LIEBHERR 2019 ITTF World Championships
Alvaro ROBLES re-writes the history books by winning the first ever medal for Spain at the World Championships. His doubles partner Ovidiu IONESCU added 47thmedal to the long list of Romania’s successes. They reached the semi final of the LIEBHERR 2019 ITTF World Championships in Budapest.
In quarterfinal they overcame Sweden’s pairings Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON (11-5 11-7 13-11 11-9).
“Our partnership is like good marriage. It is all about good communication and understanding. We have confidence playing together and this is the result of good friendship “ said IONESCU.
IONESCU had incredible season. He won the silver medal in Singles Event at the European championships in Alicante five months ago and now he reached the medal rostrum at the Worlds.
“Everything I have been doing in past 20 years exploded now. I matured and I am experienced enough for great results. It is fantastic time for me. Even in Alicante we were close to the medal we lost in the quarterfinal ” said Ovidiu.
They beat Ma Long and XU Xin at China open to reach the silver last year.
“We decided to try to improve our rankings and to reach the place among top eight seeds. That was first task which was almost impossible but we did it. We came here as seventh seeds. Then we seized our opportunity and took the best of our seedings. We beat GADIEV and SKACHKOV of Russia 4:0 BOBOCICA and STOYANOV of Italy 4:1 GROTH and PITCHFORD of Denmark and England by same margin…There were a lot of close games but we proved better in the finishes ” said ROBLES.
Same applies for the quarterfinal match against FALCK and KARLSSON.
“They were after my backhand try to attack me but kept to my tactics. We also study their game closely and we were prepared ” added ROBLES.
They have great support from the fans.
“I am so grateful for the atmosphere that supporters from my club made. They are the part of this success ” said IONESCU.
They will meet Tiago APOLONIA and Joao MONTEIRO of Portugal in the semi final. Timo BOLL withdrew completely from the tournament. Portugal’s pairings received walk over.
