Malamoudis, Fakaros qualified for the U19 and U15 tables in the Portuguese Youth Contender table tennis

Yiannis Malamoudis, who is 17 years old, and Kostas Fakaros, who is 14 years old, qualified for the “knockout” phase of the Under 19 and Under 15 categories respectively at the World Table Tennis Youth Contender table tennis in Portugal and on Friday on the last day of matches at Villa Real they will aim for the best possible position on the board of the “64”.

Both had one win and one loss each and passed the qualifying process with the second place in their groups. A good effort was made by all the children for the second day, we were just eliminated in the groups in the remaining two participations in the Under 15 category with Giorgos Kosmas and Petros Liotsis.

In the U19 category, 23 qualifying groups were formed and Malamoudis was in 19th place. On Thursday morning, he faced Romanian top seed Rares Quesdan and lost 3-0 sets (3-11, 7-11, 4-11). In the afternoon, the match of the third game against the Swiss Numa Marlon Ulris was decisive.

The Athenian, a former Greek singles champion, had a good performance from the start and his first victory in Portugal (and generally abroad) sent him to the next stage as second.

The progression in the final 3-1 set with Ulris was 11-9, 7-11, 12-10 and 11-7.

In the round of ’64, Malamoudis was drawn with the Peruvian Rodrigo Ali Vigo Izaguirre, who had taken second place in the tenth group (also with one win and one loss). The match takes place at 12:00 Greek time. If Malamoudis wins, he will find in front of him in the “32” the German Matias Danzer.

In the U15 category there were twenty qualifying groups. Fakaros competed in the sixth group, lost in the premiere, narrowly won the second match and went on the board. At noon he had another match with the very good Italian Danilo Faso (leader). He took the first set, but lost the next, just as it had happened in the “knockouts” of the Italian Open in Lignano last November (11-8, 5-11, 5-11, 3-11).

In the second match, the Italian beat the Spaniard Raul Sebastian even more difficult with 3-2 sets and, thus, in the afternoon the match between Fakaros and Ibera was “final” for the second privileged position. The Athenian international was twice behind in the score, but found the mental strength and the competitive options to “turn” the situation to 3-2 in his favor (7-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7, 11 -9).

On Friday, in the first round he is called to face Juan Martin Gonzalez of Ecuador, who took the second privileged position in the 16th group, also with one win and one loss. If he qualifies to the “32”, he will face the first favorite of the category, the Portuguese Thiago Abiodun.

In the 16th group, from which Gonzales advanced, Liotsis participated. The talented athlete from Chios completed the good experience in his first international tournament with two more very difficult games. From Juan Martín Gonzalez, who was in charge, he took a 3-0 set (5-11, 7-11, 7-11). With the same score, he was defeated by the Portuguese Thiago Olero (9-11, 1-11, 2-11) and was ranked third in the group.

Also, in the Under 15 category, Kosmas claimed qualification from the 15th group. He fought both of his matches, ending up in third place with two losses, and this development was also indicative of the high level of the Open. The fact, that is, that the Gianniotis champion had an excellent course yesterday until the 16th of the Under 17 and now he was excluded from the board in his own age category.

Initially, he was “bent” by Romanian Mihai Nagy (head) with 3-1 sets (11-13, 4-11, 11-9, 9-11). He then lost with the same score to the Dutch Ivan Kahn, who also took first place in the group, (6-11, 11-5, 7-11, 8-11).