First stage of the ITTF-European Championships Teams
The third round of the First stage of the ITTF-European Championships Teams was played today.
Russia added another victory to their record in the Men’s A Groups. In Moscow hosts beat Luxembourg after success against Greece. Unlike the previous encounter this time team of Russia was much effective. Kirill SKACHKOV overcame Eric GLOD Vildan GADIEV beat Luka MLADENOVIC and Denis IVONIN overcame Fabio SANTOMAURO. They lost only one game.
Led by Vladimir SAMSONOV Belarus overcame Slovakia but the guests did not fall without great fight. SAMSONOV overcame Samuel NOVOTA and Lubomir PISTEJ. PISTEJ overcame Pavel PLATONOV but Pavel overcame NOVOTA in the decisive match. Alexander VALUCH beat Aliaksandr KHANIN. Poland beat Turkey in Istanbul. WANG Zengyi Jakub DYJAS and Marek BADOWSKI overcame Ahmet LI Ibrahim GUNDUZ and Abdullah Talha YIGENLER.
In B Groups in Men’s Event Montenegro failed to convert 2:1 lead into the victory in Podgorica. Estonia recovered to win the match in the fifth close duel. Aleksandr SMIRNOV Beat Filip RADOVIC to give guests good start but Luka BAKIC and Filip RADULOVIC responded promptly; Mart LUUK and Aleksandr LUSIN lost their matches. However LUSIN leveled after four games win over RADOVIC and in five games in the decisive match SMIRNOV succeeded against BAKIC. Montenegro already suffered by narrow margin against Netherlands.
The match between Serbia and Bosna and Herzegovina was highlighted by the Srdjan MILICEVIC’S farewell. Player of former Yugoslavia now in jersey of Bosnia and Herzegovina played the last match in the national team against Marko PETKOV. He was the only one who managed to win the game against Serbia. Marko JEVTOVIC and Zolt PETE won their encounters in straight games.
Ireland beat Azerbaijan in Baku in straight matches. Gavin MAGUIRE was the only player who was under pressure. Aliverdi SHANGELDIYEV forced him to go full distance. Zak WILSON beat Ibrahim ANSARI in straight games and Alex GILLEN needed one game more to beat Emin MAMMEDOV. Lithuania succeeded in Vilnus against San Marino. Rimas LESIV beat Mattia BERARDI Alfredas UDRA beat Federico GIARDI and Tomas MIKUTIS sealed the match in the duel against Marco VANNUCCI.
Italy showed no mercy against Kosovo in Bolzano. PICCOLIN PINTO OYEBODE succeeded against SHABANI KARABAXHAKU and MAHMUTI. In front of 120 spectators in Nicosia Cyprus lost their marathon against Bulgaria. Marios YANGOU won both his matches. Against Teodor ALEXANDROV he gave good opening to host nation and against Petyo KRASTEV he pushed Cyprus into the decisive match. However the rest of the team could not follow his rhythm. Christos CHRISTONOV lost against KRASTEV Yangos YANGOU suffered by the hands of Denislav KODJABASHEV.
Switzerland’s outfit composed of Lionel WEBER Lars POSCH and Cedric TSCHANZ overcame Colin DALGLEISH Niall CAMERON and Yaser RAZOUK of Scotland in four matches in Glasgow.
In A Groups of Women’s Event Luxembourg prevailed against Azerbaijan. Hosts managed to win only one game. Sarah DE NUTTE beat Maryam IMANOVA NI Xia Lian overcame Bilura EMINOVA whilst Danielle KONSBRUCK prevailed against Nazakat GARAYEVA. Slovenia is still without victory after defeat against Poland in previous round. This time Ukraine beat them in Otocec. Gana GAPONOVA Margyratia PESOTSKA and Slomiya BRATEYKO overcame Alex GALIC Aleksandra VOVK and Katarina STRAZAR.
In thrilling five matches Croatia prevailed against Italy in Bolzano. All three players from the winning team added the point to the final score line. PETEK lost against VIVARELLI but overcame PICCOLIN in the decisive match. JEGERE beat PICCOLIN but lost against VIVARELLI and MALOBABIC beat COLANTONI. Portugal beat Switzerland in Geneva. SHAO Jieni gave a good start to guests with the victory over Rachel MORET. FU Yu continued in the same pace and added another point to the score line against Rahel ASCHWANDEN whilst Celine REUST gave a little hope to Swiss team. She beat Leila OLIVEIRA. However the hope did not last for long. YU beat MORET.
In B Groups in Women’s Event Estonia prevailed against Denmark in Tallin. Airi AVEMERI Valeria PETROVA and Katlin LATT overcame Sophie WALLOE Stefanie CHRISTENSEN and Isabelle NORIEM. Israel will return from Helsinki with the 3:1 victory over hosts. Finland’s Sandra OKSANEN was the only player to score. She beat Vital KALLIN. Annina LUMUSTROM suffered by the hands of Shely GELLMAN Anna KIRICHENKO lost against Nicole TROSMAN who also beat LUMUSTROM.
In Brcko Slovakia overcame Bosnia and Herzegovina. Snezana MARKOVIC Elda SEHIC and Sanja MILOJICA won only two games overall against Tatiana KUKULKOVA Barbora BALAZOVA and Nikoleta PUCHAVANOVA.
Bulgaria needed only three matches to overcame Scotland in Glasgow. Egin SAID Karina HRISTOVA and Kristina VRAMENCALIEVA overcame Rebecca PLAISTON Lucy ELLIOTT and Faye LEGGETTT.
ITTF-European Championships Teams: here
