In places 5-8 Manolopoulos in Under 19 of the Turkish Youth Contender

Stathis Manolopoulos reached today 19/01, in Antalya, the best placement of a Greek athlete in the Under 19 category of a World Table Tennis Youth Contender. After yesterday qualifying on the scoreboard with the 2nd place from his group, he achieved a great victory in the morning against the 1st favorite of the competition and finally fought back in the quarter-finals of the Turkish Open to be placed 5-8.

In the knockout matches, Giorgos Kosmas in the Under 19 category and Kostas Fakaros in the Under 15 category also made it to the 4th and last day of the competition. They tried for something more, but were defeated by strong opponents to finish in 9th place. -16. We remind you that the Greek colors had a corresponding placement in the Under 19 mixed doubles with Kosmas and Mavra Kontopoulou. Alkistis Kasimi and Konstantinos Toulias also competed in the Turkish Youth Contender. The two girls met for the first time in a world-wide tournament, Tulias made his debut in international competitions and in general the most important thing for all the kids is that they tested hard and got useful performances.

In the technical guidance was Konstantinos Kostopoulos, experienced from such events (responsible for Kosmas and the two girls) and the assistant coach at Athena Magoufanas Konstantinos Karamandzianis, who made such a trip for the first time (he took charge of the remaining three boys).

Manolopoulos (number 15 in the seeding of his category) had been drawn high on the board and was invited to face number 1, Benjamin Farazzi. The outstanding Iranian had already emerged as an Under 17 winner in Antalya, he has shown his rich talent in previous tournaments of the institution, however he is still in his 15th year of age and our 18-year-old international knew that he could put him in a difficult position with the defense. So it happened. The Athenian champion, who this year competes in A1 with OEA Rethymno, achieved a good standard of performance and mainly had duration and good options in the most difficult parts. He prevailed with a 3-1 set (14-12, 4-11, 11-8, 12-10) and made the step to the 8th round.

There he faced Mehmet Karaboga. His fellow Turk may have been number 20 in the tournament, but he had great skills against the defensive style of play. Manolopoulos lost the 1st set by a narrow margin, then he could not maintain a good pace and finally with a 3-0 defeat he had a good placement in positions 5-8. The evolution of 9-11, 7-11 and 4-11.

In the morning, Kosmas competed at the base of the same scoreboard. He had a very difficult draw against the number 2 in the category, the Iranian Amirmahti Kesavarzi and this was also proven in practice. He was eliminated in 3-0 sets (5-11, 2-11, 6-11) and finished in 9-16 places. It should be noted that the Gianniotis champion had also qualified for the knockouts of his own age category, Under 17 (positions 17-32) and in general played the most matches of the Greek team in the Youth Contender of Turkey (eight in total).

In Under 15, Fakaros, after the groups, checked his competitive status and on the scoreboard. He attempted it with a very high hurdle in front of him, Turkish left-hander Kenan Kahraman, last year’s European champion in the Under 13 team. He performed well overall, trailing only in the 2nd set and was eliminated with a score of 3-1 to also find himself in the 9th place -16. Kahraman was number 7 in the category in Antalya and Fakaros 15. The sets 8-11, 4-11, 14-12 and 9-11.