At the opening of the World Pre-Olympic Table Tennis Tournament on Thursday in Havirov, Czech Republic, Giorgos Stamatouros and Malamatenia Papadimitriou lost in the first stage 4-0 to India’s Satiyaan Ganasekaran/Manika Batra and will continue on Friday in another knockout. dashboard.
The score in the premiere does not in any way reflect the image of the match, as the Greek duo were competitive from start to finish against a globally strong pair and deserved something more.
After the completion of the first stage, the Greek duo are waiting to learn their next opponents and are aiming for a victory guided by the remarkable performance.
The World Mixed Doubles Olympic Qualification has gathered 26 entries from as many countries. In stage 1, two different boards of “16” were created, each having 13 pairs and three “byes”. Stamatouros and Papadimitriou (number 20 in the seeding of the games) were drawn in the first round with the eighth favorite, the Indians Gnanasekaran and Batra.
In their first experience in a Pre-Olympic, they played with controlled anxiety, combined well and coped satisfactorily with the Indian’s backhand combo.
The final 4-0 set did not come easily. In the initial 7-1 of the Indians, the Greek duo reacted brilliantly. With consecutive points he reached -1 (7-6 and 8-7), but in the last part the tactics went out to the opponents.
Last year’s Greek champions of the event also created a streak that brought them to the lead in the second set. They found themselves behind 3-0 and then led 8-5 with good reception and successful attacks. There, however, the experienced Indians pulled off very difficult shots and prevailed by a narrow margin.
Balanced from the beginning was the third set and it reached 7-7. At this point, Ganasekaran and Batra escaped with very good actions and when they reached 10-7 it was almost impossible to “turn” the situation.
Always competitive, the internationals pushed us in the fourth set as well. At 4-4, however, the Indians capitalized on their serve and then went to 7-4. One last attempt was made without changing anything and the defeat came with 4-0 sets (8-11, 9-11, 8-11, 6-11).
Stamatouros, Papadimitriou will now go to the second stage of the competition and along the way they will learn about their opponents.
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