“We watched yesterday few amazing recovering they made. We were aware that even the 2:0 advantage is not enough. We were prepared to fight until the last ball. Of course at the end when you have few match balls the pressure was very high but to be honest even the early stages of the match were not easy ” said LEBESSON.
BALAZOVA and PISTEJ had their consolation in bronze.
“Today they were a better pair. We have played a few times already and it was always similar. So far in Europe they are the toughest opponents for us. Despite this we really went down with a fight but from the first point they were really pressuring us a lot. We started to find the rhythm a little bit in the third set so it was a pity we couldn’t win one more set and make it more open. But it was well-deserved for them. We are very satisfied with this competition. It was a tough road and if someone would have told us before the tournament that we would get a medal I would not have believed it so much. Right now of course I am a little bit sad that we can’t play the final like last year but I am really happy with our performance in this tournament.”
After top seeds the Romanian parings Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS booked their place in the ultimate stage but in match with much more drama. They overcame Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria 3:2.
“I did not manage to catch the right rhythm in two opening games but Bernie was the hero of the game. She kept me going until the point I managed to settle into the game. At 2:0 for Austria’s parings and 4:4 the momentum changed. They missed the service and I felt the change. Mentally the advantage went on our side ” explained IONESCU.
SZOCS explained what caused the “late” response from her doubles partner.
“I had the opportunity to train on this table for Ovidiu it was first time but I knew he will eventually feel the game ” said SZOCS.
POLCANOVA had her view on what happened in the third game:
“The first two game we won pretty easily and I think we thought it was a little bit too easy. Maybe we felt that ‘oh it can be final’ and then we stopped playing and being active we stopped to move. They played better in the end and we didn’t push each other to really come back to win.”
Robert on whether the Romanians got a mental advantage after the third game:
“Of course. If you’re 2-0 4-0 down and have a time out and it directly changes everything of course this pushed them up. Our reaction was quite bad.We were 2-0 4-0 up and then you have the pressure to win. We were also quite confident that we would win and this was maybe our biggest error. We should’ve gone a bit more motivated than normally and not just continued the line and this was our biggest mistake. We also didn’t take a time out when they came back from 4-0 to 4-0 in the third game. At the end of the day we want to win and this is the worst way to play a match. You have to learn from it and next time make it better.”
On winning bronze: “We are happy about the bronze medal this is no question. Not only because of this bronze medal but because we beat the two pairs – we beat the champions we beat (Simon) Gauzy (FRA) who is one of the best in Europe and (Prithika) Pavade (FRA) is I think the biggest future (star) from Europe. She played amazing table tennis. They’re a very good mixed doubles they had very good results already we are just a new pair and we can be happy and proud of the tournament. If we could get our higher level a bit more stabile then maybe it could be quite quite good results in the future.”
Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jianan of France clinched the title tonight in the Mixed Doubles Event at the European Championships in Munich. Last time at the Europeans in Warsaw they lost in semis and they were fourth at the Japan Olympics but tonight finally they listened the La Marseillaise in the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle.
In the final they overcame Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania whilst the bronze medal was awarded to Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia and Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria.
“This is an amazing feeling now. OK we start as No.1 but you cannot expect to catch the title. I don’t believe that we won. Maybe I will need some days. Tomorrow I will start my competition but tonight I don’t believe that I won this tournament said LEBESSON.
Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS were worthy adversary.
“They had a really good start and I made more mistakes than usually but the ball from Bernadette was really having a lot of spin a lot of quality. So it was hard for me to adapt to this ball. Jianan made really good games but I made too many mistakes to think that we could win this game. So it was normal that we were 1-0 down and then we tried to play better and better especially me. At the end it’s 11-9 (in the final game) it can be 11-9 the other way too ”admitted Emmanuel.
At the medals ceremony European champions from Budapest 2016 was emotional.
“It was the first big title for us. We caught a WTT and finished fourth in the Olympic Games last year but to catch one European title it’s amazing. It’s a big emotion. Also in the semifinal at the beginning of the afternoon we had a big big match and tonight we also needed to play an amazing performance to win this game because against us we played against one pair who had improved a lot from the last month. They’d played a long time together but they have kept playing better and better.”
In the penultimate stage Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jianan of France overcame Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia 3:0.
They were in the fast line for the very first minute of the match. French pairings took the control early and only in the third game PISTEJ And BALAZOVA managed to make some pressure.
