Other Events | 2 May 2014

Portugal in historical quarterfinal

Portugal is going to need a long break after the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship. In two days they will have four matches at such crucial stage. This morning, they achieved historical result by booking the place in the quarterfinal. Latt

Portugal is going to need a long break after the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championship. In two days they will have four matches at such crucial stage. This morning, they achieved historical result by booking the place in the quarterfinal. Latter in the evening they will play against Japan for the semis.

On their way to the quarters Portugal beat Poland. WANG Zengyi beat Tiago APOLONIA, but with determined Marcos FREITAS who gave Portugal two points against Daniel GORAK and WANG, and Joao MONTEIRO who beat Robert FLORAS, team booked their quarterfinal place. “I was very nervous after Tiago lost his duel. This was important match for us. We are here to take the medal and we will not feel satisfied with position among 12. However, when I start my game after GORAK my confidence rose after first two sets. I felt good and focused,” explained FREITAS.

Croatia said Good buy to the World Championships with one of the best results in history of this state. They reached the Round of 16, but today they suffered the defeat by the hands of players from Chinese Taiei. In another brilliant performance Andrej GACINA overcame CHEN Chien An, Tomislav KOLAREK stretched CHUANG Chih Yuan to full distance, but TAN Ruiwu could not follow. “TAN injured his arm. GACINA played well but we needed more to beat very good Taipei’s team,” explained coach Zvonimir KORENIC.

The placement among top 12 teams in the World is excellent result. “We played whole tournament very good, and when you find yourself in Round of 16 it is normal that you start to think about medal. That is why we are disappointed. This is very demanding Event and unfortunately TAN was unable to preserve same level of play until the end. We lost him after game against Singapore where we had numerous chances.”