European Games 2019 Minsk
No. one seed in the Men’s Singles Event Germany’s Timo BOLL victoriously commenced his journey at the European Gams 2019 in Minsk. In the Round of 32 he beat Poland’s Jakub DYJAS (11-7 12-14 11-4 11-1 14-12).
When he was winning there were no chunks in his armor but in the second and in the fifth game Jakub put him under pressure.
“It is not always all about me. There is another player in the arena too and this time was very good DYJAS. He already proved himself as very dangerous player with very sharp attacks. He played like he is in fire today so it was not easy. I lost second game and I was under pressure in fifth to finish the match. I could not allow him to recover and to return into the match and he started to improve his game” explained BOLL.
In the next round Timo will meet Marcos FREITAS of Portugal.
“Marcos is very smart player who can prevailed. He has very smart ideas and I have to be at the top of the game to maintain control. The tables here are very slippery the ball has more rotation. I used to be Master of rotation before I changed the tactics – I should recover something of my previous skills in order to gain some advantage ” said Timo with the big smile.
Marcos FREITAS overcame Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia (8-11 11-6 11-8 11-8 11-7).
“PISTEJ started very good. He played risky but from the second game my confident was on the good level. I am coming back from the injury after missed tournaments in Asia and I still need to play at the top level. However I am satisfied the way I ended the match. I did not play against BOLL for a long time but I am ready ” said FREITAS.
Kirill SKACHKOV of Russia recovered from the two null in reverse to beat Darko JORGIC of Slovenia (11-8 11-8 5-11 5-11 2-11 13-11 10-12).
“Even in the moments when I was down I telt I could win. When I approached the bench after 0:2 my coach just confirmed what I was feeling: I was attacking good but I made so many errors. He told me to put the ball on the table and it helped. I leveled at 2:2 before I won amazingly fifth game 11-2. I let JORGIC recover in the sixth game with few mistakes. At the end in the decisive game it was luck and support from the stands that made the difference. My family and friends are here and I thank them for helping me make that narrow margin ” said Kirill.
Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia IEVGEN PRYSHCHEPA of Ukraine (11-3 11-8 13-11 6-11 11-9).
“We played two times before and it was always close. Now it was much easier. It is my fault that I lost fourth game; I think I lost my focus ” explained PUCAR.
