European Team Championship: Germany defend their titles

In the second European table tennis team championship in a row, Germany will be present in both finals. In 2021 in Cluj Napoca he had won the men’s and women’s trophy. She has the same goal tomorrow, Sunday 16/09 in Malmö, but her task will certainly be extremely difficult.

First, because in the men’s competition, he faces host Sweden, which after two decades wants to return to the European throne and has the warm support of its audience. Second, because in the women’s side, they meet Romania again, who are motivated to get… revenge for their defeat in the 2021 final.

Germany and Romania compete for the title tomorrow at 15:00 Greek time. Germany and Sweden meet at 18:30. In table 1 both finals and will be broadcast live online from the ETTU TV platform.

The program of the penultimate day of the top competition closed with thousands of Swedish fans celebrating in the stands for entering the final. A 3-1 win over a very strong France initially saw charismatic youngster Truls Meregard lose 3-0 sets to Felix Lebrun but the reaction was ideal. Matthias Falk defeated Alexis Lebrun 3-2 in sets, Christian Karlsson defeated Jules Roland 3-0 and Meregaard defeated Al 3-2. Lebrun from 0-2 behind!

Germany impresses again! She may be with her second team in Malmö (without Ovcharov, Qiu and Franziska), but she has managed to extend her incredible streak, which has seen her continuously in the European finals since 2007! Today he had formidable resistance from Portugal, as Benedict Duda may have outclassed Marcos Freitas (3-2) in the opening game, but then Thiago Apollonia pulled off a surprise against European title record holder Timo Boll (3-1).

Kei Stuber then broke Joao Geraldo from 0-2 down in sets, Boll beat Freitas 3-0 and Germany prevailed 3-1. Sweden, dominant of the institution in the 80s and 90s, reappears in a final after 2011. Then it had lost to Germany, while in its last title, in 2002, it had defeated that Germany…

In the women’s team, Germany is not only defending its title, but has not lost a single match so far in five matches! In the semi-finals, which preceded the men’s races, the favorites showed their superiority. The number 1 of the games crushed Portugal 3-0. In its composition, it has Nina Mittalham, Han Ying, Shan Xiaona (these three competed today and defeated Shao Zhenyi, Fu Yu and Ines Matos respectively), Sabine Winter and Annette Kaufman with a total of 9-0 in sets.

Number 2, Romania, eliminated France 3-1. In the 3-1 set of Bernadette Sox over Pritika Pavande, Yuan Jia Nan “answered” by defeating Elizabeth Samara with the same score, but then Adina Diakonou prevailed over Audrey Zarif with a 3-1 set and Sox with the same score Yuan. Germany and Romania have created a great tradition in their encounters for the European trophy.

From 2013 until today, this will be the 5th time that Germany and Romania will claim the European women’s team championship title. The previous ones were in 2021, 2017, 2015 and 2013, while they had faced each other in a similar match in 2002. It is also noteworthy that this will be the 6th consecutive final in the institution for Romania and the 6th time in the last 12 years, where Germany is located. In both men’s and women’s bronze medals, France and Portugal won.