Asarel 2016 ITTF Bulgaria Open
The no. 3 seed at the Asarel 2016 ITTF Bulgaria Open Tomas KONECNY won the Men’s Singles title. By beating Frenchman Quentin ROBINOT the no.8 seed in the final (11-9 11-9 11-3 12-10) not only that he achieve a major milestone in his career but also he etch a landmark in the history of sport in the Czech Republic.
No player from the eastern European country had ever won an ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles title. Tomas KONECNY is only the third player from the Czech Republic ever to reach such a final. At the English Open in Kettering in 1997 Petr KORBEL was beaten in the final by Belgium’s Jean-Michel SAIVE; later in 2004 in Santiago Chile the same fate befell Marek KLASEK. He experienced defeat at the hands of Kalinikos KREANGA of Greece.
“I feel really amazing right now. It’s the first time I have won on the ITTF World Tour. It’s amazing I can’t believe it. It was quite hard. Quentin is very good so it was hard.” Tomas KONECNY said after beating Quentin Robinot.
Yuka ISHIGAKI used her defensive skills to good effect to win the Women’s Singles title. The no.2 seed at the final hurdle she beat colleague Misaki MORIZONO the no.5 seed to arrest to the title (11-5 11-8 11-4 14-12).
The top seeds it was success for Alexey LIVENTSOV and Mikhail PAIKOV it was defeat for Maria DOLGIKH and Polina MIKHAILOVA; that was the verdict for Russia in the respective Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles events. At the final hurdle both faced adversaries who had been required to compete in the preliminary rounds and were thus not seeded.
LIVENTSOV and PAIKOV overcame Chinese Taipei’s LIAO Cheng-Ting and SUN Chia-Hung (11-5 12-10 6-11 11-8) after DOLGIKH and MIKHAILOVA had experienced defeat at the hands of Japan’s Miyu KATO and Misaki MORIZONO (11-8 11-5 12-10).
