U13 European Championship: In the draw, our National team was left out of level A

In the ongoing “thriller” our national table tennis team Under 13 was excluded from the level A of the European championship, which started today 14/06 in Zagreb.

He made a very big effort, he showed from the beginning that he had the possibility to win one of the first two privileged places in the 6th group and the qualification in places 1-14, but he lost the goal in a draw with Ukraine!

Having 1 win and 1 loss, in the third and last match of stage 1, they faced (eventual winner, with the same number of wins) Romania and even if they lost 3-2 they would have qualified.

Yannis Kioseloglou, Konstantinos Alexoudis, Christina Tzenidis and Anna-Fanouria Mitkas, who competed today, gave everything, they came very close to their goal, but they lost 4-1 and the 1 point was not enough.

They had 8 in total, the same were gathered by Ukraine and they took that 2nd place because they had won 3-2 in the 1st match between them.

However, there is no need for sadness for this team, which made promising appearances and brought out quality and belief, even though it lacks performances and has gymnasts, who are competing abroad for the first time. With the 3rd place in the group, he goes to level B of stage 2 (places 15-28) and of course he will chase tomorrow Thursday 15/06 with optimism the best course.

The last place in the group was limited to Estonia, which lost 5-0 all its matches and continues in level B. There were a total of 7 groups, the top two teams from each qualified for level A. The two next they go to level B. Up to three pampaids and three pankorasids each country has in its mission, all children can participate in the team. The technical duo of Lefteris Tsokanou and Takis Tsarsitalidis, who can be satisfied with how well the team performed, ranked first in the Greek rating table in all three today’s matches. Dimitris Georgallidis and Despina Dimitriou were not used.

MARGINAL DEFEAT IN THE DERBY WITH THE HEAD OF THE GROUP UKRAINE

The premiere had the match against the 6th favorite of the competition, Ukraine. Our national team showed from the beginning that they could reach victory and claimed it with all their strength in an exciting 2.5 hour race. She found herself 2-0 down, but was thoroughly competitive in both the opening mixed doubles and the first girls’ match. Immediately after she attempted the reversal and after Alexoudis had a “clean” victory in 3 sets against Bitotsko, the unranked Tzenidis (number 51 in the singles seeding) managed a huge victory with 3-2 sets against the 7th favorite of the championship, Kolienikova! The final winner was decided in the boys’ second match and there Ukraine turned the tables. Kioseloglou (number 52 in singles) took a 2-1 set lead against Nevizin (No. 10), but in the end lost 3-2 with the opponent achieving an impressive run of points in the “against” set.

Details of the Ukraine-Greece 3-2 match:

Volodymyr Nevizin/Diana Kolienikova-Yiannis Kioseloglou/Christina Tzenidis 3-1 (11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 11-5)

Tetiana Poukalo-Anna-Fanuria Mitka 3-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9)

Vladislav Bitotsko-Konstantinos Alexoudis 0-3 (8-11, 8-11, 6-11)

Kolienikova-Zenidis 2-3 (7-11, 11-5, 9-11, 13-11, 8-11)

Nevizin-Kioseloglu 3-2 (9-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7, 11-5)

In the 2nd matchday, our representative group had an easy task. He faced weak Estonia and won 5-0. The most important thing was that with a consistently good performance he achieved the ideal score and got 5 points, even at the same time it was favored by the result of the other match where the leader Ukraine suffered a heavy defeat by Romania with 5-0 and did not get a point.

In detail the progress of the match Greece-Estonia 5-0:

Yannis Kioseloglou/Christina Tzenidis-Henry Turk/Angela Leidinen 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-3)

Anna-Fanuria Mitka-Marie Alef 3-0 (11-4, 12-10, 11-4)

Konstantinos Alexoudis-Sebastian Asou 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-4)

Tzenidis-Laidinen 3-1 (11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7)

Kioseloglou-Turk 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-9)

In the evening, the match against strong Romania was of decisive importance, however, the fact that Greece had the possibility to reach the 2nd place in the group and the qualification even with a 3-2 defeat could help in managing the pressure. At the beginning the Greek champions of the mixed doubles K13 Kioseloglou/Zenidis threatened, but lost in 4 sets. Then the Romanians made it 2-0 for Alexoudis (No. 29) to put the team firmly back in the qualification game when he narrowly brought down David Toro (No. 31).

With a strong mentality, Tsenidi chased another surprise after the one in the match against Ukraine. According to ETTU’s live scoring, in the 5th set she took 6 points in a row and was ahead 8-4 of Patricia Stoika (No. 8), but then she lost 7 consecutive points and the match. At 3-1, the defeat was decided, but not the case-qualification. Kioseloglou had the last chance for the necessary second partial victory, but his task was very difficult against Alexandrou Ionel (No. 15). He created the conditions when he was ahead with 1-0 sets and 7-4 on the points, however the Romanian found ways out and the final came 4-1. Later tonight the draw for stage 2 takes place.

The progress of the match Greece-Romania 1-4 in detail:

Yannis Kioseloglou/Christina Tzenidis-Alexandrou Ionel/Patricia Stoika 1-3 (11-7, 9-11, 7-11, 5-11)

Anna-Fanuria Mitka-Diana Souvei 0-3 (3-11, 3-11, 6-11)

Konstantinos Alexoudis-David Toro 3-2 (8-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10)

Tzenidis-Stoika 2-3 (11-7, 10-12, 11-5, 8-11, 8-11)

Kioseloglou-Ionel 1-3 (11-9, 9-11, 3-11, 5-11)

THE FINAL RATING OF THE GROUP

COUNTRY GRADES

1. Romania 14

2. Ukraine 8

——————————

3. Greece 8

4. Estonia 0