In positions 17-32 of the Under 17 category, Kosmas in Turkey’s Youth Contender

From Giorgos Kosmas came the best course for the Greek delegation during the opening day of the Turkish World Table Tennis Youth Contender, which takes place in Antalya.

In another world federation tournament with a high level of competition, the intense difficulties for our talented internationals were immediately presented. Today, 16/01, five of the six had matches in the qualifying groups, all of them made a very good effort, gaining valuable experience, and finally a qualification on the scoreboard came from the athlete from Gianni in the Under 17 category. The latter passed on the scoreboard as 2nd from group and later lost to be placed in positions 17-32.

Kostas Fakaros and Konstantinos Toulias in the same age category, Mavra Kontopoulou and Alcistis Kasimi in the corresponding category of girls experienced two defeats each and were eliminated in the groups. The championship for the Greek colors will continue with the mixed doubles for teenagers and young adults, as well as with the singles of the Under 19 and Under 15 categories.

The competition program at Antalya Sports Complex started in the morning. Kosmas participated in the 3rd group of the Under 17 category. In his premiere he lost 3-0 sets to the Italian leader Giacomo Izzo (1-11, 9-11, 8-11), but then he defeated the Belgian Noah Gennart with the same score and took the privileged 2nd place (11-6, 11-9, 11-6).

In the knockouts and the round of “32” he was drawn with the excellent left-hander Kenan Kahraman of Turkey. Kosmas (number 379 in the current world ranking of the category) took the 1st set, however with an improved performance Kahraman prevailed 3-1, who is in his 14th year and was also seen by the Greek public last summer in the Balkan youth championship of Orestiada (No. 309 in the same category). The development 11-5, 8-11, 5-11 and 7-11.

Also in Under 17, Fakaros competed in the 2nd group and missed a good chance to qualify. After easily losing 3-0 sets to Bulgaria’s Ioan Velitkov, he fought back to five sets in the decisive second match knowing the upset. He was defeated 3-11, 3-11 and 5-11 by Velitskov, who was also present at the Orestiada and had come 2nd in the youth singles. In the match against Charles Janssens from Belgium, he took a 2-0 set lead and lost the next three close sets to finish 3rd (11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 8-11).

Tulias, making his debut in an international tournament, took part in the 7th group. In fact, he started with a promising performance against the leader Le Ellsworth from Singapore, as he took the 1st set and was very close to taking a 2-0 lead. In the end he fought back with 3-1 sets (11-7, 11-13, 4-11, 5-11) and losing later to the strong Turkish Berk Oztoprak with 3-0 sets, he was in 3rd place in the group (5-11, 6-11, 3-11).

In the Under 17 girls category, Kontopoulou competed in the 2nd group. In the 1st round, she lost 3-0 sets to the German leader Josefina Neumann (6-11, 5-11, 9-11). She then sought something substantial with Turkala Asude Toumba Simsek, but was again defeated 3-0 sets and eliminated from the board (6-11, 6-11, 4-11).

Kasimi was also in 3rd place in the 6th group. In the premiere, she led against Leigh Chloe from Singapore (top seed) until she lost with a 3-1 set (11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 6-11). Decisive for the 2nd place was the game of the 3rd round against Neel Basaran from Turkey. Our champion took the lead again, but with exactly the same development, in the end she accepted the defeat in four sets (11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 6-11). The two Taurus girls played their first matches in a worldwide youth tournament.

On Wednesday 17/01 the double mixed Under 19 starts with two Greek couples. Both meet Turkish athletes in the round of 32. Manolopoulos/Kassimi face Arda Kekilioglu/Nihat Nebhan and Kosmas/Kontopoulou face Onul Duran/Jagmur Gesil.

We will have groups in the other singles categories again on Thursday the 18th of the month. In the Under 19 boys, Kosmas has been drawn in the 1st group and will face the Iranian Benazmin Faraji (captain) and the Belgian Charles Janssens. Manolopoulos will compete in the 2nd group against Iranian Amirmahti Kesavarzi (captain) and Turkish Onur Duran.

In the Under 15 boys’ category, Fakaros is in the 3rd group and will face the Turkish Berk Oztoprak (leader) and the Belgian Manoe Jazinski. Tulias was in the 7th group with Turkish Kenan Kahraman (leader) and Bulgarian Viktor Dimitrov.

In the Under 19 girls’ category, Kontopoulou is in the 5th group with the 1st favorite German Lena Gotzlick and opponents Marziya Nurmatova from Azerbaijan and Elif Duman from Turkey. Kasimi will again meet Singapore’s Leigh Chloe (top seed), Iran’s Yekta Antibian and Turkey’s Yagmur Yesil in Group 6.