Top seeds in Group D Croatia lost their match at the opening
Not all the results at the opening day at the 2015 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships went according to the rankings. Greece upset the order in the Group D by beating Croatia in the Men’s Teams Event.
Andrej GACINA gave Croatia good start with the victory over Kalinikos KREANGA earned after five games. In the second duel Panagiotis GIONIS beat Filip ZELJKO.
“Filip is very young player but players like that can be very dangerous. He risked a lot. I know I had to stay calm and to maintain my focus. Eventually it worked fine.”
Konstantinos PAPAGIORGIU came to the game at 1:1 and beat Tomislav KOLAREK.
“I like this kind of games. Coming to arena at 1:1 is something I enjoy. Of course it was not easy at 1:1 and 8:8; you realize your game might be vital and the pressure is high ” stated PAPAGIORGIU.
GACINA preserved his unbeaten status after the match against GIONIS. KREANGA suffered by the hands of Andrej but in decisive match beat Tomislav PUCAR.
“PUCAR was not in the right frame at the very beginning so I even surprise myself with the easy lead. However after 2:0 it was different story. He played much better and put me under great pressure.”
In the duel between Belarus and Czech Republic Vladimir SAMSONOV brought two victories. He beat Pavel SIRUCEK and Dmitrij PROKOPCOV. In the decisive fifth match Evgueni CHTCHETININE overcame Pavel SIRUCEK.
