The second stage of the European Club competition kicks off this week with the action in the Champions League Women Group A. The reigning champions Poland’s KTS Enea Siarkopol Tarnobrzeg have their sights set on winning their third consecutive title. They are represented by Europe’s number one player HAN Ying of Germany number five Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania number eight YANG Xiaoxin of Monaco Poland’s top-ranked player Natalija BAJOR who holds the number 10 position and Europe’s number 11 YU Fu of Portugal. Both of their opening matches will be played on home soil.
Their first match of the competition this season is against French team TT Joué les Tours on Wednesday followed by a clash against Serbia’s TTC Novi Sad on Saturday. The French team is led by Europe’s number 48 player Audrey ZARIF and China’s LI He. In Novi Sad the Serbian team led by Aneta MAKSUTI and Tijana JOKIC is reinforced with Hong Kong’s LAM Yee Lok and China’s RUI QI Xia.
“We will not underestimate them. We played against Novi Sad last year but this season they have a new team so we will see. France is also a strong opponent. We will approach every match carefully. We are all in good shape and defending our title would be amazing ” said SAMARA.
In the Extra Liga the 31-time Polish champions KTS Enea Siarkopol Tarnobrzeg defeated Fibrain KU AZS Politechnika Rzeszów in the opening match last Friday. Over the course of this marathon-like month they will play against Polish Vice-Champions Bebetto AZS UJD Częstochowa today. In between the two matches in the Champions League they will face SKTS Sochaczew.
The away games for the Tarnobrzeg team in Group A will take place on November 23rd in France and on December 4th in Serbia.
In Group B Stage two will kick off in Spain with UCAM Cartagena hosting SKST Plus Hodonin on October 24th. Meanwhile in Group D Metz TT is scheduled to play two matches in two days: on the 26th they will face Hungary’s SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club and the following day they will compete against Italy’s ASD Quattro Mori.
