Marginal victory (4-3) for Pera in the men’s A1 derby with Tataula

On the second match day of the A1 national table tennis category, no match for the first places attracted the attention. In the 3rd matchday of the championships, the match between the “relatives” Tataula and Pera presented intense interest for another year. It took place in the gym of HAN Thessaloniki and was decided in the double in favor of Pera (4-3), which will be chasing a place in the top 4 of the playoffs this year. Tataula, aiming to stay, could not reach a positive result in the two days. In other respects, the pioneers did without pressure the 3 on 3. For the men, Olympiacos at the Stadium of Peace and Friendship and Panathinaikos in Thessaloniki reached 6 points. For the women, Olympiacos at the Faliri stadium and AEK at the indoor municipal gymnasium of Florina also continued with victories and share the top of the standings. Results of group matches and individual meetings have been posted on website.

In the men’s A1, the clubs with the same origins, Tataula and Pera, faced off at the CHANTH training camp from a different starting point. Tataula were looking for their first victory of the year, while Pera a valuable two points in their attempt to be in the 4th place. The match was inconclusive from start to finish with Pera winning 4-3 and having Cypriot Christos Christonov as the main star.

Details of the progress of the match Tataula-Pera 3-4:

Gerasimos Hatzilygeroudis-Christos Christonov 1-3 (6-11, 11-9, 4-11, 8-11)

Yannis Boskovics-Petio Krastef 0-3 (7-11, 7-11, 6-11)

Dimitris Papadimitriou-Stratos Damianis 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-8)

Hatzilygeroudis-Krastef 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8)

Papadimitriou-Christonov 0-3 (9-11, 8-11, 10-12)

Boskovich-Damianis 3-2 (12-10, 12-10, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8)

Papadimitriou/Hatzilygeroudis–Krastef/Christonov 1-3 (7-11, 11-6, 4-11, 7-11)

The champion Olympiacos lined up Yannis Sgouropoulos, Giorgos Stamatouros, Tomislav Pukar again and easily reached 4-0 against AEK. The last one, which started yesterday with two wins, competed without the former “red and white” Swede Arvindsson.

With 4-0, Panathinaikos of the new OEA Thessaloniki was also imposed, closing the first two days of cooperation with the French European champion Emmanuel Lebesson.

In the SEF, OEA Rethymnon opened this year’s account by defeating the comeback in the A1 category Ari Nikias. Kallinikos Kreanga, who on Saturday reappeared in the Greek league after three decades and experienced apotheosis, could not achieve anything substantial against the strong foreigners of OEA Rethymno Kantero and Venderlik (from Spain and Poland respectively), however his victory was remarkable Gerasimos Petris over Stathis Manolopoulos.

In the women’s A1, the 3rd matchday was basically characterized by the strong resistance that Pera put up against Panathinaikos in SEF. Portugal’s Tatiana Garnova scored two singles wins against Konstantina Paridis (3-0) and Slovenia’s Ana Tofad (3-2) to keep Pera in contention for the upset. Afterwards, Paridis and Katerina Toliou beat Servia Monica Knezevic and Dimitra-Thomaida Tsekoura respectively in four sets and made the final 4-2 for Panathinaikos. In the same room, in the 4-1 of the champion Olympiakos against the sister club of GAO Piraeus, we can only mention the meeting of the young Evagelia Meramvelliotakis with the evergreen Despina Dandoulas, two athletes who followed the opposite route with their Piraeus clubs in the summer (the first won).

In Florina, AEK made an ideal start to the championship. After the two victories on Saturday, and especially the one against Sarises, it had no difficulty in overcoming HAN Thessaloniki today with 4-0. In the next competition weekend (02-03/12) derbies with both Olympiacos and Panathinaikos await. Also in Florina, the local Sarises returned to victory with a wide 4-0 against ASEA Kavala.

Summary of the results of the 3rd matchday in the top division:

In the men’s A1 in Athens:

OEA Rethymnon-Aris Nikias 4-1

Olympiacos-AEK 4-0

In the men’s A1 in Thessaloniki:

OEA Thessaloniki-Panathinaikos 0-4

AO Tataula-Pera Athens 3-4

In the women’s A1 in Athens:

Pera Athens-Panathinaikos 2-4

GAO Piraeus-Olympiakos 1-4

In the women’s A1 in Florina:

ASEA Kavala-ASEA Sarises Florina 0-4

HAN Thessaloniki-AEK 0-4

THE STANDING IN THE MEN’S A1 (in 3 matches)

GROUP GRADES

1. Olympiakos 6

-. Panathinaikos 6

3. AEK 5

-. Pera Athens 5

5. OEA Thessaloniki 4

-. OEA Rethymno 4

7. AO Tataula 3

-. Aris Nikias 3

THE RANKINGS IN A1 WOMEN (in 3 matches)

GROUP GRADES

1. Olympiakos 6

-. AEK 6

3. Panathinaikos 5

-. ASEA Sarises Florinas 5

5. Beyond Athens 4

-. HAN of Thessaloniki 4

7. ASEA Kavala 3

-. GAO Piraeus 3