European Pre-Olympic Table Tennis Tournament: Tolios, Terpu eliminated with heads held high

Katerina Toliou and Elizabeth Terpou were eliminated in stage 1 of the European Pre-Olympic Table Tennis Tournament, but they had strong moments before they finally found themselves in third place in their groups.

Toliu in the final of the fifth group wanted a wide victory against Switzerland’s More, she came just one point away from achieving it with 4-1 sets and, if she succeeded, she would have qualified on aggregate points through a three-way tie!

She finally prevailed with 4-2 sets, but then she fell behind in all sets! On Thursday, Terpu initially defeated the Latvian Gersova with a 4-0 set and gave a decisive character to the match of the last match against the Spanish Zhang.

Toliou made another good effort, until she won 4-0 sets and was ranked third in the seventh group.

In Sarajevo, Panagiotis Gionis continues from the Greek side. On Friday, he competes in the “32” board, early in the evening the relevant draw took place and the next opponent is the Italian Niagol Stoyanov. The match takes place at 11:20. If our champion enters the round of 16, he will face the Belgian Martin Allegro and at the end of this table the first two “tickets” to Paris will be given.

Those athletes who do not reach the top two will move to the stage 3 board, which will give the next three heats.

Toliu (tournament number 30) went into the deciding match against Raquel More (No 20) knowing that earlier in the day a condition had been set that did not favor her. The athlete from Switzerland had defeated for the second match of the fifth group the leader Georgina Pota with 4-1 sets. This meant that our champion, having lost yesterday in five sets to the Hungarian, wanted not only the victory, but also a good score to prevail in a tie.

Of course, what she had to do on the table was to fight for the best, she did it with all her strength and, with a little luck, she would reach the 4-1 victory and the qualification through the total points of the three athletes .

She had a match bowl with 10-9, unfortunately she lost three points in a row and in the end her own attack from an advantageous position and when the score was reduced to 3-2 sets the case of qualification was decided against her.

With the same competitive spirit, of course, he continued the match, prevailed with 4-2 sets and was eliminated with his head held high, showing that he deserved to go to stage 2 and further pursue the dream for Paris (7-11, 11-7 , 11-9, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9).

In the triple tie at 3 points, More had 6 sets in favor and 5 against, Pota came second with 5-5 and Toliou third with 5-6 in total sets.

The leading Greek athlete had excellent intervals and with both quality defenses and attacks she put More in a very difficult position. The latter has a good serve and spin, however she struggled to control the defense from a distance. Toliou could take the first set as well. In the last points, he made some mistakes, but without paying psychologically, he came close to the upset.

THE FINAL RANKING OF THE 5TH GROUP:

NAME GRADES

1. More (Switzerland) 3 (6-5 in sets)

2. Pota (Hungary) 3 (5-5)

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3. Toliou (Greece) (5-6)

Terpou (number 32 in the games) had reached victory in the morning with a new very remarkable appearance. She faced the Latvian Aleksandra Gersova (No. 36) and prevailed with a 4-0 set, dealing with her peculiar game very well. With a non-aggressive “tooth” on the backhand, the opponent wanted to “erase” Terpou’s spins and whenever she had the opportunity to attack with the forehand.

Terpou, however, followed a very good tactic with a difficult serve and frequent attacks with a curve and a lot of backhand. He also had control over cut balls and, above all, the appropriate self-concentration in all moments of pressure.

In the third set, 9-5 in her favor became 9-8. In the return leg, the score was 3-0 and the match was essentially decided there (11-6, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5).

With Sofia-Xuan Zhang (No. 19) also having 1 win and 1 loss, the match against Terpou would determine who would pass as second from the seventh group to the next stage of the Pre-Olympics.

Our 24-year-old international knew she needed a high standard of performance to overcome a left-handed athlete who plays close to the table and spins countless balls. Our champion made another great effort, she gave everything she had, but the player of Chinese origin held her serve well, was firm and did not allow her to play her game.

The crucial third set went to 5-2, but was lost by the narrowest of margins (6-11, 6-11, 9-11, 6-11).

The first place in the group was won by the Dutchwoman Britt Erland with three wins. In the other matches of the last two matches, she defeated Zhang with 4-3 sets and Gersova with 4-0 sets.

THE FINAL STANDING OF THE 7TH GROUP:

1. Erland (Netherlands) 6

2. Zhang (Spain) 5

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3. Terpou (Greece) 4

4. Gersova (Latvia) 3

Gioni’s next opponent, the Italian Stoyanov, qualified for stage 2 with the second place from the tenth group with 2 wins and 1 loss. Belgium’s Allegro, waiting just above the board, emerged victorious in Group Seven via a three-way tie (also 2-1).

If the Greek defender overcomes Stoyanov, then he will also play against Allegro on Friday at 15:20. On Friday, the quarter-finals take place. Romanian Ovidiu Ionescu is second favorite at the base of the table.

The first two gymnasts from each group went to stage 2, a total of 24. There will be a scoreboard with a simple “knockout”. The first two will qualify for the Olympic Games (the final will not be played). The matches will be held on 17 and 18/05. The remaining three qualifiers will be given from stage 3.