European Championships | 6 Dec 2022

Second victory in Group A5 for Czech Republic

In the opening Stage of the European Championships Teams in Group A Czech Republic recorded second win. In both occasions Czech Republic beat Italy. They lost one match in their Group and it was against Slovakia.

Tonight in Italy’s Biella, guests repeated the result from the previous encounter against Italy. They succeeded in straight matches.

Jiri Martinko gave the guests dream start with the victory over Matteo MUTTI (11:7, 9:11, 11:6, 8:11, 11:8). Further, Tommaso GIOVANNETTI lost to Lubomir JANCARIK (6:11, 12:10, 4:11, 5:11) and Daniele PINTO suffered by the hands of Tomas POLANSKY (9:11, 10:12, 3:11).

“ For us it was very important match, because last week we lost to Slovakia 2:3. In addition this win means the doors to Malmo are wide open now,” said JANCARIK. “It is allways hard to play as a guest. Despite the 3:0 it was not as easy as the result predicts. I am really satisfied with the play. In my match I started well, then GIOVANNETTI put the pressure on me with the tactics and I knew that for the rest of the match I had to be more active and show my power and my experience. In am very proud of the guys, Jiri and Tomas play two very good encounters. We have to meet Slovakia at home, but we have reached the target to qualify to the European Championship next year.”

JANCARIK also praised the organisers in Italy.

“They put great effort to organise perfectly our stay and match. Also there were a lot of the specators and we enjoyed our time.”

Lorenzo NANNONI, coach of Italy said: “Tonight all the guys fought, but it's a pity because we played so many close games in this Group and nearly always we lost them. In the match we were not far from our opponents, but the Czechs were able to give their best in the most decisive moments. However we must also recognize that there is a bit of a difference between us and the other teams we have faced. “

Italy lost all three matches.