2018 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships
Germany secured at least two bronze medals in the Mixed Doubles Event at the 2018 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Spanish Alicante. After quarterfinal matches Patrick FRANZISKA and Petrissa SOLJA as well as Ruwen FILUS and HAN Ying progressed to the penultimate stage.
In the quarterfinal FRANZISKA and SOLJA overcame Matilda EKHOLM and Mattias FALCK of Sweden (9:11 6:11 11:13).
“They are very good last year’s finalists and this was very difficult match for us. We could not afford to be passive we attacked them. We were very aggressive ” said Patrick.
In the round of 16 they beat CHEN Diogo and SHAO Jieni of Portugal: “We are playing long time together. This morning was important to play safe and to put the ball on the table ” said Petrissa SOLJA.
Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC of Serbia and Ruta PASKAUSKIENE of Lithuania aiming record in Alicante. They already have four gold medals and they are still in game for fifth. In the quarters they overcame Alvario ROBLES and Galia DVORAK of Spain (9:11 9:11 13:11 12;10 4:11).
“We won two opening games by narrow margin failed to convert match balls in next two games but when it came to decisive game we won it 11:4. That is the real quality of this mixed double ” said KARAKASEVIC.
HAN Ying and Ruwen FILUS had a good start against Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania but then started to struggle (4:11 9:11 11:4 11:13) before they clinched the victory.
“We did not have opportunity to play together very much but as the Championships progresses we are better and better. Against Romania’s pairings we were very good at the beginning. However they started to play much better and we had to change the pace. We had to finish the match quickly in order to prevent the surprise ” said HAN.
Stefan FEGERL and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria beat Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia (11:8 11:13 10:12 6:11).
“We played for a first time together recently at China Open but we were confident we can win the medal here ” said POLCANOVA.
