Italian Championships
The Italian Championships which concluded tonight at the PalaTennistavolo “Aldo De Santis” in Terni hailed the victories of Marco RECH DALDOSSO (Aeronautica Militare) and Giorgia PICCOLIN (Centro Sportivo Esercito).Â
The 28-year-old RECH DALDOSSO won his second title in singles; the first was in 2016. He was seeded number 4 and on the final day he defeated in the quarter finals no. 5 Niagol STOYANOV (Centro Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre) in five games champion in 2014 and 2018 and Marco prevailed in the semifinals against the 20-year-old Matteo MUTTI (Milano Sport Tennistavolo) no. 8 third in 2018 and runner-up in 2019. MUTTI was the creator of the upset in the previous round after the elimination (3-2) of no. 1 Mihai BOBOCICA (Aeronautica Militare).Â
In the final match RECH DALDOSSO prevailed over the 17 years old Andrea PUPPO (Tennistavolo A4 Verzuolo) 4-1 no. 13 seed and the real surprise of the event thanks to 3-2 win against Jordy PICCOLIN (Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre) no. 3 and 4-3 on the 18 year old John Michael OYEBODE (Il Circolo Prato 2010) no. 6.
Bronze medalists are MUTTI and OYEBODE who reached the medal rostrum for a first time in the event as well as PUPPO.Â
Among the women the 25-year-old PICCOLIN who had already climbed the first step of the podium in 2018 in Terni and in 2019 in Bolzano reached the third golden medal in a row. She was the favorite despite being no. 5 of the seeding list and she justified the status by overcoming Le Thi Hong LOAN (Tennistavolo Castel Goffredo) 3-2 in the quarter finals no. 4 seed in the reply of the 2019 final and 4-2 in the semifinals the 18-year-old Jamila LAURENTI (Gruppi Sportivi della Polizia di Stato – Fiamme Oro) no. 10 seed in the repetition of the final act of 2018.Â
In the match for the title PICCOLIN beat no. 6 seed Chiara COLANTONI (Tennistavolo Norbello) who played the first final in her career. She beat in the quarterfinals 3-2 Debora VIVARELLI (Centro Sportivo Esercito) no. 3 seed and in the semifinals 4-3 recovering from 1-3 the 15-year-old Nicole ARLIA (Tennistavolo Castel Goffredo) no. 2 by exploiting the sixth match-point after having canceled two of the opponent. LAURENTI and ARLIA on her first podium were placed third.Â
Despite the difficulties related to Covid-19 Pandemic Italian Table Tennis Federation was one of the few European Federations to organize national championships. It is great satisfaction for president Renato Di Napoli and everybody in the organisation.
