Leon BENKO Seals the Thriller to Reach His Medal

In tomorrow’s Under 19 Boys Singles event semi-final No. 1 seed Darius MOVILEANU of Romania will face Leon BENKO of Croatia. In the other semi-final another Romanian Andrei ISTRATE will clash with Flavien COTON of France.

MOVILEANU overcame Hungary’s David SZANTOSI in five games (7 9 -5 13 6). Last year’s Doubles Champion Andrei ISTRATE beat Daniel BERZOSA of Spain (8 -11 -7 5 5 4).

Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT of France recovered from 0-3 to level the match against Leon BENKO. At 9-9 in the seventh game BENKO sealed the duel (9 8 3 -9 -6 -6 9).

“I was under severe pressure; I was leading 3:0 and he came back. In the deciding set I was down 5:8 and managed to win 11-9. Now I am so happy because it is my first medal in European Championships. I am very happy because my coach and I prepared very much for this ” said BENKO.

Flavien COTON overcame Andre BERTELSMEIER of Germany (6 10 -5 -9 11 -7 4). Coton remarked “It was a really tough match. It was late in the evening and my opponent played strong. He changed tactics after 0-2 but I came back and found my best play. I look forward to the semifinal and I beat him last time.”

The Round of 32 in the Under 19 Boys Singles event was shattered with surprises. Notable names exited early including No. 4 seed Mateusz ZALEWSKI of Poland who lost to Austria’s Zhenlong LIU in five games (7 -11 6 6 6). No. 8 seed Tom CLOSSET of Belgium also finished his journey earlier than expected losing to Rafael KONG of Portugal in six games (-11 10 6 -9 7 6). No. 10 seed Samuel ARPAS of Slovakia lost to Croatia’s Borna PETEK in straight games (10 8 7 4). No. 12 seed Gabrielius CAMARA of the Netherlands lost to No. 21 seed Connor GREEN of England in a full seven-game thriller (5 7 -8 7 -5 -12 9).

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The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe, and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level, including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations, and the organization of continental table tennis competitions, including the European Championships.

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