European Championships | 9 Feb 2023
First win for Italy in Stage one
In the fourth round of the Stage one of the European Championships 2023, Italy recorded first win. For Slovakia that was first defeat in this stage of the Event. Italy won 3:0 in Bratislava.
John OYEBODE beat Adam KLAJBER (11:9, 11:8, 11:8), Jordy PICCOLIN prevailed against Filip DELINCAK (11:3, 11:8, 11:8) and in the closest match tonight, Carlo ROSSI beat Samuel ARPAS after five games (11:9, 7:11, 10:12, 11:6, 11:9).
“We played a good match” commened coach Lorenzo NANNONI.” Oyebode's task was not easy, but at the end he was better than KLAJBER. PICCOLIN is stronger than DELINCAK and in fact the match went away. ROSSI'S third challenge against ARPAS was dangerous. The Slovak was runner-up in the European cadet championship last year and, despite being young, he knows how to play. I imagined it wouldn't be easy for Carlo, in reality he should have won 3-1. Instead, he lost the third game, by failing to close the match with three match balls. However, he managed to reverse the trend. I am satisfied, it's the right reward for these guys, who needed to win an equal match, between young teams”.
Previously Italy lost to Czechia twice and Slovakia in Italy. Slovakia also beat Czechia. There is only one match to be played in Group A5 – Czechia vs. Slovakia on March 22nd.
