Romania commenced the run in the Stage 1 – A Groups 2023 European Teams Championships with the victory. In the Opening match in the Men’s Event in Bucharest host nation overcame Ukraine in straight matches.
The majority of the team arrived this week from China where they were at the World Championships but it did not affect their performance. Ovidiu IONESCU gave Romania the dream start with the four games victory over Yevhen PRYSHCHEPA (11:7 8:11 11:7 11:5).
“Even though it was 3 0 we had to focus on every match. We are a stept closer to qualifing for Europeans said IONESCU. ”In my match I had the good start but later he found the way to come in to the match. I am happy I could bring the one point for us at he end.”
Christian PLETEA added another point to the score line with the victory over Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO (11:6 11:5 11:9).
Eduardo IONESCU was under severe pressure against Anton LIMONOV but he withstood LIMONOV’s spirited comeback from 0:2 to 2:2. IONESCU won the decisive game by narrow margin – 13:11 11:8 6:11 7:11 11:9.