In the “hunt” for double Greek qualification in the table tennis Contender of Qatar

Greece’s attempt to qualify for the World Table Tennis Contender in Qatar includes our two champions who had success before the time change at the WTT Feeder in Italy, namely Panagiotis Gionis and Konstantinos Angelakis.

Gionis, who came from the second place last December in Biela, passed on Monday to the fourth and final qualifying round of the singles and is looking for his entry into the “32” of the competition on Tuesday. He and Angelakis as a duo, after the silver medal in Italy, claim in Doha the qualification to the main table of the doubles. They prevailed at the beginning of the qualifiers and on Tuesday they are fighting for the decisive second victory.

In the second qualifying round of the women’s singles, Elizabeth Terpou was disqualified, however, she made a great effort against a strong athlete.

In Doha, initially in men’s singles, Gionis (number 124 in the world) took the next difficult step to qualify for the main draw and “hunt” for another good course in an international tournament. In the qualifying round of “32” he found himself losing 1-0 and 2-1 sets to the Indian left-hander Manus Utpalbey Shah (No. 165).

However, he improved his defenses and with his experience and quality prevailed in the next two sets. The progression: 8-11, 12-10, 2-11, 11-4 and 11-5.

The fourth and decisive qualifying round takes place on Tuesday. The athlete of Kostas Vatsaklis faces the very capable German Kay Stuber and, if he wins, he will go to the round of “32”. The match takes place at 15:50.

In the women’s singles, Terpou (number 395 in the world ranking) after qualifying for the second qualifying round, had a match-challenge against one of Europe’s perennially strong athletes. She faced the Hungarian Dora Madaras (No 84) and was completely competitive, as was her first pursuit. She eventually fought back with a 3-0 set, however everything was “closed” and the match might have had a different development if our champion had initially taken the lead (11-13, 7-11, 9-11).

On Monday, the men’s doubles qualifiers began. Gionis and Angelakis had an easy task in the first round and defeated the Iranians Amir Hossein Khodai/Navid Shams with 3-0 sets (11-7, 11-4, 11-9).

In the decisive second round they play Tuesday for qualification to the main draw against the first favorite of the qualifiers. At 12:00 Greek time, they will face the Indian Man Utpalbey Shah/ Senhit Suravajula.