improve my service game. I also reduced my mistakes ” said NUYTINCK. In the next round NUYTINCK will face either Andrej GACINA of Croatia or Deni KOZUL of Slovenia. “We are at a stage where every opponent is very difficult to beat. The only certainty is that it will be a close match no matter who is on the other side of the net.” The first person to approach NUYTINCK to celebrate his victory was Dane Anders LIND. LIND defeated Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO of Ukraine 4-2 (-10 6 9 6 -10 8). “I lost the opening game very closely 10-12 but then I managed to settle into a rhythm. Actually in the fifth game I was on a good path to finish the match but in a very close contest Yaroslav won. I must praise his counter spin; it is one of the best I have ever played against. He really put me to the test ” explained LIND. Despite recent health issues he faced LIND emerged victorious in the Round of 32 match. “I came from the WTT Contender in Nigeria with a Salmonella infection. I had a fever of 40 degrees Celsius for one day and it remained at 39 degrees for the following three days. I also lost some weight. So physically I am far from being in good shape but mentally I am determined and that was the key to my success today ” added LIND. The fourth seed Darko JORGIC of Slovenia faced a challenging start against Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania but managed to come out victorious in six closely contested games each concluding with a narrow margin 4-2 (-8 10 10 -9 9 10). “It is always difficult for me to play against IONESCU. In the Champions League our matches are always closely contested. Since not having the rankings to match his quality we encountered each other too early in this tournament. It once again proved how tough it is to play against him. Ovidiu won the opening game and he had a 9-4 advantage in the second. I have to admit that I also made mistakes on two service points which gave him an extra advantage. However I managed to recover and win the second game which I believe was the key moment. Mentally it was challenging for him to overcome that ” explained JORGIC. The duel between the 22nd seed Liam PITCHFORD of England and the 26th seed Daniel HABESOHN ended in favor of the lower-ranked Austrian after a thrilling seven-game match (-6 8 -6 -10 8 5 5). “Although I lost the fourth set it was during that part of the match that I adjusted my tactics and began to build my game. I read his game and managed to find the answer to his parallel shots which he initially used to surprise me ” explained HABESOHN. Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV needed only four games to preaviled against Borgar HAUG of Norway (7 8 5 8). “I had already seen him a few times during training in Düsseldorf but didn’t really know him yet. That’s why I watched his preliminary round match against Bence MAJOROS yesterday on the livestream. He has a lot of quality in his serve and first ball a bit like Michael MAZE but of course he is still far away from his level as a young upcoming player. He played good balls at times but not consistently throughout the set. I myself played well and brought a good feeling for the game and competitive experience from Lagos. I feel good so far and I am happy with this win. I am cautiously assuming that I will meet Alvaro ROBLES in the next round. I have played him twice in the last few months. Once I won narrowly 4:2 at the Feeder Düsseldorf once 3:1 at the Contender in Aman. He always brings a lot back. You have to be really fit and concentrated. But if I bring my game I have to win the match.”  

The table tennis tournament at the European Games in Krakow commenced today at the Hutnik Arena. Alongside the preliminary rounds in singles the main draw for mixed doubles was also played. The opening round featuring the best of 16 pairs was not immune to upsets. The tenth-seeded Türkiye’s pair Ibrahim GÜNDÜZ and Sibel ALTNIKAYA defeated the sixth-seeded Swedish duo of Truls MOREGARD and Christina KALLBERG in a grueling five-game match (7 5 -3 -8 11). The quarterfinals will bring an even greater challenge for the Türkiye’s pairings. They will face the European mixed doubles champions from 2020 in Warsaw QIU Dang and Nina MITTELHAM of Germany. The German team overcame Luka MLADENOVIC and NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg in the Round of 16 (-6 4 9 7). The top-seeded pair Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania also had to battle through a grueling five-game match to defeat Deni KOZUL and Katarina STRAZAR of Slovenia (7 5 -5 -9 4). In the next round they will face Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA. The Austrian pair proved too strong for John OYEBODE and Gaia MONFARDINI of Italy (6 7 8). The second-seeded duo Alvaro ROBLES and Maria XIAO of Spain secured a 3-1 victory (-8 4 8 3) against Anton LIMONOV and Solomiya BRATENKO of Ukraine. In the quarterfinals they will meet Serbia’s Dimitrije LEVAJAC and Izabela LUPULESKU who defeated Tomas POLANSKY and Hana MATELOVA of Czechia in another closely contested match (1 -9 -9 9 2). The 3rd-seeded pair Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia emerged victorious against Liam PITCHFORD and Tin Tin HO of England (6 -5 5 8). In the next round they will play against Nandor ECSEKI and Dora MADARASZ. The Hungarian pair defeated Samuel KULCZYCKI and Katarzyna WEGRZYN of Poland (5 6 -7 -9 7).

The draw for all five European Games events was held today in Krakow. There are five events incuding Men’s and Women’s Teams events Singles and Mixed Doubles event. The 2023 European Games featuring table tennis competitions will take place at the Hutnik Arena in Krakow. The tournaments will commence tomorrow with the Singles Preliminary rounds.

The Table Tennis tournament at the 2023 European Games will take place at the Hutnik Arena in Krakow starting on Friday. The Men’s and Women’s Singles Events in the preliminary round will mark the beginning of the eight-day battle for titles in five events including Singles Men’s and Women’s Team Events and Mixed Doubles. The winner of the Mixed Doubles event will qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The top seed in the Men’s category is Germany’s QIU Dang. QIU did not compete in Minsk four years ago but has since made significant progress. In 2020 he won the gold medal in Mixed Doubles at the European Championships in Warsaw. A year later at the European Teams Championships in Cluj he was part of the German team that secured the gold medal. Last year in Munich he became the singles champion at the European Championships. In the same year in Chengdu he was a member of the silver-winning team at the World Championships. Swede Truls MOREGARD is the second seed. Although Truls has yet to win a medal in singles at the European Championships he has a silver medal from the World Championships in Houston 2021 and a bronze medal in the Team Event from Halmstad 2018. Truls also won two bronze medals at the European Team Events in Nantes 2019 and Cluj 2021. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV the winner of the singles event at the European Games in 2015 Baku and the teams event in 2019 Minsk is the third seed. His impressive record includes six medals at the Olympic Games: two silver medals in the Team Events in 2008 Beijing and 2020 Tokyo and four bronze medals in 2012 London (singles and teams) 2016 Rio de Janeiro (teams) and 2020 Tokyo (singles). Ovtcharov has also clinched four silver medals at the World Team Championships from 2010 to 2018 and a bronze medal in doubles in Durban 2023. At the European Championships he has won 10 gold medals including singles victories in Schwechat 2013 and Ekaterinburg 2015 and team gold medals in Belgrade 2007 St. Petersburg 2008 Stuttgart 2009 Ostrava 2010 Sopot 2011 Schwechat 2013 Luxembourg 2017 and Nantes 2019. Additionally he has three silver medals and two bronze medals to his name. Ovtcharov lost to Jonathan GROTH in the Round of 16 in Minsk four years ago. The top 16 players who will start the competition from Round 3 are Darko JORGIC of Slovenia Alexis LEBRUN of France Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden Andrej GACINA of Croatia Felix LEBRUN of France Liam PITCHFORD of England Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia Joao GERALDO of Portugal Alvaro ROBLES of Spain Jonathan GROTH of Denmark Robert GARDOS of Austria Anders LIND of Denmark WANG Yang of Slovakia. There are 49 players in the Men’s Singles event. The winner of the previous edition Timo BOLL will not participate in singles. However silver medalist Jonathan GROTH of Denmark and bronze medalist Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia are listed at positions 13 and 10 respectively. In the Men’s Team event Germany represented by BOLL Patrick FRANZISKA Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and QIU Dang is the top seed. Sweden with KARLSSON MOREGARD Simon BERGLUND and Anton KALLBERG follows as the second seed and France with the FELIX brothers Simon GAUZY and Can AKKUZU is the third seed. HAN Ying the silver medalist in Singles in the previous edition in Minsk and a member of the gold-winning German team in both previous editions of the European Games is the leading name in the singles event. HAN was also a member of the silver medal-winning team at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 and won a bronze medal in the Team event at the World Championships last year in Chengdu. HAN has four gold medals at the European Championships three in teams and one in mixed doubles events. In singles she has a bronze medal from 2013 in Schwechat. The second seed is Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA. POLCANOVA won gold in singles and doubles last year at the Munich European Championships and a bronze medal in Mixed Doubles in the same Championships. Germany’s Nina MITTELHAM is the third seed. She also played as a member of the German team in Minsk. At the European Championships Nina has three gold medals: first place in doubles in 2018 in Alicante first place in mixed doubles in Warsaw 2020 and first place in the German team event in Cluj 2021. Last year in singles Nina won a silver medal. The previous edition of the European Games concluded with the victory of Portugal’s YU Fu who is the seventh seed. HAN finished second and Luxembourg’s NI Xia Lian finished third. NI is the 11th seed in Krakow. The top 16 seeds are: Han POLCANOVA MITTELHAM YANG XIAOXIN of Monaco YUAN Jia Nan of France Bernadette SZOCS of Romania YU Fu Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia SHAO Jieni of Portugal Hana MATELOVA of Czechia Ni Xia Lian Linda BERGSTROM of Sweden Natalia BAJOR of Poland Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia and Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine. In the Team event Germany with Han Shan XIAOUNA Sabine WINTER and MITTELHAM is defending the title. Romania who finished second in Minsk is the second seed in Krakow. The team is composed of Adina DIACONU Andreea DRAGOMAN SAMARA and SZOCS. France with Audrey ZARIF Camille LUTZ Prithika PAVADE and YUAN Jia Nan is the third seed. How to watch the 2023 European Games live The European Games will be available via live stream at: https://europeangames.tv/sports/table-tennis  and on TV: Albania: RTV Austria: ORF Azerbaijan: TV Belgium: VRT & RTBF Bulgaria: BNT Croatia: HRT Cyprus: CBC Czechia: CT Estonia: ERR Finland: YLE France: FTV & Chaîne L’Équipe Germany: ARD & ZDF Greece: ERT Hungary: MTVA Iceland: RYV Ireland: RTE Israel: TSC Italy: RAI Kosovo: RTK Lithuania: LRT Netherlands: NOS Norway: NRK Poland: TVP Portugal: RTP Romania: TVR Slovakia: RTVS Slovenia: RTV SLO Spain: RTVE & ENJOY Sweden: SVT Switzerland: SSR Türkiye: TRT Ukraine: PBC United Kingdom: BBC Pan-European: Eurosport Latin America