2018 YOG: MOREGARD SGOUROPOULOS and PLETEA determined to repeat GAUZY`s achievement from 2010

October 6, 2018
11:38 am
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Summer Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires Argentina (October 7-15th)

Table tennis events at the Third Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires Argentina will commence tomorrow October 7th by group matches in both singles Men`s and Women`s. A total of 64 players will compete divided in eight groups. Two top ranked European representatives Truls MOREGARD (Sweden No. 3 seed) and Sabina SURJAN (Serbia No. 5) will be united as Europe 1 team in the Mixed International Team event scheduled for October 12-15th

Unique medal taken by European players in first two YOG editions was one reached by France`s Simon GAUZY eight years ago in Singapore. Truls MOREGARD 2017 ITTF World Junior Championships runner-up has showed in last two years that he is able to fight against strong Asian opponents. Men`s Singles event will see two more medal-collectors from Old Continent two-time in a row European Junior champion Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS from Greece and Europe Youth Top 10 winner Cristian PLETEA from Romania.

Clear favourite in the Men`s Singles 15-year-old Tomokazu HARIMOTO (No. 1 seed) a second youngest participant in Buenos Aires commences his mission in Group A against Australia`s Benjamin GOULD tomorrow October 7^th. Austria`s Maciej KOLODZIEJZCYK (No. 17) shares Group B with No. 2 seed JHA Kanak from USA Nicolas Ignacio BURGOS from Chile and Jann Mari NAYRE from Philippines.

Two Europeans will compete in Group C Sweden`s Truls MOREGARD (No. 3) and Italy`s Matteo MUTTI (No. 15). Other two players in this group are Argentina`s Martin Fernandez BENTANCOR and North Korea`s KIM Song Gun. MOREGARD starts his YOG campaign against BETANCOR tomorrow October 7^th 16:30 CET while his next opponent in Round 2 will be MUTTI.

Russia`s Vladimir SIDORENKO is going to fight against three Asian players in Group D – LIN Yun-Ju (Chinese Taipei. No. 4) Yanapong PANAGITGUN (Thailand) and CHO Daeseong (South Korea) as well as Lithuania`s Medardas STANKEVICIUS (Group E) who will face Manav Vikash THAKKAR (India No. 5) Amin AHMADIAN (Iran) and CHOONG Javen (Malaysia).

Chinese WANG Chuqin No. 6 is biggest name in Group E where he will meet Old Continent`s Bastien REMBERT (No. 11) from France and Vladislav URSU from Moldova. Fourth member of this groups is Tunisia`s Nathael Elyes HAMDOUN.

Group G and Group H are composed by two strong European players each. Group G will see Round 1 games (Sunday October 7^th) between Romania`s Cristian PLETEA (No. 9) and XU Nathan (New Zealand) and Azerbaijan`s YU Khinhang and Egypt`s Youssef ABDEL-AZIZ (No. 7). Group H commences by clashes Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS (Greece No. 8) vs. Cedric MEISSNER (Germany) and Azeez SOLANKE (Nigeria) vs. PANG Yew En Koen (Singapore).

The best ranked women`s player from Old Continent Serbia`s Sabina SURJAN (No. 5 seed) is biggest name of Group E composed also by Slovakia`s Tatiana KUKULKOVA USA`s WANG Amy and Korea`s CHOI Haeeun. Top seeded Miu HIRANO from Japan will face two European players in Group A Belarus Nadezhda BOGDANOVA and Croatia`s Andrea PAVLOVIC.

Lucie GAUTHIER from France Zdena BLASKOVA from Czech Republic and San Marino`s Chiara MORRI share Group B with No. 2 seed SUN Yingsha from China. Andreea DRAGOMAN (Romania) and NING Jing (Azerbaijan) respectively No. 13 and No 18 are placed in Group D beside Chinese Taipei`s SU Pei-Ling (No. 3 seed) and Nigeria`s Esther ORIBAMISE.

Franziska SCHREINER from Germany and Jamila LAURENTI from Italy will have big challenge against No. 4 seed Adriana DIAZ from Puerto Rico. No. 11 seed Poland`s Anna Janina WEGRZYN is second best ranked player in Group G after Brazil`s Bruna TAKAHASHI (No. 7)

No. 24 and No. 25 Mariia TAILAKOVA (Russia) and Annika LUNDSTROM (Finland) will face big challenge in Group H as other two players there are Jinnipa SAWETTABUT (Thailand No. 10) and LEE Karisa (Hong Kong No. 8).

Mixed International Team event is scheduled for October 12-15^th. Eleven European pairs will participate and among them is Europe 1 team composed by two strong players Truls MOREGARD from Sweden and Sabina SURJAN from Serbia as well as Romania`s Cristian PLETEA and Andreea DRAGOMAN.

Official YOG website: here

Quick Links

Prospectus & Information
Team Officials’ Guide
YOG 2018 qualified players
YOG Mixed Teams Entry List
Qualification System (English) (French)
IOC Guidelines Regarding Authorized Identifications (English) (French)
Specific uniforms guidelines for Buenos Aires 2018 “Rule 50”
Official 2018 YOG Event Page
Table Tennis – Detailed Event Competition Schedule
Official Practice Schedule
Singles Seeding
Information about practice during the competition

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