Two hundred athletes opened this year’s series of development tournaments in the best way in Pefki

Excellent mood, good playing conditions, exciting matches and plenty of talent. The elements, to which the world of table tennis has become accustomed to the leading institution of development tournaments, made their appearance again this weekend (30/09-01/10), in Pefki, at the opening of the series for the period 2023-2024 .

The children returned after months with a lot of fun to the competition tables, coaches, parents and other companions gave them the necessary “boost” and together with the good organization, the honorable image for the sport emerged with more than 22 hours of total action in the indoor gym Pine tree.

The open tournament “AE Athena Magoufanas – AS To Gymnasio” brought together 200 boys and girls (with 9 last-minute absences) and was the 6th hosted by the city with its rich activity and great love for table tennis. Co-organizer at the open of E.F.O.E.P.A. it was still the Environment – Sports – Culture (PE.A.P.) of the municipality of Lykovrysi-Pefki.

The gold medals were won by Alexandros Alexopoulos among teenagers, Evangelia Meramvelliotaki among juniors, Yiannis Kioseloglou among girls, Stella Mavromataki among girls, George Sassanis among girls, Aphrodite-Ioanna Sarikaki among girls, Theofanis-Frixos Markoulakis among mini girls and Cleo Madesis in the mini pankorasides.

In the category of teenagers, the number 3 favorite, Alexandros Alexopoulos, reached the highest step of the podium. In the final, and after some unexpected results in the category, the 17-year-old athlete defeated the left-handed Dimitris Sotiropoulos (11-3, 11-5, 15-13), who was number 7, with a 3-0 set.

The finalist had created a big surprise in the quarterfinals by eliminating the 1st favorite and member of the men’s pre-national team, Alexandros Madesis, with 3-2 sets. A new presence is also noteworthy, that of the 17-year-old Greek-English Giorgos-Nikos Gerakios. With a Greek father and an English mother, he acquired Greek citizenship within the year and made a report at AEK. His base for the last three years is Sweden, where he trains, while he spends time in Austria as well. He took first place in the group by defeating the leader Marios Katsaprakakis with 3-2 sets, while in the round of 16 he beat Yiannis Malamoudis, who was directly on the main board, with 3-0 sets.

In the juniors, Evangelia Meramvelliotaki confirmed the role of the 1st favorite. In the decisive match, she faced number 2, Mavra Kontopoulou, and prevailed with a 3-0 set (11-8, 11-8, 11-4). She had earlier escaped in five sets under pressure from Qi Xinyu, who is in her final season in the girls’ category, but opted to compete with the juniors.

In the boys, Yannis Kioseloglou and Kostas Fakaros, number 2 and 1 respectively in the seeding, competed for the gold medal. There have been many matches since last year, always inconclusive and for the first time in a development final. Kioseloglou led 2-0 sets, accepted the tie and celebrated the victory in the deciding 5th set (11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11, 11-8).

The first two favorites also met in the girls’ final. Vasiliki Boulas and Stella Mavromatakis respectively, who in fact had gone through very difficult semi-finals where they prevailed in five sets. Today Chaniotissa Mavromataki was better than Chiotissa Boulas and took the victory and the cup with 3-0 sets (11-7, 11-8, 11-6).

Giorgos Sassanis reached the top of the papaides from seeding number 1. In the final, he beat Spyros Fousekis, who was the 3rd favorite in the category, with a 3-1 set (11-5, 10-12, 11-4, 11-5). In his progress on the scoreboard, Sassanis had two very difficult victories with 3-2 against Manolis Tzougaris of OA Chania and Michalis Bithavas of Ikaros Kastritsios in round of 16 and round of 8 respectively.

In the pankorasides, the final had an exciting development and a strong finale. Aphrodite-Ioanna Sarikakis (No. 1) found herself 1-2 behind in the sets against Elpida Tassiou (No. 2) and finally won 3-2 with two more close sets (11-7, 9-11, 10-12, 11- 8, 11-9).

Two 10-year-old children from Chania claimed the gold medal in the mini-papaides. Theofanis-Frixos Markoulakis took advantage of the ideal start against Giorgos Petrakis and took the victory with 3-0 sets (11-5, 11-3, 13-11).

Cleo Madesis (No. 3) emerged as the winner in the mini pangorasides, who played her first official games just last February in Athens, at the finals of last year’s open championships. In the undefeated final, she lost the 1st set to Argyro Koutrouba (No. 1) and then won the next three with a marginal difference (7-11, 14-12, 13-11, 11-9).

The winners by category:

TEENAGERS:

1. Alexandros Alexopoulos (AO DAO Tavros)

2. Dimitris Sotiropoulos (AE Athena Maggoufanas)

3. Stathis Manolopoulos (EA Rethymno)

CHILDREN:

1. Evangelia Meramvelliotaki (GAO Piraeus)

2. Mavra Kontopoulou (PKD Tavrou)

3. Qi Xinyu (AO Tataula)

CHILDREN:

1. Yannis Kioseloglou (AO Poseidon Loutraki)

2. Kostas Fakaros (AO Phoenix Agia Sophia Piraeus)

3. Theofanis-Giorgos Mitkas (MSC Ethnikis Alexandroupolis)

GIRLS:

1. Stella Mavromataki (OA Chania)

2. Vasiliki Boula (OA of Chania)

3. Georgia Spanou (Sarises Florina)

PAMPADES:

1. Giorgos Sassanis (AO Telamon, Salamina)

2. Spyros Fousekis (AES Ikaros Kastritsiou)

3. Dimitris Alexandridis (AO Telamon, Salamina)

PANGORASIDES:

1. Aphrodite-Ioanna Sarikakis (Gas Elefsis)

2. Elpida Tassiou (AO Thermis Thermaios)

3. Anastasia Michalaru (AS Proodos Voutzas Rafina)

MINI TOYS:

1. Theofanis-Frixos Markoulakis (OA Chania)

2. Giorgos Petrakis (OA Chania)

3. Nikos Alexidis (AS Pera Thessaloniki)

MINI PANGORASIDES:

1. Cleo Madesis (AO Heraklion 2001)

2. Argyro Koutrouba (OA of Chania)

3. Natalia-Maria Bistola (AE Athena Magoufanas)

The matches for places 3-4 were also tough, in fact three of them were decided in five sets. In the girls, Georgia Spanou prevailed 3-2 over Angela Noure (OA Chania). Dimitris Alexandridis also defeated Giorgos Kouvelas of SPA Lykovrisis Pefkis with 3-2 in the pampaids and in the mini pampaids Nikos Alexidis defeated Ioannis Stogiannis of OEA Thessaloniki by the same score.

Among the teenagers, Stathis Manolopoulos defeated Marios Katsaprakakis (AE Athena Maggoufanas) with a 3-1 set, and among the boys, Theofanis-Giorgos Mitkas defeated Chrysovalantis Sambalis (Poseidon Loutrakiou) by the same score.

In the juniors, Qi Xinyu and Angeliki Evmorfiadis met for the second time in the tournament. Today Qi won with 3-0 sets, while yesterday in the group the athlete of PKD Tavros won with the same score. In the women’s singles, Anastasia Michalaru was defeated 3-0 by Alexandra Mavridis from Prophet Ilias Piraeus. Finally, in the mini pankorasides, Natalia-Maria Bistola overcame Maria-Markella Kontopoulou of OEA Chios with 3-1 sets.

THE SPONSORS OF THE TOURNAMENT

In addition to the municipality of Pefki-Lykovrysi, five sponsors offered significant support to the tournament. They were the businesses:

Oven Venetis

Euro Catering Fresh & Natural

Kebaptzidikon Prince

Technical Construction Easy Home

Fresh food products

And this year the medals also apply to the winners of the “consolation” races. The hosts distributed to the participants a bag with a bottle of water, a banana and a croissant or cherry pie.