The top-seeded teams at the ORLEN European Youth Championships in Gliwice Romania and Czechia justified their status and reached the quarterfinals of the Under 19 Boys event in superb style.
Romania’s Eduard IONESCU Iulian CHIRITA and Teodor ISTRATE needed three matches against Israel to secure their spot in the quarters. In the Round of 8 they will meet Croatia who overcame Hungary in four matches. Borna PETEK Leon BENKO and Leo VEKIC played for Croatia.
On the bottom half of the draw Czechia faced Türkiye.
Karel KARÁSEK coach of the Czechia junior boys team stated: “It was definitely not our best performance here in the tournament but the opponent was weaker in terms of performance so it was enough. This draw was a reward for finishing first in the group which we won against tougher opponents. The whole team played excellently Šimon BĚLÍK performed well and his teammates finished the matches. I am very satisfied; we advanced to the quarterfinals and now we will see what happens. Šimon BELIK Ondrej KVENTON and Stepan BRHEL needed only three matches for the victory. They were pushed to success by the frantic cheers from the supporters and teammates as if they had already played for a medal.”
This was also confirmed by Šimon BĚLÍK who won the first point tonight.
“So far I haven’t felt completely at ease here at the tournament. That’s why I lost some matches but I also won some important ones. Luckily my teammates are playing at the top level which is crucial. Our team spirit is the main strength of our team. It’s great that we are in the quarterfinals and we will be fighting for a medal ” BELIK said.
Czechia will meet Italy in the quarterfinals. Giacomo ALLEGRANZA Federico VALLINO and Daniele SPAGNOLO overcame Sweden.
Hugo DESCHAMPS Aleis KOURAICHI and Flavien COTON prevailed against Bulgaria and they will meet Poland. The host nation represented by Milosz REDZIMSKI Mateusz ZALEWSKI and Alan KULCZYCKI overcame Slovakia in straight matches.
Germany’s Tom SCHWEIGER Andre BERTELSMEIER and Matthias DANZER prevailed against Slovenia (3-0).
“Despite the quick win we were constantly on alert. There are no easy matches here. Every match is difficult and every match is important; every duel could be the last one. We all feel the pressure of playing in the knockout stage ” said Tom SCHWEIGER.
They will meet Belgium in the quarterfinals. Louis LAFFINEUR Tom CLOSSET and Alessi MASSARAT were the last to finish their match in the Under 19 category. Netherlands was on the verge of a great upset leading 2-0 after Kas VAN OOST beat LAFFINEUR and Gabrielius CAMARA managed to overcome CLOSSET who is the no. 4 seed in singles. Alessi and Louis brought Belgium back into the game. They recovered but in the decisive match CLOSSET was down 0-2 against VAN OOST. Then he managed to save the third game and win the next two games without significant problems.
