From Friday to next Sunday, the so-called International Table Tennis Transalpine Trophy Mediterranean Cup 2023 is being held in San Marino and, through the E.F.O.E.P.A., two female and two male female who were born after 12/31 were declared /2010.
Namely, the 12-year-old Spyros Fousekis of AES Ikaros Kastritsiou and Apostolos Vatsaklis of SPA Lykovrisis Pefki, the 12-year-old Aphrodite-Ioanna Sarikakis of GAS Elefsis and the 11-year-old Anastasia Michalaro from A.S. Progress of Voutzas Rafina. All four children are in high positions in the Greek evaluation tables of the all-child category.
In San Marino they will undoubtedly gain valuable experience and chase good positions. It is the 31st year that the tournament has been held and includes team (with mixed teams), boys’ singles and girls’ singles. Luigi Skembris from Proodo Voutza Rafina and Loukia Giannadaki from SPA Lykovrisis Pefkis have been declared as responsible for the technical guidance of the two Greek teams.
The delegation, which includes parents, arrived on Thursday in the landlocked microstate of the central Italian peninsula on three different flights.
The event is organized by the table tennis federation of San Marino in agreement with the Italian federation of the sport and of course with the approval of the Mediterranean Union. It should be noted that the organizers count as invited one team from each mission (two athletes and the coach) and cover their accommodation and food expenses.
Greece 1 in the Mixed U12 Team Event, which also opens the competition program, is made up of Fousekis and Michalarou, coached by Skembris. In Greece 2, Vatsaklis and Sarikaki will compete and Giannadaki will coach.
Fousekis is number 8 in the Greek table of singles players and in 2022 he was the Greek champion in the doubles of his category. Vatsaklis is number 9 in the same category and in the Panhellenic U13 Championship of the previous season he won the gold medal in the team.
Sarikaki is number 4 in women’s singles and last May she was named runner-up in Greece in the double mixed women’s-women’s singles. Michalarou holds the second place in the table of mini girls and ninth in that of girls and in Trikala in May she took the bronze medal in the Panhellenic Championship K11.
Each team match in the Mediterranean Cup includes a children’s singles and a mixed doubles. The system of conducting the competitions in both team and singles will have groups in the first phase and “knockout” matches in the second.
The first two of the groups will go to Draw A, the rest to Draw B and a full classification is provided. Therefore, all the participants will give a large number of games and this is the most important for the Greek athletes, in fact the two girls are participating for the first time in an international meeting.
The matches will be held at the “Multi Eventi Sport Domus” and will be completed next Sunday with team and single.
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