European Championships | 24 Sep 2014

Poland on a highway to success

Defending champions, team of Germany, recorded straight match victory against France in the Women’s Teams Event on the opening day of the competition at the 2014 TMS European Team Championships in Lisbon. They recorded another victory against Austria in s

Defending champions, team of Germany, recorded straight match victory against France in the Women’s Teams Event on the opening day of the competition at the 2014 TMS European Team Championships in Lisbon. They recorded another victory against Austria in second round, but for sure it was Poland who stole the headlines for today. They overcame Portugal and Romania.

Petrissa SOLJA admitted she was nervous at the beginning.” It is always like that with first match. Especially, it is hard for us since we are here to defend our title. The pressure affected my game, but I found the rhythm to win eventually. I made some easy mistakes at the beginning, before I succeeded against Laura GASNIER.

In the full distance encounter that lasted 43 minutes, SHAN Xiaona was under severe pressure against Carole GRUNDISCH, but after the opening victory, Germany was in the driving seats. HAN Ying recorded straight games win against LI Xue.

Host nation stretched Poland to full distance with the dream start given by FU Yu. FU overcame Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA and she also succeeded against Natalia PARTYKA, but Poland proved as better team. PARTYKA, GRZYBOWSKA and LI Qian all scored at the end of the match.

“It is difficult to play against hosts, especially at the beginning of the tournament. They have very good team, so they put us under pressure. At the end only small things decided the winner. In our case the fact that we have three equally strong players gave us advantage, “ explained coach Michal DZIUBANSKI.

Coach said, Poland is in Lisbon to make as much surprises as possible. “We have our goal and our dream. So far, I can only tell we are here to make some upsets. Still, I cannot make any promises. There are 10 – 12 teams here with great chances to reach the medal rostrum. Certainly we will look for our chances for success.” And they continued in the same rhythm. Poland beat Romania in straight matches in second round.

The last team to conclude the round one in Championships division was Hungary. They overcame Netherlands in thrilling encounter. Georgina POTA was the driving force of the team. She overcame Britt EERLAND and LI Jie in decisive match. It was 16:14 in fifth game for Hungarian player.

“I can not feel my arm after this. I had to be very patient against LI. I have to build the point, wait for right moment and only when I am safe I can try to score. Otherwise, I have to go all over again. It was very close game, with 50/50 chances for success. At some point LI “read” my tactics, so I had to change it. I had to play less aggressive and to wait..” explained Georgina POTA.

In the second round Netherlands beat Luxembourg, the team that already suffered against Russia. Portugal beat Spain to return into the game for top two spots in the Group.