In the “32” with great victories, the young girl Papadimitriou and the girl Kontopoulou

Greek table tennis also makes its presence felt in the simple European youth championship, shows its high potential and enjoys strong results.

Malamatenia Papadimitriou in the junior singles and Mavra Kontopoulou in the girls’ singles advanced to the round of “32” with great victories against athletes in the top 15 favorites and from traditionally strong countries on the European scene (Poland, Germany)!

She surpassed the number 10 of the juniors in Gliwice, and the number 13 of the girls, especially the victory of the inexperienced in such an event and without points in the world ranking, Kontopoulou, was a great surprise and spread smiles of optimism in general for the future in the women’s section. Tomorrow 22/07 both meet new very high obstacles and give everything for the next step. The Greek team, however, showed its great potential in two more matches against the background of the 3rd round. In the teenage singles, Stathis Manolopoulos found himself in front with 2-0 sets and was defeated 4-3 by Checho Belik, the 3rd favorite of the championship, while in the boys’ singles, Yiannis Koutras led 3-1 in the sets and 9-2 in the points to accept the upset by a German athlete, number 10 of the competition! The boy Giorgos Kosmas was also very pressing against the 3rd boy, while the teenagers Alexandros Madesis, Dionysis Timamopoulos completed their effort in the positions 33-64 of the singles with a good performance as well.

Kontopoulou was the one who brought the super result. In the 2nd round of the girls’ singles, she defeated Lorena Morse from the current European champion of the girls’ team, Germany, an athlete who was number 13 in the singles favorites, with 4-1 sets! The 15-year-old international put in an amazing performance, put a lot of balls in and combined this with her calmness and confidence. It is absolutely telling that he was not at all psychologically affected by the upset he suffered in the 3rd set to reduce the score, when he was ahead 2-0 in sets and 6-3 in points and firmly in control. The development 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4 and 11-8. The next step, the top 16, will be chased tomorrow Saturday at 11:00 with opponent Marzhiya Nurmatova from Azerbaijan (No 29 in the championship, who was also directly on the board).

In the afternoon came the second Greek qualification to the round of “32” singles and a second great victory for the girls. Papadimitriou, who for a long time was looking for the very good result internationally at the individual level, managed it with a great performance against a leading representative of the host country. She defeated Natalia Bogdanovic, who is number 10 in the competition and during the week she took the bronze medal with Poland in the junior team, with 4-3 sets. With very remarkable table tennis, good tactics and composure at critical points (including in the 4th set she had saved a set point when Bogdanovic went ahead 3-1) our champion (number 34 in the competition) took the victory, which also gives her psychology to chase distinction in her last European youth championship (8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10, 11-3, 8-11, 11-8).

Both our girls received valuable support from the platform, where the other members of the Greek delegation were. Challenge for the left-handed champion and tomorrow’s match. At 12:30 p.m. she faces strong Naomi Prankovich of Germany, who is number 19 in the tournament.

In the afternoon, in the 2nd round of the children’s singles, Koutra experienced the element of unpredictability, which the Olympic sport has to a great extent, to his detriment. With a new wonderful appearance, he not only created the conditions for the surprise against the German Clemens Kuen van Burgstorf (number 10 in the seeding), but he literally found himself one step from the “32”. He was 3-1 in sets and 9-2 in points ahead, later in the 5th set he got two match points but still lost the game (3-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-6, 11-13, 5-11, 8-11). Very good of course, the German ace, but also the athlete from Loutraki has the right to feel great sadness with the turn he had given the match.

A little earlier, in the same round of the children’s singles, Kosmas was completely competitive against the Hungarian Zoltan Varga. He made the match with the number 3 of the competition a derby from the beginning, later he took it to 2-2 sets, until he was defeated 4-2 by an obviously quality athlete (12-10, 7-11, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11).

In the juniors it was already important for the Greek side that 3 of our 4 athletes were in the 2nd round when they all went unrated internationally to Gliwice. Manolopoulos immediately became a threat to the 3rd favorite of the competition, the Czech Simon Belik, who on Tuesday was named European runner-up in the team. With his excellent defensive style of play he surprised and took a 2-0 lead. Belik raised his performance, turned the situation around, but again the Athenian champion fought on the level. Tied at 3-3, in the 7th set he led 3-0, until he was eliminated in the details with 4-3 sets (11-6, 11-9, 8-11, 2-11, 6-11, 11-5, 6-11).

Madesis in “64” had an opponent against another very remarkable athlete, the Spanish Miguel Pantoya, who is number 20 in the event. Our champion lost the 1st set in overtime and tied the score in the same way. Then he could not find solutions in the most difficult points and lost with 4-1 sets (14-16, 12-10, 8-11, 6-11, 10-12).

Timamopoulos, the second defender of the Greek delegation, had given a… taste of the Greek claims since yesterday (he eliminated the Italian Giacomo Alegranza, number 24, with a 4-1 set) and today he tried his best against the Turkish Hakan Isik, “golden” Balkan Champion of the competition in Orestiada. He suffered a 4-0 defeat, however the three sets were close (3-11, 8-11, 7-11, 10-12).