European Games | 25 Jun 2019
FRANZISKA and SOLJA clinched gold and booked first ticket for Japan
Photo: Rémy Gros
European Games 2019 Minsk
Patrick FRANZISKA and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany clinched gold medal in the Mixed Doubles Event at the second European Games 2019 in Minsk. Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania won silver medal whilst bronze went to Tristan FLORE and Laura GASNIER of France.
FRANZISKA and SOLJA also secured their place at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. In the final they overcame IONESCU and SZOCS in furious style (4-11, 4-11, 4-11). They played closest to the perfect match as it can be.
“Yes, it was like that from the first ball. IONESCU and SZOCS won that particular one, but we had a good feeling. It was brilliant game; we were so confident. Even before the match I was not so nervous. It is not usual, considering the importance of the match. Gold and place for Olympics were on stake, but still, I was calm,” said SOLJA.
FRANZISKA felt the same.
“When Petty lost her singles match, she sat sad in the corner, but very quickly she managed to lift herself; she regained good spirit. It helped me too. I was calm and confident. It was the same at the World Championships; we won the medal after Petty lost singles,” said FRANZISKA.
Photo: Rémy Gros
Romania’s pairings got consolation in silver.
“We came for gold and it is hard to talk after defeat, but silver at the European Games is a great achievement and I am proud of it,” said IONESCU.
Romania will now turn to the Team’s Event that commences on Thursday.
“We are European Champions and we are here to justified our status,” said SZOCS.
Photo: Rémy Gros
Tristan FLORE and Laura GASNIER overcame hard time they had after the morning defeat and beat Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia (6-11, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6).
“It was hard to play when we lost the possibility to fight for the place at the Olympic tournament. Good thing was that we beat BALAZOVA and PISTEJ at Qatar Open, so we were confident. We stayed closed to the table and attacked, something what we needed to do against Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS in the semi final,” said Tristan FLORE.
GASNIER also struggled with the motivation.
“I was very negative and had a hard time after defeat. We came here for gold,” said GASNIER.
In the semi final French pairings Tristan FLORE and Laura GASNIER suffered by the hands of Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania (13-11, 8-11, 12-10, 6-11, 8-11). Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA lost to Patrick FRANZISKA and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany (6-11, 11-6, 11-13, 4-11).
