European Team Championship: The National Table Tennis Team was defeated by Hungary and left out of the round of 16

The men’s national table tennis team lost on Tuesday 3-1 in the details to Hungary and was eliminated from the round of 16 from the fourth group of the European team championship. Where are the details, basically the two defeats of Yannis Sgouropoulos in the five sets, but also the mini upset suffered by Giorgos Stamatouros in the fourth set when he was close to equalizing at 2-2.

It had been an ideal start with an excellent game from Panagiotis Gionis, and then Sgouropoulos came very close with a match ball to extend the lead and give Greece the first reason for the much-desired victory and qualification. In the end, our representative group was limited to the third place in the group and was excluded from the continuation.

It was preceded by a 3-1 defeat by group winners Portugal. Costas Vatsaklis was always in technical guidance, while the fourth player was Konstantinos Angelakis.

After Monday’s break, the National Team returned to the “Malmo Arena” hall to play against Hungary in the decisive match for the second privileged position from the fourth group. The teams had 1 point each and the winner went to the table of “16”.

Greece took B in the team formation and this time Panagiotis Gionis (number 32 in Europe in September) started the match from position 2. He faced the first Hungarian, Adam Zoudi (No. 54), and with an impressive performance he did not gave him room to react. He prevailed with a 3-0 set and gave Greece the lead.

Infallible after the initial 2-2, he took the set with an impressive streak of 9 points. He kept control in the second set as well with tough defenses and good attack and, although after 6-2 he saw his opponent close to the point, he did not miss the opportunity. He continued with a very good pace and an excess of confidence and dominated again for the final 3-0, against, in fact, an athlete with potential against the defense and to whom he has lost once before in a major competition.

Yannis Sgouropoulos (No. 55) then competed from position 1, facing Benke Majoros (No. 39). He was not as stable as in the premiere, but with his quality and outbursts he came within a breath of victory to finally “bend” with 3-2 sets.

The performance of the Greek ace was not good until 1-4 in the second set where he called for a timeout. On his return to the table, he managed an impressive comeback and, after leading 8-5, reached the tie.

Early in the third set, Majoros escaped 5-1 with some very good hitting and Sgouropoulos found the answer again to quickly equalize and take an 8-7 lead.

The set went to the details and Magyaros regained the lead by a narrow margin. Six points in a row put our 23-year-old champion in the lead in the fourth set (7-3). The advantage was taken and it was all decided in a fifth set.

Majoros was ahead 7-3, Sgouropoulos overtook 8-7 and got a match point on the opponent’s serve (10-9). In the forehand attack of the next reception, the Hungarian athlete made a terrible parallel block and later his own basic choice to press Sgouropoulos’ forehand brought results.

Giorgos Stamatouros (No. 179) and Tamas Lakatos (No. 84) were placed in position 3, knowing the criticality of their only race. The 2021 Greek champion performed admirably and was competitive throughout the match. Maybe he would have given a different turn to the match if he had used the two sets of bowls at the beginning, however, he fought very hard with 3-1 sets.

He led 10-8 in the first set, but lost in overtime with his opponent taking advantage of his serve to a large extent. In this part, our 24-year-old athlete continued to have problems and Lakatos took a 2-0 lead.

Stamatouros continued with good tactics, improved the reception and quickly gained a good lead in the third set. When 8-2 became 8-5, Kostas Vatsaklis used the time-out and with a quality attack came the reduction of the score. Our international continued with a good pace and strong spins and led 8-6 in the fourth set as well. At that point, however, Lakatos served well, used his experience and “turned around” the situation with five points in a row.

The team did not flinch and Sgouropoulos came hard against Zoudi to take the lead. It was a given, however, that the match would be balanced and difficult to judge. The four-time European champion accepted the tie, but dominated the third set to get back in front of the score.

In the fourth set from 4-7, it was reduced to a point and the opposing side asked for a timeout. Zudi found the solutions and with quality shots won the next points in a row. As if that wasn’t enough, he took a 3-0 lead in the deciding set and the Greek bench took a timeout. The Hungarian kept control, increasing the gap (8-2) and things did not change.

In detail, the evolution of the match Hungary-Greece 3-1:

Adam Zoudi-Panagiotis Gionis 0-3 (2-11, 9-11, 4-11)

Benke Majoros Yannis Sgouropoulos 3-2 (11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10)

Tamas Lakatos-Giorgos Stamatouros 3-1 (13-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-8)

Zoudi-Sgouropoulos 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7)