European Youth Championships in Ostrava
The third round of the Group stage of the Junior Boys Team’s Event brought a lot of suspense at the European Youth Championships in Ostrava. Azerbaijan created the biggest upset by reaching the top spot in Group A; they accounted for Russia. Germany Sweden and Poland joined them.
Azerbaijan was seeded only at the position no. four but they overcame all three teams in their Group: Russia Italy and Switzerland. Top seeds were the last to fall. Only Maxim GREBNEV beat WANG Chenghi whilst YANG Xinyu and YU Khinghang succeeded against Vladimir SIDORENKO and Lev KATSMAN.
In Group B the order was also disturbed but not dramatically. Germany seeded at position no. two reached the top spot whilst France went one down. Both secured their places in the knock out phase.
“We won against Slovakia but it was very difficult match. We made it even more difficult. Our performance was not at the highest level ” admitted Kay STRUMPER who overcame both Adama KLAJBER and Filip DELINCAK.
France came back after yesterday’s defeat against Germany and beat Romania in straight matches.
“I had to talk with the boys after defeat. The hardest part was to bring them back after they lost in five close matches. I told them we are still in game and we have to fight. We made our journey harder but our goal was still reachable ” said coach David JOHNSTON.
In Group C Poland’s Samuel KULCZYCKI Jakub WITKOWSKI Szymon KOLASA emerged successfully at the top. They overcame Hungary Spain and Denmark on their way to the knock out phase. In the last match they played without Maciej KUBIK. Spain finished second. They overcame Hungary in the last match to secure their place among top 16 teams.
In Group D Sweden overcame Serbia and recorded third victory in the Group to secure the top position. Belgium finished at the position no. two.
“The greatest challenge here was to overcame Belgium yesterday. They are no. four seeds in the tournament so it was bit of the surprise. The key to success was that we have strong players on each position ” said Truls MOREGARD.
In the team of Sweden are also Jonatan MCDONALD Martin FRIIS and Theo ABRAHAMSSON.
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