Champions League Men | 22 Jan 2016
TTCLM: Historical success of Olimpia Unia and Eslovs
Photo: Courtesy Eslovs AI Bordtennis
Two more semi-finalists are defending champion Orenburg and 2014 winner Pontoise. Tonight three matches were held: Olimpia Unia – Saabrucken 3:2, Pontoise – Borussia 3:1, Chartres – Eslovs 3:2
The 2015/16 TTCLM semi-finalists are Fakel Gazproma Orenburg, AS Pontoise Cergy, Olimpia Unia Grudziadz and Eslovs Al Bordtennis. Returning leg of the quarter-finals brought historical success to Olimpia Unia and Eslovs, Orenburg reached its 6th consecutive semi-final, while Pontoise will play its second semis in the last three editions.
Olimpia Unia again overcame Saabrucken, this time 3:2 (1st leg 3:1). German started excellent and led 2:0 thanks to Tiago APOLONIA and Bojan TOKIC who beat Yoshida KAII and Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO respectively. Decisive moment emerged in the late third encounter when Adrien MATTENET did everything he could to secure one more victory to Sarabrucken, but WANG Yang managed to beat him 11:9 in the fifth game. Japanese KAII defeated TOKIC to secure semi-final berth for Polish champion.
XU Hui again was a Eslov`s hero. Tonight he beat both, Par GERELL and GAO Ning, and thanks to him Swedish club created one of the biggest surprises in the last of couple seasons. Eslovs lost 3:2, but won 3:1 in the first leg.
After first two matches in the game between Pontoise and Borussia, it was clear that French champion will celebrate. Marcos FREITAS and WANG Jian Jun have provided 2:0 lead to their side which was eliminated in the 2014/15 quarter-finals by Borussia. Chinese beat Timo BOLL in full five sets, playing very intense match.
TTCLM quarter-final, returning leg
Olimpia Unia Grudziadz – Saarbrucken 3:2
Yoshida KAII – Tiago APOLONIA 1:3 (11:8, 10:12, 6:11, 9:11)
Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO – Bojan TOKIC 0:3 (7:11, 8:11, 9:11)
WANG Yang – Adrien MATTENET 3:2 (11:2, 11:8, 8:11, 11:13, 11:9)
Joshida KAII – Bojan TOKIC 3:0 (11:4, 11:8, 11:0 – W.O)
Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO – Tiago APOLONIA 3:0 W.O.
Chartres ASTT – Eslovs Al Bordtennis 3:2
GAO Ning – Robert SVENSSON 3:1 (11:6, 11:13, 11:6, 11:6)
Par GERELL – XU Hui 1:3 (7:11, 11:6, 8:11, 9:11)
Robert GARDOS – Mattias OVERSJO 3:2 (11:7, 9:11, 8:11, 11:7, 11:9)
GAO Ning – XU Hui 2:3 (10:12, 11:4, 7:11, 11:8, 8:11)
Par GERELL – Robert SVENSSON 3:1 (11:5, 11:7, 5:11, 11:7)
AS Pontoise Cergy – Borussia Dusseldorf 3:1
Marcos FREITAS – Panagiotis GIONIS 3:0 (11:7, 11:6, 11:8)
WANG Jian Jun – Timo BOLL 3:2 (12:10, 2:11, 12:10, 10:12, 11:7)
Kristian KARLSSON – Kamal ACHANTA 2:3 (5:11, 13:11, 11:3, 11:13, 9:11)
WANG Jian Jun – Panagiotis GIONIS 3:0 (11:7, 11:6, 11:6)
