European Individual Table Tennis Championship: Sgouropoulos/G. Constant

In the men’s doubles, Yannis Sgouropoulos and Giorgos Konstantinopoulos advanced to the “32” of the competition, while in the women’s doubles Katerina Toliou did the same with her teammate from Switzerland, Rachel More. They needed one win each, as they had a “bye” in the first qualifying round and are now chasing as high a place as possible among Europe’s best duos.

Konstantina Paridis/Elisavet Terpou in the women’s doubles and Giorgos Stamatouros/Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos in the men’s doubles were hardly eliminated in the qualifying matches.

At noon, we remind you, K. Konstantinopoulos/Terpou had also made it to the board of “32”, however in the evening they had a bad draw, as they ran into the first favorite of the competition.

In the men’s doubles, a qualifying board of “64” was formed. Sgouropoulos and G. Konstantinopoulos (number 37 in the seeding of the event) had a “bye” in the first round and on Saturday afternoon confirmed their supremacy against Daniel Kogans/Ivik Nielsen from Latvia and Greenland respectively (No. 32) for to win 3-0 sets and achieve their first goal (11-8, 11-8, 11-9).

Stamatouros and K. Konstantinopoulos (No. 32) also went through the first round without a fight and were then “bent” in a balanced match by Tal Israeli/Jordi Picolin from Israel and Italy respectively (No. 30). They took a 1-0 set lead, later found themselves 1-2 behind and tied it to eventually be eliminated in overtime of the fifth set (11-5, 10-12, 8-11, 11-7, 11-13).

The qualifiers in the women’s doubles had a similar scoreboard. Toliu and the Swiss Rachel More (No. 25 in the seeding of the competition) had a “bye” in the first round and in the second, which was also decisive for the qualification, they faced the Finns Ramona Betz/Anna Kirichenko (No. 36). They lost the first set, but then showed their superiority and prevailed 3-1, in fact, in the fourth set they overturned from 3-7 with eight points in a row (9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7).

Terpou/Paridis (No. 38) were eliminated in the second qualifying round. They also entered without a match in the “32” and there they suffered defeat by the Italians Nicole Arlia/Gaia Monfardini (No. 27) with 3-1 sets (11-9, 7-11, 10-12, 5-11).

In the men’s doubles and women’s doubles, the main draws have not yet been drawn. In the mixed doubles, K. Konstantinopoulos and Terpou were drawn with the French Emmanuel Lebesson/Yuan Jianan, who are the current European runners-up of the competition. The match takes place on Sunday at 11:05.

On Sunday, the singles qualifying groups begin, in fact three of our international matches are played on “television” tables. The organizers had not posted the full schedule until Saturday night and, for now, there are the Sunday times.

Giannis Sgouropoulos, who heads the 24th group, meets Filip Mladenovski from North Macedonia at 18:40 Greek time. Romanian Eduard Ionescu and Matias Monguisti from San Marino are also in his group.

Giorgos Stamatouros competes in the eighth group. His first opponent is Romanian leader Rares Sipos (at 16:55, at table 4. He also has Slovakian Adam Kluber in the group.

George Konstantinopoulos is in the 11th group. On Sunday, he faces the Ukrainian head, Yevgen Pritsepa, (at 16:55) and his second opponent will be the Spanish Carlos Caballero on Monday.

Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos has been placed in the 16th group. In his Sunday premiere, he faces the Slovakian leader, Lubomir Pistej (at 17:30 the match, on table 3 and then he has to face the Cypriot Mario Yagou and the Belgian Florent Labier.

In the first phase of the women’s singles, Katerina Toliou entered the 22nd group at the head. Her first opponent is the Spaniard Marlona Mune and she faces her on Sunday at 1:20 PM in Greece. On Monday, she will meet Poland’s Natalia Partika and Bosnia’s Dana Biogradlic.

Konstantina Paridis is in the 13th group and begins her attempt on Sunday tomorrow with Hana Arapovic. She faces the Croatian head at 12:45 on table 3. Her next opponent will be Romania’s Tania Plaian.

Finally, Elizabeth Terpou, who is in the fourth group of three athletes, is not competing on Sunday. On Monday, she will first face the German Annette Kaufmann (leader) and the Estonian Aili Avameri.

The group winners advance directly to the main draw of the ’64’ and join the 32 favourites. The sportsmen and women who will take the second place in the groups will continue in the second qualifying stage of the two rounds.