Greek table tennis is facing another very important competitive moment at the club level. Claims high distinction with two teams at the same time in the Grand Finals of the Europe Trophy 2022-2023.
Olympiacos SFP for men and ASEA Sarises Florinas for women have the pleasure of representing the country this weekend, 18-19/03, in the so-called Europe Trophy Grand Final and after their qualification from the first stage they raise new demands. In the final stage of the 3rd interclub Cup of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU), 8 teams participate and are divided into 2 groups.
Having also the role of organizer in collaboration with E.F.O.E.P.A. Olympiacos competes in the federal hall of the Stadium of Peace and Friendship and as the 1st favorite aspires to win the cup. The Sarisses will compete in Mirandela, Portugal, they are basically looking to qualify for the semi-finals and from there the best can come.
We remind you that last year, in the inaugural year of the Europe Trophy, Panathinaikos AO was crowned women’s champion, giving Greece the first European trophy in the sport.
ETTU TV’s platform will stream all the matches from tables 1 and 2 of the matches and ETTU is producing from SEF. The links for the live streaming of the first day are https://www.ettu.tv/en-int/playerpage/1579370 and https://www.ettu.tv/en-int/playerpage/1579371 for tables 1 and 2 respectively in Piraeus and https://www.ettu.tv/en-int/playerpage/1579380 and Mirandela | Table 2 for the corresponding tables in Mirandela.
THE OLYMPIAN IS COMPLETE
In the men’s event, Olympiacos is the leader in the 1st group and has opponents from Poland KS Gobal Pharma Orlicz 1924 Suchedniow, DT Hostert/Folschette from Luxembourg and Croatian STK Libertas Marinkolor. On his return to Europe after many years, he initially took 1st place without defeat in Region C of the competition, which had taken place in Serbia. He showed a strong composition from the beginning and in the final stage he will line up even more strengthened. He will rely on the Englishman Liam Pitchford, the Croatians Andrej Gačina and Tomislav Pukar, as well as the Greek champions Tassos Riniotis and Sokratis Giannoutsos. In the first phase, coach Giorgos Christoforakis did not have Pitsford in the team. The top three competed a few days ago in the top prized Smash tournament in Singapore based on their high positions in the world rankings, their presence in the SEF makes Olympiakos the favorite, it remains to be proven in the table as well, as at this stage all the teams they are remarkable. The top 2 teams of the equal number of groups advance to Sunday’s semi-finals and later the winners will play for the title. The overall schedule for Saturday with the tables is not yet known, Olympiacos will make its premiere at 1.
Competition manager was appointed by the ETTU the former international athlete Italian Chiara Colantoni. The referees of the event are Nikos Kokkinos and Maria Mitakidou, while all the referees are Greek. 4 tables will be used. Olympiacos has the valuable help of the Municipality of Piraeus in terms of team transfers. A lot of people are waiting at the Faleri stadium (entrance is free), but the stands are expected to have a pulse from some friends of the foreign teams, who followed the missions. Of course, several officials from ETTU and the clubs will also be present.
It is also important to emphasize that since September 2021 and the Europe Top 16 Cup in Thessaloniki, this is the 4th international table tennis event hosted by the country.
WITH THE SAME TRINITY THE SARISES OF FLORINA
In the Grand Final of the Women’s Europe Trophy, the Sarisses are in Group B with rivals France’s TT Joue les Tours (leader), Norway’s B-72 and Portugal’s Sebastianense. In its 4th European participation in recent years, the team, which this year took 2nd place in the A1 national women’s category, will line up in the Iberian country with the French Liu Judith, the Hungarian Bernadette Balid and our young champion Despina Aba.
Aba, the Hungarian coach of the union Mark Pink and the treasurer of the administration Giorgos Kalogirou traveled from Florina via Skopje and Copenhagen to Porto, while from Paris and Budapest Liu and Balid left for the same city respectively. Their transfer from Porto to Mirandela is planned and in the evening the team will train in the match gym. STK Aquaestil Duga Resa from Croatia (head), hosts CTM Mirandela, France’s Entente Saint Pierraise TT and HB Ostrov from the Czech Republic have been drawn in Group A.
With the same trio, the Sarises qualified in November from Bratislava, Slovakia, taking 2nd place in Region C. Their task now is even more difficult, of course, but they have the potential to go higher and basically want to win one of the first 2 group positions, leading to the 4th place. On the occasion to mention that in a similar process, they had participated in the 2020-2021 season in Serbia, when the final stage had taken place directly and collectively due to coronavirus, the European Women’s Cup.
It should be noted that the winners of the Europe Trophy Grand Final for men and women automatically qualify for the Europe Cup (ie the 2nd in the European Team Cup hierarchy) of the 2023-2024 competition season.
Let’s first see the schedule of the Greek teams in the initial phase of the Grand Final:
The matches of Olympiakos in group A:
Saturday 18/03:
10:00 DT Hostert/Folschette-Olympic
15:00 Olympiacos-KS Global Pharma Orlicz 1924 Suchedniow
19:30 Olympiacos-STK Libertas Marinkolor
The matches of Sarisa Florina in group B:
Saturday 18/03:
12:00 Sarises Florina-TT Joue les Tours
17:00 Sarises Florinas-Uniao Sebastianense FC
21:30 B-72-Sarises Florinas
The rest of the schedule of matches at the Peace and Friendship Stadium is as follows:
Saturday 18/03:
In group A:
10:00 STK Libertas Marinkolor-KS Global Pharma Orlicz 1924 Suchedniow
15:00 DT Hueschtert-Folscht-STK Libertas Marinkolor
19:30 Global Pharma Orlicz 1924 Suchedniow-DT Hueschtert-Folsch
In group B:
10:00 STK Radnicki Beocin (Serbia)-Logis Auderghem TT (Belgium)
10:00 AD Ponta Do Pargo (Portugal)-PANACEO Stockerau (Austria)
15:00 PANACEO Stockerau-Logis Auderghem TT
15:00 AD Ponta Do Pargo-STK Radnicki Beocin
19:30 PANACEO Stockerau-STK Radnicki Beocin
19:30 Logis Auderghem TT-AD Ponta Do Pargo
Sunday 19/03:
11:00 Semi-final 1 Winner Group A-Second Group B
11:00 Semi-final 2 Winner Group B-Second Group A
11:00 5th place match 3rd Group A-3rd Group B
11:00 7th place match 4th Group A-4th Group B
15:30 Final Winner of Semi-final 1-Winner of Semi-final 2
In Portugal, Sunday’s semi-finals are scheduled for 13:00 Greek time and the final on the same day for 17:30.
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