Kosmas impressive in the Portuguese Youth Contender in the Under 17 category

With amazing performances and a total of four wins, Giorgos Koamas was placed 9-16 in the under-17 category at the Portuguese Open of the World Table Tennis Youth Contender Series currently underway in Villa Real.

After a series of positive results in Greece, the 15-year-old Gianniotis is in excellent form and in a strong tournament abroad and, although still unranked in the world rankings, initially took first place in his group and scored two more victories on the board in the above age category from his own.

Late in the evening, he “chased” with many claims and the quarter-finals, until he was eliminated very hard in five sets by the first favorite of the games, Roumano Buzor.

In the same category, 17-year-old Yiannis Malamoudis, 15-year-old Petros Liotsis and 14-year-old Kostas Fakaros gave their all for a positive result, but they were eliminated in the qualifying groups.

The tournament continues on Thursday with two more age categories, in which there is Greek participation. The athletes up to 15 years old with Kosmas, Fakaros and Liotsis and the athletes up to 19 years old, where only Malamoudis is.

The boys’ competitions at the “Pavilhao dos Desportos de Vila Real” began on Wednesday with the under-13 and under-17 categories. In U17, 25 groups were formed and the last two were of four athletes.

Kosmas took part in the 21st group. He certified the good form of the last weeks, he also had a strong mentality and achieved the excellent result of the first and, in fact, without losing a set. At the start of his campaign he produced a superb performance against the German leader, Noah Herschel (number 95 in the world ranking), and cruised to a 3-0 set victory (11-4, 12-10, 11-9).

In his next match he was just as strong against the Italian Francesco Trevisan, he prevailed again in the details and won another 3-0 set (12-10, 11-8, 11-8). Trevisan is younger, but very talented, in fact today he is number 4 in the world ranking of athletes up to 13 years old.

The scoreboard was “64” and from the afternoon he continued the competition. Kosmas was up against the Dutchman Rode Brent, who had qualified with the second place from the 18th group with 1 win and 1 loss. He kept the very good pace and prevailed with a 3-1 set. The difficulty was intense after the second set and our 15-year-old international spent his tactics in the most critical points (11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 13-11).

The round of “32” followed. Against the French Flavio Mourier (No. 53 in the U17 and 13th favorite in the category), the degree of difficulty went up, but our champion was again completely ready from every side. He prevailed in the details in another match and with a 3-1 set win he entered the round of 16 (11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 11-9).

Later in the evening, the athlete from Kostopoulos was faced with the Romanian Dragos Buzor, who “appears” at number 5 in the U17 world ranking. With a lot of strength and high standards of performance and this time he not only pushed, but even led with 2-1 sets. He continued his “battle”, but the Romanian, thanks to his experience from such tournaments, found solutions and took the next two sets and qualified for the eight (5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 5 -11).

Signs of their value and talent were also left by the rest of our athletes, regardless of their exclusion in one category, where the impressive number of 77 entries was recorded.

Fakaros competed in the ninth group. He created the conditions to advance as runner-up from a three-way tie, but in the deciding match he was upset from 2-0 sets ahead and 5-3 on third set points.

In the first match he was defeated by the leader Rafael Cabrera from the Dominican Republic with 3-0 sets (5-11, 8-11, 5-11). In the afternoon he gave a balanced match against the Swiss Noe Kesk. He narrowly won the first two sets, but lost the next to end up with a score of 3-2 in third place and off the board (11-9, 13-11, 5-11, 10-12, 7-11).

Liotsis was drawn in the 23rd group, also of three athletes. In his first appearance in a tournament abroad, he gave it his all and gained valuable experience, regardless of not avoiding third place. In the opening match, he was defeated by the Italian Danilo Faso (leader) with 3-0 sets (2-11, 6-11, 10-12). In the afternoon, he suffered a second defeat against the Austrian Franciszek Kolodijek with a 3-0 set (8-11, 6-11, 8-11).

Malamoudis participated in the 25th and last group, which was of four. He gave his best effort against strong athletes, ultimately suffered three defeats and was eliminated in fourth place. In his international debut, he lost to the Swiss head Abishek Vepa with 3-0 sets (6-11, 4-11, 9-11). In the afternoon he was defeated by the same score by the French Clement Len-Campino (3-11, 7-11, 6-11) and in the afternoon, also by 3-0 sets by the Portuguese Rafael Kong (4-11, 9- 11, 7-11).

The tournament continues on Thursday with the remaining two age categories, where our athletes participate. In the U19 category there have been 23 qualifying groups and Malamoudis is in 19th place. He faces Romanian Rares Quesdan (head) and Swiss Numa Marlon Ulris.

In the U15 category, twenty qualifying groups have been formed, with the last group consisting of four athletes. Fakaros competes in the sixth group with the Italian Danilo Faso (leader) and the Spanish Raul Sebastian.

Kosmas is in the 15th group and is vying for qualification against Romanian Mihai Nagy (head) and Dutchman Ivan Kahn. The match with Nagy is set for table 1 and starts at 11:50 Greek time.

Liotsis is in the 16th group and faces Juan Martin Gonzalez from Ecuador (head) and Portugal’s Thiago Olero.