European Championships | 17 Sep 2022

BAN and ANDRAS in second final in the row

In the match for title in the Men's Doubles Event at the European Under 21 Championships in Cluj, tomorrow will play Ivor BAN of Croatia and Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary against Italy's pairings John OYEBODE and Carlo ROSSI.

Last year's finalists in Belgium's Spa, Ivor BAN and Csaba ANDRAS overcame Poland's Maciej KUBIK and Samuel KULCZYCKI in four tense games (15, -5, 5, 11).

“We had very hard begining of the match. KUBIK did not feel well, so we had medical delay. He was not feeling well and I hope he will recover in next few days. Polish players are very strong and it was difficult for us. We were well prepared tactically, because we know how good they are,” said ANDRAS.

BAN:”At some point I have been in the situation when I did not know what to do. We overcome it. Naturally, the third game was very important after 1-1.”

OYEBODE and ROSSI overcame Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria and Vladislav URSU of Moldova by same margin (-9, 6, 9, 13).

“We knew form the beginning that the match will be tough. Maciej and Vladislav are very dangerous players. Especially Vladislav is playing a very difficult backhand. We stayed in the game playing spiny balls to their backhands and in the and this paid off. The key moment of the match was at 1-1 , 10-8 for us when we closed the third game in our favor But also in the last game of the match it was close but we managed to win,” said John OYEBODE

Carlo ROSSI added: “I am very satisfied how we played. Our game improved match by match. We were very good at the first balls but also in the opening the game. It was a good match and I am very glad about our performance this evening. I am looking forward to fight for the title.”