Europe Youth Loutraki: Greece 1 winner in U15 and Denmark in U13 in the team

The first two days of the Greek Open of the fourth Europe Youth Table Tennis Series of Loutraki concluded with exciting finals and the children getting all the applause for their value, “fair play” and effort. In the children’s category, Greece 1 beat Georgia 5-3. In the all-kids category, Denmark beat Greece 1 to 5-4 in the final and literally by one point.

Greece performed very well overall and could end the competition with two golds. He also had third place with Greece 2 in the Under 15 and also third place with Greece 2 in the Under 13, while bronze medals and a cup were also given to the fourth teams because that was the total number of entries in the event.

The top two teams from the single groups met in the final. Those who had progressed undefeated in the groups prevailed. At the same time, the two matches took place on a total of four tables. They offered spectacle and suspense until the finale. The dozens of spectators in the gym and many more fans of the sport from the webcast enjoyed great games. The athletes, for their part, showed a lot of passion and competitiveness, elements that were there regardless of the fact of the small participation in the Open.

In the U15 category, Greece 1 and Georgia met twice within a few hours. On Thursday morning, the Greeks had prevailed 6-3, but in the final they felt more pressure. The match was tied at 4-3 and the next two games of the series were tabled with the stipulation that one would not be officially taken if, in the meantime, Greece reached 5-3. So it happened. Bithava prevailed in their second game with a 3-0 set and the final score was written.

Christos Tsarsitalidis and Roula Lambrinidis sat on the team’s bench in the final. It should be noted that this was the second gold medal for Koutras in the event, after he was also the winner in the children’s singles last April in Croatia.

Greece 2, which climbed to the third step of the podium, was formed by Kostas Fakaros, Theofanis-Giorgos Mitkas, Stella Mavromatakis, Angela Noure, coached by Michalis Angelidis, Roula Lambrinidis and Pavlos Telopoulos.

In detail, the evolution of the final Greece 1 – Georgia 5-3:

Yannis Koutras/Vasiliki Boula-Nikolos Tskartishvili/Anastasia Tskartishvili 3-1 (11-7, 12-10, 14-16, 11-9)

Bula-Thekla Liparteliani 3-0 (13-11, 11-5, 11-4)

Koutra-Mate Gabarashvili 3-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-3)

Alexandra Bithava-An. Tskartishvili 0-3 (5-11, 6-11, 6-11)

Yannis Kioseloglou-N. Tskartishvili 2-3 (11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 11-3, 10-12)

Bula-An. Tskartishvili 2-3 (8-11, 11-3, 13-11, 3-11, 9-11)

Koutra–N. Tskartishvili 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 9-11)

Bithava-Lipartiliani 3-0 (12-10, 11-6, 11-3)

Even more exciting was the final in the team of the smaller division. At that point, the local Sofia Fili competed and, despite being inexperienced in such matches, she stood excellently and came within a “breath” of victory. Everything was decided in the details and in the end Gregerchen with a marginal difference in the fifth set formed the final 5-4, giving the trophy and smiles to Denmark.

The Greek team was coached by Manolis Alaroupi and Pavlos Telopoulos.

In detail, the progress of the match Greece 1 – Denmark 4-5:

Konstantinos Alexoudis/Anna-Fanouria Mitka-Malik Severinsen/Celinda Vung 3-2 (11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 2-11, 11-8)

Alexoudis-Emil Hasselback 3-2 11-8, 2-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-5

Mitka-Andrea Gregertsen 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-6)

Sofia Fili-Vung 0-3 (6-11, 2-11, 8-11)

Spyros Fousekis-Severinsen 1-3 (8-11, 12-10, 2-11, 6-11)

Mitka-Vung 3-1 (7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-3)

Alexoudis-Severinsen 1-3 (6-11, 8-11, 13-11, 10-12)

Fousekis-Hasselback 0-3 (4-11, 4-11, 7-11)

Fili-Gregertsen 2-3 (10-12, 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 9-11)

Greece 2, ranked third, competed with Nikos Angelidis, Dimitris Georgallidis, Despina Dimitriou, Aphrodite-Ioanna Sarikakis and coached by Michalis Angelidis and Costas Dimitrakopoulos, while Greece 3 came fourth with Anastasios Fousekis, Konstantinos Isaakidis, Athanasia Goga , Elpida Tassiou and responsible coach Anita Khachatryan.

The president of E.F.O.E.P.A., Kostas Papageorgiou, awarded the prizes to the winners of the U15 category and the General Secretary, Xenia Stathis, to the winners of the U13 category. Also, throughout the first two days of the Open, the national federal men’s coach, Kostas Vatsaklis, was present.