Luck ran out and in the second final for Bogoria of Gioni, they took second place in the Europe Cup

The decisive second “civil war” European Cup men’s table tennis final against Bogoria of Panagiotis Gionis was held on Saturday night at the headquarters of the Polish Djialdovo. The Polish team prevailed again with a 3-0 set, as they had done in the first match on Thursday at the home of the Greek champion’s team, only this time they had to prevail in the details.

In a setting completely unusual in such double matches, after the three marginal victories in the five sets he had achieved at the home of Bogoria, he also managed to prevail in the rematch in the five sets and in “sudden death” in the first two matches. He made it 2-0 in this way and at that point the case of the title was decided because a 3-2 victory was not enough for the Polish champions.

Gionis, of course, keeps the joy and the honor of being in yet another final of the European Team Cup, it just happened that he did not manage even in the third attempt to add this title to his career.

It should also be noted that Greece had a representative in the final of the Europe Cup for the second year in a row, since in 2023 Yannis Sgouropoulos was crowned champion with the French Enebon.

The top Polish clubs competed with the same trios. The couples, however, were not the same. In the beginning, the Dane Groth defeated the Pole Badowski with 3-2 sets and 6-5 in the end, immediately after the Pole Dias also defeated his compatriot Regimski in five sets and 6-5 in the final (!) and there Djaldovo secured the step up compared to last year, since in 2023 she was a finalist against Enebon, while this year’s title is her second in the institution.

Gionis competed again in position 3, only when he entered the table the motivation had significantly decreased. He knew that nothing would change with his eventual victory, in the end he was beaten 3-0 by Japanese pen holder Kai Konichi.

In detail, the development of the final Djaldovo-Bogoria 3-0:

Jonathan Groth-Marek Badowski 3-2 (14-12, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 6-5)

Jakub Diaz-Milos Regimski 3-2 (11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 6-11, 6-5)

Kai Konitsi-Panagiotis Gionis 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-7)

Gionis now turns his full attention to the important Saudi Smash 2024, which will take place in Jeddah from May 1-11. He immediately returns to Athens and on Sunday evening leaves for Saudi Arabia together with the federal coach, Costas Vatsaklis.

IN THE FINAL IN SWEDEN THE ESLOV OF SGOUROPOULOS

In the Swedish professional league meanwhile, the semi-finals of the playoffs have been completed. Yiannis Sgouropoulos’ Eslov is the team that made it to the final and will claim the title for the 2023-2024 season.

The season has ended for the Record of Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos and the Sparwagen of Konstantinos Angelakis.

In the second semi-finals, Eslov completed with a 4-0 victory the away dominance they had achieved during the week with a 4-1 set. Sgouropoulos did not compete in this match, while Konstantinopoulos lost to Englishman Jarvis.

Spurvagen also lost at home 4-0 to Sonderham after 4-3 in the first leg. Angelakis was beaten by the Swede Brod. With 2-0 wins, therefore, Eslov and Soderham will face each other in the finals of the championship.