Czech Republic overcame Italy in the Group A 5 in the 2023 European Teams Championships Stage 1. In Havlickuv Brod hosts showed no mercy and recorded straight matches victory.
Lubomir JANCARIK gave his team a dream start with the victory over John OYEBODE (11:5 11:6 11:7). Tomas POLANSKY overcame Jordy PICCOLIN in long distance duel (11:4 6:11 8:11 13:11 11:5) and Pavel SIRUCEK beat Tommaso GIOVANNETTI (5:11 11:6 11:9 11:5).
“Tomas POLANSKY managed to save the match points and in the end he narrowly won. Pavel SIRUCEK did not start well and also had to turn the match around. I am very happy that we won. The season is at the beginning but there are already many events and it is necessary to find the good timing for the right shape. I believe that we will continue with a similar performance in the next stage of qualification ” said the coach of the Czech team Josef PLACHY.
Italian coach Lorenzo NANNONI said:
“We arrived with a young team that is just gaining experience. But it was our intention. We knew we will have a strong adversary and we didn’t play badly overall. I do not know yet if we will play with this young team in the next qualification matches or the more experienced players will join as .”
