IONESCU/MOVILEANU vs. BERTELSMEIER/ABIODUN to Decide Men’s Doubles Title in Bratislava

In tomorrow’s final of the Men’s Doubles event at the European Under 21 Championships in Bratislava, Eduard IONESCU and Darius MOVILEANU of Romania will face Andre BERTELSMEIER of Germany and Tiago ABIODUN of Portugal.

In the penultimate stage, last year’s runners-up IONESCU and MOVILEANU defeated Croatia’s Leon BENKO and Ivan HENCL 3-1 (11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 11-2).

“We started very confidently and took the opening game easily. However, the Croatian pair changed their tactics. They raised the level of their play and became more aggressive on the backhand, which worked well for them. We lost the second game, but our confidence remained high. We also adjusted our game, looking for solutions to neutralize their backhands — and we succeeded,” explained IONESCU.

The anticipated all-Romanian final will not happen. Bronze medallists from 2024, Iulian CHIRITA and Andrei ISTRATE, lost to BERTELSMEIER and ABIODUN in straight games (6-11, 6-11, 6-11).

“It will be a great challenge for us. Unfortunately, Iulian and Andrei lost to them, but we will prepare well and hopefully beat them,” said MOVILEANU.

For the Portugal-Germany duo, Bratislava marked their debut tournament as a pair.

“This was our first tournament together, and it’s really amazing how quickly we adapted to each other,” said ABIODUN.

BERTELSMEIER added:

“We played well and very consistently. As the tournament progressed, we got to know each other better. We found a way to play effectively together — to put pressure on the opponents and create spectacular shots.”

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The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe, and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level, including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations, and the organization of continental table tennis competitions, including the European Championships.

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