Croatia matched their Busan achievement by once again reaching the Round of 16 at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. In a tense and close tie, they overcame Italy 3-2 after a match that swung back and forth.
The opening phase belonged to Croatia. Andrej GACINA set the tone with a confident straight-games win over John OYEBODE, and Tomislav PUCAR followed with another 3-0 victory against Matteo MUTTI to give his team a strong 2-0 lead.
But Italy refused to back down. Danilo FASO pulled one point back with a 3-1 win over Ivor BAN, and OYEBODE kept his team alive by edging PUCAR in a dramatic five-set battle to level the tie at 2-2.
The deciding match once again came down to GACINA – and the experienced Croatian delivered. He held his nerve against MUTTI, winning 3-1 to seal the victory and send Croatia through.
“The match started very well for us with a quick 2-0 lead, but it’s rarely that simple,” said GACINA. “The third match was very open. Ivor was close to coming back, he even had a game point to make it 2-2, but he lost his rhythm a bit, especially with the service and some decisions. The pressure was high.”
He continued: “Tomislav had match points in the fourth match but couldn’t close it. So it all came down to the last match. I knew what I had to do. Mutti played very aggressively, but I stuck to my tactics.”
PUCAR added: “With his experience, GACINA really carried us through. I managed to beat MUTTI earlier, especially as he was struggling a bit with his serve. We know each other well from the Italian league. Against OYEBODE I had a match point, but couldn’t finish it. In the end, Andrej stepped up again, and that made the difference.”
Italy – Croatia 2-3
- John OYEBODE – Andrej GACINA 0-3 (9-11, 3-11, 7-11)
- Matteo MUTTI – Tomislav PUCAR 0-3 (3-11, 8-11, 7-11)
- Danilo FASO – Ivor BAN 3-1 (11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10)
- John OYEBODE – Tomislav PUCAR 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-7)
- Matteo MUTTI – Andrej GACINA 1-3 (12-10, 7-11, 5-11, 6-11)
