All three Doubles Event at the European Under 21 Championships reached the penultimate stage which means medal winers are already know. In last two days at the tournament in Cluj’s BT Arena we will see how the colors will be distributed.
In Women’s Doubles Event in the semi final Camille LUTZ and Prithika PAVADE of France will meet Nicole ARLIA and Gaia MONFARDINI of Italy whilst Anna BRZYSKA and Zuzanna WIELGOS of Poland will meet Ece HARAC and Ozge YILMAZ of Turkey.
In quarterfinal Camille LUTZ and Prithika PAVADE beat Anna WEGRZYN and Katarzyna WEGRZYN of Poland (9 5 -5 8).
“We already met few times before so we were very aware how strong they are. We had to play at our best in order to win “ said PAVADE.
LUTZ spoke about next challenge: “We are going step by step. It is only important to keep the level of the game high as we did tonight.”
Anna BRZYSKA and Zuzanna WIELGOS of Poland overcame Ioana SINGEORZAN and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania (6 9 -9 9).
“It was really very close match. The win came as a surprise to us as well we did not expect to win it “ said Zuzanna WIELGOS
The title holders Ece HARAC and Ozge YILMAZ of Turkiye succeeded against Zdena BLASKOVA of Czech Republic and Ema LABOSOVA of Slovakia (-6 6 7 6).
“The first match we had played today was very stressful. We were losing 0:2 against Helga DARI and Malamatenia PAPADIMITRIOU before we managed to get the grip and to win it. This match we started much better. We are defending the gold medal here and we hope we will succeed ” said Ece HARAC.
Nicole ARLIA and Gaia MONFARDINI of Italy beat Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia and Linda ZADEROVA of Czech Republic (8 -12 7 10).
“We are excited and nervous because the match was very hard. After all they have won the gold at the European Youth Championships in Belgrade this year” said ARLIA.
MONFARDINI was cautious when she spoke about the next round.
“For us is only important to play each ball the best we could. We will have the same tactics as we had for quarterfinal. In the quarterfinal we did not think of wining or about medal; only on the last ball we realized we won the medal and we started to cry.”
In the semi final of the Men’s Doubles Event Poland’s Maciej KUBIK and Samuel KULCZYCKI will meet Ivor BAN of Croatia and Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary. In other penultimate stage match Italy’s John OYEBODE and Carlo ROSSI will play against Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria and Vladislav URSU of Moldova.
KUBIK and KULCZYCKI beat Borgar HAUG of Norway and Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia (5 1 9).
“It was great match. We had control from the very begining. However in the last game they commenced to recover after they called for time out. We also called for one for us and withstood their comeback ” said KUBIK.
KULCZYCKI added:”We are the no. one seeds here and we want to justified our position. We are here for gold.”
BAN and ANDRAS halted the progress of Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland and Iulian CHIRITA of Romania (6 7 -9 -9 7).
“We were prepared because we knew it will be tough one. I am also very tired. The whole day I am in the venue playing in the singles and in the doubles. In that part BAN was very supportive ” said ANDRAS.
Last year BAN and and ANDRAS lost in the final.
“This year we are ready for the gold. It was great disappointment when we lost the final last year in Spa against Belgium pairings.”
OYEBODE and ROSSI beat Romania’s Eduard IONESCU and Darious MOVILEANU (-6 10 5 8).
“OYEBODE and I were not playing together for a while but we were good tonight. We were especially good at the first balls. Maybe not so good in longer rallies…we knew they are better than us in the open rallies but we managed to score with good quality of the first balls ” said ROSSI.
KOLODZIEJCZYK and URSU succeeded against Nicolas DEGROS of Belgium and Alex NAUMI of Finland (9 6 4).
“I was nervous because this is my last European Under 21 Championships and I want to finish it with some medals. We are playing together since we were 15 and it is good that we secured another medal ” said URSU.
KOLODZIEJCZYK reminded that they are not so high seeded but they are aiming high nevertheless.
“We are not favorites but we had a connections since a cadet days and already we have won four medals together at the European Championships. It gives us confidence to aim for gold. At the first place is that we show the best table tennis we can produce ” said KOLODZIEJCZYK.
In the semi final of the Mixed Doubles event Romania’s Darius MOVILEANU and Elena ZAHARIA will meet their compatriots Andrei Teodor ISTRATE and Luciana MITROFAN whilst Lilian BARDET and Prithika PAVADE of France will play against Csaba ANDRAS and Helga DARI of Hungary
In quarters Darius MOVILEANU and Elena ZAHARIA beat Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria and Ece HARAC of Turkiye (9 3 -3 9).
“We met very strong pairings with a good chemistry between each other. It was not easy but we prepared good tactics ” said ZAHARIA.
Lilian BARDET and Prithika PAVADE beat Eduard IONESCU and Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania (-9 8 11 3).
“The opening game was in our hands but we made so many mistakes. After we managed to play simpler and we took over the control ” said PAVADE.
Lilian and Prithika are playing together for a first time.
Csaba ANDRAS and Helga DARI overcameGermany’s Kay STUMPER and Franziska SCHREINER (-6 6 9 -4 6).
“This is surprise for us. We hoped we could do it but did not expect really to beat the favorites ” said ANDRAS.
Andrei Teodor ISTRATE and Luciana MITROFAN prevailed against Andrea PUPPO of Italy and Isa COK of France (-10 -8 9 8 3).
“We started good but somehow we lost the control. We made so much errors. It was hard to come back but eventually we did it from the third game ” said Andrei.
MITROFAN highlighted how hard it will be to play against teammates tomorrow.
