In the opening match in the Men’s Group A4 in the First Stage of the European Teams Championships Croatia beat Spain in Granada 3:1. In the same Group is also Austria.
Andrej GACINA opened the encounter with the win over Marc GUTIERREZ 3:1.
“It was very close match and very tough. The Spanish side came with the very young team but nevertheless it was far from easy. They put a lot of pressure on us. Maybe it was less stressful in my opening encounter which I won in four games and the last one that Filip ZELJKO won in straight games but the other two matches were really close ” said GACINA.
Young Miguel Angel PANTOJA created big upset by beating ZELJKO and leveled the score after Croatia took the lead with GACINA’s win.
“We did not have enough time to prepare we were not familiar with those balls and tables…We were not adjust to the conditions and struggling a bit at the start. On the other side PANTOJA played very good. He seized the opportunity and grab it to overcame ZELJKO. At 1:1 Tomislav PUCAR beat Carlos CABALLERO. He went full distance and succeeded at 11:7 in the last game. That made a big step forward toward our victory. We expected it but not as hard as it came ” said GACINA.
In the last match Filip ZELJKO beat GUTIERREZ in straight games.
