Champions League Men | 7 Jun 2016

FREITAS: This season will stay always in my memory

Pontoise`s player sums the 2015/16 TTCLM season, commenting the returning final match against Eslovs Al Bordtennis

 

Marcos FREITAS deserves to be named as the best player of the 2015/16 Table Tennis Champions League Men. Not just because of his individual score (16-4), but knowing how many big names he beat during the season: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Orenburg), Vladimir SAMSONOV (Orenburg), Timo BOLL (Borussia Dusseldorf), XU Hui (Eslovs), Bastian STEGER (Werder Bremen), CHEN Weixing (Energa-Manekin Torun)…

 

He wasn’t convinced at the beginning of the season, having 3-3 score after first three rounds in Group C. It could say that the LIEBHERR 2015 ITTF European Championships was his turning point. Since he got the silver medal in Yekaterinburg (lost to OVTCHAROV in the final) he played much better in the TTCLM and won 12 matches in a row.

 

After all, the best Portuguese player led AS Pontoise Cergy to the best achievements in the club`s history, winning both TTCLM and French ProA League. The peak of the season was the returning final leg of TTCLM final against Eslovs Al Bordtennis, in which his side managed to recover after 3:1 (9:5) defeat. Now he describes those moments…

 

“It was a great match. We risked and changed our formation to try to win by 3-0. We had a good start with Tristan (FLORE) and me but after KARLSSON lost to SVENSSON things got complicated. Tristan played an amazing match against XU and manage to put pressure on him and finally we won by 1 set. It was a very close match that could go to any team. I think we were the best team in Europe because we beat the best teams during the season. I am very proud of our team and this season will stay forever in my memory”, stated actual world`s no. 12 Marcos FREITAS.