European Championships | 27 Mar 2018
Croatia in fine form in Poland
ITTF European Team Championships Stage 1
The second round of the ITTF European Team Championships Stage 1 was played today.
In A Groups in Men’s Event, in Round two, after a lot of struggling, Slovenia added another victory to their record. In Romania, hosts proved as a worthy adversaries. Ovidiu IONESCU and Adrian CRISAN were 2:0 in the lead after the duels against Darko JORGIC and Bojan TOKIC, but Deni KOZUL prevailed against Hunor SZÖCS to get Slovenia back on the track. TOKIC and JORGIC seized the second chance and win the last two duels.
Spain clinched the victory over Sweden after another five matches clash. It was Sweden’s Jon PERSSON who gave guests dream start, but Carlos MACHADO and Jesús CANTERO prevented any further drama at the home soil. Anton KÄLLBERG joined PERSSON on score board with another point on Sweden’s account before MACHADO sealed the match. Slovakia beat Ukraine. Lubomir PISTEJ beat both Yevhen PRYSCHEPA and Viktor YEFIMOV, whilst KOU Lei was the only one to score for Ukraine. Austria prevailed against Portugal in straight matches.
Croatia beat Poland in straight matches. Andrej GACINA, Tomislav PUCAR and Frane KOJIC, all succeeded in four games against Jakub DYJAS, Marek BADOWSKI and Robert FLORAS.
In Groups B in Men Event Israel failed to halt Italy on their way to the second win in the group. Omri BEN ARI clinched only point in the match against Jordy PICCOLIN; Niagol STOYANOV and Mihai BOBOCICA, on the other side, were on the top of their game. Estonia failed to produce the victory on home soil, as well. Netherlands concluded the round in wining mode.
Switzerland overcame Finland. Benedeh OLAH beat Cédric TSCHANZ, but failed to halt Lionel WEBER who also beat Alex NAUMI. Lars POSCH overcame Otto TENNILÄ. Azerbaijan overcame San Marino. YANG Xinyu was the backbone of guest’s success.
First to secure the win in Men’s Groups B was Israel. In Tel Aviv, Israel easily prevailed against Kosovo. Omri BEN-ARI, Shimon RABINOVICH, Matan SIMON proved too strong for Baton CITAKU, Mentor SHABANI and Yilli MALOKU. Finland followed same path. Benedek OLAH, Alex NAUMI and Toni SOINE overcame Sean DOHERTY, Colin DALGLEISH and Niall CAMERON.
Norway succeeded in Kosovo after last round’s defeat in Italy. This time Eskil LINDFOLM, Marcus NAERSTAD and Bogar HAUG recorded 3:0 win. Czech Republic beat Bulgaria in Arena Asarel. SIRUCEK, KONECNY and TREGLER succeeded in straight matches against GOLOVANOV, KRASTEV and ALEXANDROV.
In Women’s Event in A Groups Ukraine overcame Poland in Sport Hall Khimic. All three matches concluded by same 3:0 margin. Margaryta PESOTSKA, Solomiya BRATENKO and Ganna GAPONOVA showed no mercy against Julia SLAZAK, Klaudia KUSINSKA and Natalia BAJOR. In previous round Poland beat Slovenia.
Portugal stretched guests from Austria to full distance, before Amelie SOLJA, Sophia POLCANOVA and Karoline MISCHEK secured the victory. Jieni SHAO won both her matches for hosts. Netherlands also clinched the victory in away match. They overcame Croatia in another five matches duel in Pula. Ivana MALOBABIC overcame Britt EERLAND and Mateja JEGER beat Kim VERMAAS, but LI Jie was not in the mood for charity.
Sweden beat Russia 3:1, whilst Germany prevailed against Luxembourg. NI Xia Lian overcame HAN Ying and that was the only point for hosts. Sabine WINTER, Nina MITTELHAM and in the second exit to the table HAN, all scored for Germany.
In Groups B Serbia overcame Bulgaria 3:1. Maria YOVKOVA scored for hosts. She overcame Izabela LUPULESKU in the opening match. Aneta MAKSUTI and Andrea TODOROVIC scored for Serbia. Turkey’s HU Melek, Sibel ALTINKAYA and Özge YILMAZ overcame Denmark’s Stefanie CHRISTENSEN, Sophie WALLOE and Izabell NORLEM. Slovakia needed four matches to prevailed against Belgium. Barbora BALAZOVA won both her matches and Eva ODOROVA added another point to the score line. Natasha KOSZULAP beat Tatiana KUKULKOVA.
Lithuania beat Israel in Tel Aviv 3:1. Nicole TROSMAN gave hosts good start, but with Ruta PASKAUSKIENE in good shape it was hard for Israel to keep in the same pace.
