On the opening day of the battles at the 2022 Europe Under 13 Challenge in Podgorica first qualification stage is on the menu. In six groups 21 team fight for the place in second Group stage. Top two teams will progressed to the Stage two and booked their places in one of the four groups with three teams.
Top seeded team of Austria was among the first teams to progress to the next stage. Benjamin GIRLINGER Adrian KASTL Nina SKERBINZ and Elina FUCHS recorded two wins against Belgium 4:1 and Ukraine 5:0. Belgium also beat Ukraine and moved forward to the A final in the second Stage.
No. two seeds Romania faced much harder challenge. Robert ISTRATE Mihai NAGY Andreea BAISU and Alexandrab DICU overcame Hungary in straight matches but against Poland they were under severe pressure. Romania started well with the doubles before Anna ULATOWSKA and Aleks PAKULA changed the course of the duel. In last two matches BAISU and ISTRATE was forced to go full distance to beat Katarzyna RAJKOWSKA and Samuel MICHINA. As it was expected Poland finished second after win over Hungary in third round.
Next team on the seedings list Czech Republic is also safely through with two wins over Sweden and Greece. Jan SKALDA Jakub KABELKA Hanka KODETOVA and Tereza KOVARICKOVA lost only one out of 10 matches in the duel against Sweden. It was Mark USOV who gave one point to his team. However in the last round Sweden beat Greece and finished second at the table.
Portugal’s YE Dinis Carlos GONCAVLES Julia LEAL and Beatriz PINTO justified their rankings in Group 4 They overcame Croatia Switzerland and North Macedonia. Croatia suffered one defeat and against Switzerland played 3:2 but it was sufficient for the position no. two in the Group.
but in Group 5 we have reverse scenario for Italy. The leading team in that groups suffered defeat against Germany 1:4 and they beat Turkey only 2:3.Eventualy Germany concluded day one at the tournament unbeaten at the top of the table. Jonathan GAISER Lukas WANG Elisa NGUYEN and Lisa SOPHIE WANG beat Italy Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Italy is second.
In Group 6 England was under pressure against Spain. Kacper PIWOWAR Abraham SELLADO Sienna JETHA and Eva ECCLES won by narow margin 3:2. However against Montenegro and Kosovo they faced no problems on their way to the top of the Group. Without due alarm against the hosts and Kosovo Spain also booked the progress to the A final qualifictions.
