It came as a surprise when the youthful Norwegian team secured a spot in the final stage of the Stupa European Championships. In the men’s competition in Malmö the young Norwegian squad drew England and Romania as their opponents.
This achievement also resurrected memories of a significant upset marking the best performance ever by the Norwegian team in the non-para category. In 1984 a young Norwegian team defeated England at the Moscow European Championship. Just the year before England had reached the semi-finals in the World Championship team competition. Nevertheless the young Norwegian trio of Erik RASMUSSEN Tom JOHANSEN and Geirr GUSTAVSEN triumphed over the renowned English players Desmond DOUGLAS Carl PREAN and Alan COOKE with a score of 5-2.
Once again Norway is starting with a young team and once again they will face England. Can the Norwegians cause another upset?
“The players are here to learn and gain experience ” says the Norwegian coach the former Swedish National coach Ulf “Tickan” CARLSSON. “They have never participated in the European Teams Championships before so it will be challenging it will be demanding but they are highly dedicated players ” continues the Swede who himself has achieved table tennis honors that most players can only dream of.
The coach has selected Borgar HAUG (20 years old) Alexander Klerck FRANSSON (20) Khai Noah LAM (16) and Martin FROSETH (17) to represent Norway in Malmo. This is undoubtedly the youngest team at the Stupa European Championships.
HAUG plays for Borussia Düsseldorf FROSETH competes for Halmstad in Sweden LAM will begin playing in Eskilstuna and FRANSSON plays in Norway. Mr. CARLSSON the Norwegian coach guarantees that they will give their all to succeed in Malmö.
