The final of the Under 19 Boys Event at the European Youth Championships in Ostrava will feature a clash between Portugal and Romania tomorrow. Bronze medals go to Hungary and Slovakia.
In superb style, Portugal secured their place in the ultimate stage by overcoming Hungary in straight matches. Clément LAINE set the tone with a victory over Balázs LEI, followed by Tiago ABIODUN’s win against Dávid SZÁNTÓSI. The only match that went the full distance was the final one between Rafael KONG and Balázs POÓR.
“In the first match, LAINE played against LEI. It was a tough match, but our coach told him to play without pressure, and he played really well. The second match, I played against SZÁNTÓSI. I felt really comfortable, and we had a clear tactic with my coach, he’s a very aggressive and fast player, so I had to adapt and play more aggressively as well. In the third encounter, KONG played against POÓR, he had the match under control in the first two games, but then he struggled a bit and it became 2-2. I think KONG got a little nervous, but in the fifth game, he played very calmly and didn’t make many mistakes,” explained Tiago.
Further ABIODUN explained:
“We went into the match with the mindset that we could win, because we have a really strong team. Beating Czechia gave us a lot of confidence, that was a really tough match. We were leading 2-0, and suddenly it became 2-2 ,we knew they could come back, but we handled the decider and won. We’re going into the final with a good mindset. I believe in us. We’ll focus on playing set by set, point by point.”
Slovakia had their chances against Romania. Iulian CHIRITA edged Samuel PALUSEK in five long games, but Samuel ARPAS responded with a win over Dragoș BUJOR to level the match. Damian FLORO had a match point at 2-1 against Robert Alexandru ISTRATE but failed to close it. ISTRATE held his nerve and won the next two games, and then CHIRITA delivered in style by beating ARPAS to send Romania to the final.
