After three days of action at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan three European teams remain undefeated at the top of their respective groups. Germany Romania and France each recorded three wins bringing them one step closer to the main draw.
In Group 1 China continues to dominate without any issues. Currently Spain holds the second position after tonight’s defeat against the group leader. Spain also suffered a loss against Hungary but managed to defeat Uzbekistan. Hungary on the other hand lost to India tonight.
In Group 2 Japan sits at the top with three wins while Luxembourg is at the bottom with two defeats in two matches.
In Group 3 Germany showed superb performance by defeating Nigeria. Sabine WINTER Nina MITTELHAM and Annett KAUFMANN showed no mercy.
“I approached the table with focus and was able to play at my level ” said Sabine WINTER who played the opening singles match against Nigeria’s lead player. “Offiong EDEM has good skills. You can’t underestimate her.”
Looking ahead to Monday the two-time World Championship bronze medalist commented: “Against Slovakia we are the favorites. I am confident that we will secure the group victory.”
In the same group Poland defeated Slovakia 3-0. Katarzyna WEGRZYN Natalia BAJOR and Anna WEGRZYN prevailed against Tatiana KUKULKOVA Barbora BALAZOVA and Ema LABOSOVA.
In Group 4 Chinese Taipei leads with three wins. In Group 5 Korea is at the top also unbeaten in three matches. Italy follows in second place with two wins out of three matches. Giorgia PICCOLIN Nikoleta STEFANOVA and Gaia MONFARDINI overcame Estela CRESPO Daniela FONSECA and Rosalba Aguiar CARRAZANA.
The women’s team of Austria recorded their first win in Group 6 defeating Kazakhstan in straight matches. Meanwhile in the same group Portugal suffered at the hands of players from Hong Kong. Austria previously lost to Hong Kong and Portugal but today they beat Kazakhstan in straight matches. Sofia POLCANOVA beat Zauresh AKASHEVA LIU Jia prevailed against Sarvinoz MIRKADIROVA and Karoline MISCHEK beat Anastassiya LAVROVA. Hong Kong is at the top.
Romania maintains the top spot in Group 7 with three wins in three days. They overcame Singapore in their latest match. Bernadette SZOCS Elizabeta SAMARA and Adina DIACONU prevailed against ZHOU Jiangyu ZENG Jian and SER Lin Qian. Only ZENG won one match while SZOCS scored twice.
In the same group after a two-and-a-half-hour fight Sweden overcame Serbia in five matches. Cristina KALLBERG played a crucial role in the team’s success with an opening win against Sabina surjan and a victory in the fifth match against Andrea Todorovic. The turning point in the match was SURJAN’S defeat after being up 2-1 for Serbia and 2-1 for SURJAN against Linda BERGSTROM. BERGSTROM leveled to win the match 3-2 with an 11-7 victory in the last game.
Linda BERGSTROM reflected on the challenging match: “It was really difficult to win this game; it took every bit of energy we had left. Yesterday was a very hard day but somehow we managed together as a team and I’m proud of these girls.”
In Group 8 France defeated Egypt to secure their third victory in the opening stage of the Championships. Prithika PAVADE Jia Nan YUAN and Charlotte LUTZ prevailed against Dina MESHREF Hana GODA and Yousra HELMY. In the same group Croatia prevailed against Czechia in straight matches. Hana ARAPOVIC Lea RAKOVAC and Mateja JEGER beat Zdena BLASKOVA Hana MATELOVA and Linda ZADEROVA.
