European Championships | 7 Sep 2019

Germany step away from eighth title

Photo: Rémy Gros

Liebherr European Championships

Seven time winners of the Men’s Teams title, Germany is on their way to defend the trophy clinched in Luxembourg. They beat three times winners France on their way to the ultimate stage at the LIEBHERR European Championships in Nantes. In the final they will meet Portugal. It is Germany’s tenth final in last 12 years.

After all the drama of the semi-final between Sweden and Portugal, the second duel was a comparatively quiet affair, if you excluded enthusiastic crowd, of course. In the beginning of the match, two number ones in their respective teams faced each other. European number one Timo BOLL beat Simon GAUZY who is listed at the position no. 6 at the Continent (11-7, 15-13, 8-11, 11-7).

“Simon played at incredible level and hi was pushed by the support of thousands spectator. I had to play at top level to beat him. It was really close and I missed few opportunities to finish the match in the third game. I did some stupid mistakes which eventually cost me losing that set,” said Timo BOLL. “Now we have to continue in the same way against Portugal. Both teams are very confident, but we did not lose singles match and I guess we can be looking forward tomorrow’s final. Portugal beat us once in the final and we will not let them do that again.”

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV continued in the same style as BOLL and overcame Emmanuel LEBESSON in four games (9-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-7).

“I enjoyed the fantastic atmosphere. It was great pleasure playing here and being part of the spectacle. LEBESSON proved himself as a worthy adversary and all three of us has to be at the peak of our game to beat them,” said OVTCHAROV.

Patrick FRANZISKA succeeded against Can AKKUZU (11-6, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7): “It is easier when you come to play after 2-0 lead of your team, but France proved yesterday that they are capable of making recovering from 0-2 in reverse. I was cautious and did not let that happened again.”