GD Toledos team from Pico island in Azores won the first leg of the semi-final of the Portuguese National League by 3-0 and needs to win three sets in the second leg to assure the presence in the final match against Sporting CP.
The team only lost two sets during the match in the third game when young athlete David BESSA cadet player of the Portuguese National Team started winning 2-0 in the game against the Nigerian Boboye OYENYAN. However the more experienced player managed to recover and set the final score.
All the games are played live at the Facebook and Youtube pages of the Portuguese Federation.
The Portuguese Federation President Pedro MOURA said:“The competitions have been interrupted since March 13 due to the situation that we all know but it was possible to organize this Final Phase and we seized our opportunity. We started preparing for this event about a month ago. This is the first indoor competition to be held in Portugal since the quarantine period and it is a great pride for the Portuguese Table Tennis Federation. It is a very special moment for our sport and I hope it will also be a special moment for Portuguese sport.”
Diogo SILVA GD Toledos coach and player added: “It was a very important victory by 3-0 and I was not expecting this result. I always thought it was going to be a more close game. Both Énio and I got started well on our matches and made it 2-0 right away which gave us an even greater motivation. We knew that the third game was going to be very difficult but after been losing by 2-0 we managed to win and that was very important. Tomorrow we can start the second game under less pressure. It will still be very difficult but the pressure is different. I’ve been playing table tennis for years and I’ve seen it all. This does not mean that this victory by 3-0 will take us directly to the final. Tomorrow we have to begin the game with exactly the same motivation and concentration to try to win every game we are going to play.”
Bruno Silva GDCS Juncal coach stated: “I was expecting everything but this final result. I couldn’t see even half of what my athletes can do. The long quarantine period without playing reflected a lot in their game. There was some nervousness too. All of this is a little new without public at the games this long break and my players did not manage it in the best way. They fell far short of what they can usually do. Tomorrow we will fight every point until the end of the game.”
GD Toledos 3 – GDCS Juncal 0
Venue: Centro de Alto Rendimento de Vila Nova de Gaia
Umpires: Celeste Araújo / Rui Oliveira (Aveiro)
Diogo Silva 3 – Idowu Saheed 0 (11-7 11-8 12-10)
Énio Mendes 3 – Andrei Bukin 0 (11-3 11-5 11-8)
Boboye Oyenyan 3 – David Bessa 2 (5-11 6-11 11-8 11-8 11-7)
GD Toledos coach: Diogo Silva
GDCS Juncal coach: Bruno Silva
