Polish club KS DEKORGLASS DZIAŁDOWO secured a spot in the semi-finals of the Europe Cup Men. In the Golden Match they overcame SF SKK EL NINO PRAHA.
KS DEKORGLASS DZIALDOWO team-coach Michal DZIUBANSKI analyzes the quarter-final match:
“It was an exciting game at a high level and the odds were 50:50 with equal chances for both teams. In the end we were a few balls better. As the home team you simply have a certain advantage and I’m sure that our fans played an important role today. We had the match-winner in our ranks today in the form of world number twenty-eight Jonathan GROTH who played world-class table tennis. In general today was a top-level match between two of the best teams in Europe who played top-class table tennis.”
Coach DZIUBANSKI added: “After such a difficult match which we were fortunately able to win the matter is very clear: now we want to win the title and become European Cup winners. And I think we can do it. Such hard-earned victories give us confidence and we want to take this tailwind with us into the Polish Super League and perform as well as possible there.”
SF SKK EL NINO PRAHA Sport Director Matthias LANDFRIED stated.
“It was indeed a very exciting match between two teams that have already shown top-class table tennis in the European Champions League this season and who gave each other nothing in the quarter-finals of the Europe Cup. We won the first leg 3:0 and lost the second leg 1:3 which according to the current rules leads to the decision in the Golden Match mode which we lost 1:2. In the end a single set decided who would make it to the semi-finals. Of course we are disappointed but also proud to have given Europe’s No. 5 a thrilling fight. In recent years we have always been in the 15-20th place in the ETTU European ranking which shows the difference from Poland’s top team who have all the options in terms of personnel and can even rotate in the Asian position with Kaii KONISHI and ZHOU Yu. But Jonathan GROTH was obviously irreplaceable and made the decisive difference.”
