At the end of the week Croatia’s Andrej GACINA will be on the duty again in Switzerland as the no. seven seed at the China Construction Bank Europe Top 16 Cup to be played in Montreux on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th February. It will be his seventh appearance at the tournament since he played his first in 2014 in Lausanne.
Two weeks ago GACINA was in Jordan where he played at the WTT Contender Amman and lost in the opening round against Portugal’s Joao GERALDO.
“My shape is far from perfect right now. I had some health issues and I am little bit tired but I hope there is enough time for me to recover and to be ready for the challenge at the Europe Top 16 Cup. I really hope I will be 100 percent ready for Montreux ” said GACINA.
The quarterfinalists from Amman GERALDO is at the list of the players who will play at the CCB Europe Top 16 Cup. It will be his premiere this year.
“GERALDO played really well against me but as I said I was far from my best shape. There was not much of the game in that match. I played under my usual level but it does not diminish the quality of his performance. He deservedly won that match ” said GACINA. “That is how it is in sport. Sometimes it goes better sometimes not so…it is all part of life.”
Beside GERALDO and GACINA at the list of Top 16 are also: Truls MOREGARD of Sweden Darko JORGIC of Slovenia Dang QIU and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden Liam PITCHFORD of England Simon GAUZY of France Marcos FREITAS of Portugal WANG Yang of Slovakia Robert GARDOS of Austria Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia Jonathan GROTH of Denmark Elias HARDMEIER of Switzerland and Emmanuel LEBESSON of France.
“If I have to choose the favorites I will put Truls MOREGARD and Dimitrij OVTHAROV above all others. In second line of favorites I will say Darko JORGIC and Dang QIU. “
Speaking about GACINA’S ambitious for this tournament he was very cautious.
“Unfortunately I do not have very good memories of most of my appearances at Top 16. As I can recall four or five times I got injured there once I got sick…Therefore I have only desire to be able to give my best there play at my top level and finish it good health.”
Speaking about this year GACINA pointed few most important competitions.
“ Most important is the European Teams Championships and European Games. Alongside those two I would like to play well at Singapore Smash but most important for me is to be healthy and to be enough rested in order to give my best.”
