European youth championship: In positions 17-32 of the simple Papadimitriou and Kontopoulos

With the junior Malamatenia Papadimitriou and the girl Mavra Kontopoulou placing in positions 17-32 of the singles, the Greek participation in the 65th European Table Tennis Championship Under 15 and Under 19 in Poland ended today Saturday 22/07 at noon. After great wins in the round of 32 the girls aspired to move even higher up the table, into the top 16 of the premier competition, but they fell short in their new very difficult task. Kontopoulou, who had earlier been mentioned on the ETTU website for the surprise in the 2nd round, strongly claimed the victory, until she was bowed in 4-2 sets by Azerbaijan’s Marzhiya Nurmatova. Papadimitriou wanted something more in her last appearance in the European youth championship, but the European runner-up of the team with Germany, Naomi Prankovic, put an insurmountable obstacle in front of her (4-1 set). In conclusion, the Greek team made a positive appearance and was very competitive in the individual events as well. He may have shown these positions as a better ranking, but earlier he had the rise of the national children’s team to the A division of the institution and in general he left new signs that with the right work he has the possibility to be higher in the European firmament.

By road, our internationals initially took the way back and by flight from Krakow they are expected tonight 22/07 in Athens via Frankfurt. Papadimitriou and the federal coach Giorgos Karytsas will arrive on another flight, because they had the match at noon and had to change tickets. In the mission at the Arena Gliwice were also the teenagers Alexandros Madesis, Stathis Manolopoulos, Dionysis Timamopoulos, Alexandros Alexopoulos, the teenagers Chrysi Fotiadou, Lemonia Gaidatzi, Stella Tzaridou, the boys Yannis Koutras, George Kosmas, Konstantinos Fakaros, the girls Vasiliki Boulas, Alcistis Kassi not, the responsible coaches Christos Vatsaklis (for the teenagers), Konstantinos Kostopoulos (for the boys), Dimitris Papadimitriou (for the girls) and as an escort the coach of Orion Chios and mother of Boulas, Roula Lambrinidis.

Kontopoulou competed first today in the round of “32”. Our 15-year-old international (who as an unranked before Gliwice was ranked 87 in the competition) was faced with Azerbaijan’s Marzhiya Nurmatova (number 29 in the championship and therefore directly on the board). Buoyed by yesterday’s victory against a German powerhouse, he gave it his all to get past the round of 16, winning 4-2 in the set. Her performance was positive in this match as well, she played modern table tennis with a lot of attack against a strong athlete with a tooth on the backhand and even when she was 3-0 sets behind (with the only set, in which she fell behind) she chased the upset with reasonable chances and stubbornness. In the 4th set and at 9-8, Dimitris Papadimitriou took the time out and the reduction of the score came in overtime. In the 5th set, the athlete from Table Tennis Tavrou saved two match points to reduce the score even more. In the end, it cost two things: The missed receptions and some spins at critical moments, which happened not to pass (6-11, 9-11, 3-11, 12-10, 13-11, 6-11).

REPORT FROM ETTU AND STATEMENTS BY KONTOPOULO

In her final year in the girls category, Kontopoulou again showed her talent after the recent Balkan championship (5th place in singles and bronze medal in mixed doubles) and her results can give a general boost to Greek table tennis for young female athletes.

In addition, her surprise yesterday against the German Morse was also highlighted by the ETTU. The European Union of the sport had a relevant reference in its report as well as the statements of our champion: “The 2nd round in the girls was full of twists and turns, as the Greek Mavra Kontopoulou, placed in the 87th place, managed to overcome the German Lorena MORSCH, who was placed in the 13th place. Expressing her joy, Kontopoulou emphasized: “It is my first time in the European championship. Until now, I had only won a bronze medal in mixed doubles and reached the quarterfinals in singles at the Balkan Championships. Against MORSCH, I followed my coach’s advice and played the first spin on her backhand, which helped me secure the win.”

An hour and a half later, Papadimitriou completed her positive presence in the 3rd round of the junior singles and the positions 17-32 of the European championship. Naomi Prankovich of Germany, who is number 19 in the event and on Tuesday had won the silver medal in the junior team, proved too strong this time and took the win and qualification for the last 16 with 4-1 sets. Our left-handed international, who had defeated Prankovic 3-2 in September 2022 Youth Contender in Skopje, improved her performance after the 1st set and pressed. In the 4th set he led 10-7, immediately accepted the tie at 10-10, but took the set in overtime. In the initial 5-1 of the 5th set he reached the point difference (8-7), but in the end he could not do anything more (2-11, 6-11, 7-11, 12-10, 8-11).

In her last year in the junior category, she keeps from Gliwice the good performance, the fact that she advanced one round more than her seeding position (No. 34) and of course yesterday’s victory against Poland’s Natalia Bogdanowicz (4-3 sets), European champion in girls’ doubles and mixed doubles and European runner-up in singles and girls’ team in 2022. institution had succeeded in singles and placing 9-16 in 2019 in girls.

Generally in relation to the last few years (and after the European titles of Yiannis Sgouropoulos in 2017 and 2018) the only sad element for the Greek team in Gliwice was that they lost a total of ten opportunities to place in the round of 16 (along with that of the boys in the team).