The Group stages in Men’s Singles Event at the European Under 21 Championships concluded with few upsets but for sure if we following the rankings the biggest of all is Vladimir URSU’s progress to the Round of 16. Moldova’s player came to Cluj without ranking points with the wild card but it did not prevent him of gaining the spot between top 16 players.
In Group A in Men’s Singles Event Kay STUMPER of Germany progressed to the knock out stage as his rankings predicted but not from the top spot. Lilian BARDET of France emerged successfully to the top position. In the last round Kay beat Samuel ARPAS of Slovakia (9 9 7 2) whilst BARDET lost to Andrea PUPPO of Italy (10 -6 4 -7 10 8). Both BARDET and STUMPER have two wins and one defeat but it was BARDET who beat STUMPER in their direct clash.
In Group B Maciej KUBIK of Poland is yet to lose the game. In the last match in Group Stage he beat Filip DELINCAK of Slovakia (8 6 7 8).
“I played quite well the match against DELINCAK who played also at the high level today. I am in the main draw and I will continue to play at my best to go as far as possible. I remember with great pleasure that I won the cadets competition playing in this venue years ago so I am very happy playing here ” said Maciej KUBIK.
Elias HARDMEIER of Switzerland is second. In last round he beat Italy’s Tommaso GIOVANNETTI (5 7 -2 11 -5 6).
In Group C top two players justified their rankings. Darius MOVILEANU of Romani and Vladislav URSU of Moldova reached the knock out stage. In the last round Darius beat Kas VAN OOST of Netherlands (4 7 7 7) whilst URSU succeeded against Lleyton ULLMANN of Germany (4 3 5 7).
“I am so happy that I won against Kas VAN OOST. Despite the score the match against Kas was not an easy one but today like yesterday I played really well. I am glad that I finished at the top of the Group in Singles and now I am looking forward to the doubles and mixed doubles and of course I am looking to the main draw. Getting at least one medal during these Championships is my main goal. But who knows maybe there will be more that one medal! I will fight in the next matches to my best that this will come true ” said Darius.
His teammate Eduard IONESCU also progressed to the main draw. In the third match in the Group D he beat John OYEBODE of Italy (4 8 7 4). Poland’s Samuel KULCZYCKI is second. He beat Alex NAUMI of Finland (7 7 6 -9 8).
In Group E Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland and Anton LIMONOV of Ukraine determined who will be no. and and no. 2 in their Group in direct clash. Polish player won the encounter (8 4 6 8) to progress to the Round of 16 from top spot.
Ivor BAN of Croatia recorded fourth win today against David SZANTOSI of Hungary (8 8 8 11).
“It was a good match I fought all the way and at the end I won 4-0 which looks quite easy but in fact it was not. The games were very close. I am so happy reaching the round 16. I will continue to fight trying to win. So we will see… My main goal for this competition was to reach round 16 which I did. In my last tournaments I could not play at my full potential due to some injuries. I reached my goal now so I may play very relaxed so we will see how far I can go. Last year I reached the quarterfinal but it looks that this year the competition is tougher. I would be more than happy to reach the quarters this year too ” said Ivor BAN
There were no doubts who will be on the top spot but for the second place there were big fight. Eventually Carlo ROSSI of Italy moved to the next stage despite the defeat against Andrii GREBNIK (9 -8 10 -9 7 -10 -7).
Iulian CHIRITA of Romania secured the top spot after third win in the Group. On the last hurdle he beat Borna PETEK of Croatia (2 -10 8 7 8).
“Borna PETEK played a very good match toda. I was leading 1-0 and I had 10-5 in the second game which I lost 10-12. After wining the second game Borna played better and better. I stayed very focused changing the serves adjusting the tactics and I managed to win I think that I won also because played more aggresive. Maybe this was the key. I am looking forward to the main draw and hopefully I will have a “lucky” drawing. My dream is to win a medal at this competition. I would be so proud to be able to present such a medal to my parents and to my friends. It might be a dream which will come true!” said Iulian CHIRITA
Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria is second after the victory over Jan VALENTA of Czech Republic (8 5 -9 7 5).
In the last round Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary beat Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia (9 6 7 -7 19) and reached the top spot in the Group H.
“I prepared well before this match. All the matches I played before against Dimitrije were fifty -fifty so I was quite stressed before the match. However it seems that my prepration before the match really worked so I am very glad that I won. The duel was really taugh when I led 3-1 I did not want to loose the fourth game I was really tyred and I would like to be focused and “fresh” for the doubles and mixed doubles. For me wining the group is something very special. For the next matches I do not want to put any pressure on myself. I will try just to enjoy the game and we will see how things will go ” said Csaba ANDRAS.
Borgar HAUG of Norway is second. Today he beat Andrei ISTRATE of Romania (11 2 -8 9 8 4).
