Giorgos Sassanis qualified for the so-called A Finals at the Under 13 European Table Tennis Championship in Bucharest with the second place in his group and on a board of “64” he will fight for the best possible placement.
The remaining five children did not succeed in the same way and will continue from Saturday in a ranking match at the B level of the singles boys and girls singles (B Finals).
Sassanis and Anastasia Michalaru won the first round of the mixed doubles, while Apostolos Vatsaklis/Aphrodite Sarikakis have been there directly.
In the group stage, Greece lost Friday night 3-0 to Moldova and on Saturday completes the qualifying matches, playing for the 27-28 places against Slovenia.
Friday’s games ended with the team competition. In the proposed stage 3 change to the system of conducting each group meeting, all matches were decided in favor of the best of five games. Our mixed National team after Thursday’s results in the new group, in stage 2 went to the mini table of places 25-28. He wanted the first victory at the “Polivalenta Hall”, but lost again to Moldova, this time 3-0 (in the group stage 1 the score against the same opponent was 4-1).
Vatsaklis and Michalarou were not used in this game.
The last match of the national team against Slovenia starts at 09:00 on Saturday. The Slovenians for places 25-28 lost 3-1 to Estonia.
In detail, the progress of the match Greece-Moldova 0-3:
Theofanis Markoulakis/Elpida Tassiou-Andrei Myskishin/Maria Koutsiuk 0-3 (4-11, 3-11, 4-11)
Aphrodite Sarikakis-Andrea Delev 0-3 (6-11, 5-11, 7-11)
George Sassanis-Robert Graur 0-3 (9-11, 3-11, 7-11)
In the final of the mixed team, Spain and Germany will meet on Saturday at 19:20. In the exciting semi-finals, Germany overcame France 3-2 sets and Spain by the same score against Romania.
THE RESULTS OF OUR ATHLETES IN THE SINGLE GROUPS
The simple groups opened the Friday program. The first two athletes and the first two athletes would advance to the main board (A Finals), while the rest would go to the lower level (B Finals).
In singles, 22 qualifying groups were formed. Vatsaklis competed in the fifth. First, he lost to Azeri Onur Guluzade (head) in 3-0 sets (7-11, 3-11, 8-11) and then defeated Slovenian Tijan Malic (11-5, 11-8, 12-10). In the decisive third match, he was defeated by the Ukrainian David Drobov with 3-0 sets (6-11, 7-11, 9-11) and took third place.
Sassanis was in the 11th group. His comeback win from 0-2 down and in overtime of the fifth set against independent Hleb Kacianovic was decisive (8-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 12-10). Earlier, he defeated Azerbaijan’s Shakir Gadirov 3-0 sets (11-8, 11-7, 11-3) and was defeated by Hungary’s top seed Benjamin Vamosi (head) 3-0 sets (6-11, 8-11, 6-11) and took second place.
The first round draw pitted him against the event’s seventh favourite, Romanian David Toro at 3.45pm on Saturday.
Markoulakis participated in the 19th group. He defeated Kosovar Resul Smiley 3-1 sets (9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10) and lost 3-0 sets to Croatian leader Nikola Djuric (6-11, 7-11, 5- 11) and also 3-0 by the Polish Adam Stachowiak (10-12, 8-11, 5-11). Thus, he was ranked third.
There were 20 groups in the women’s singles. Michalaru finished in fourth place in the third group. She lost in three sets to Turkala Buse Kocak (10-12, 8-11, 5-11), Bulgaria’s Polina Ntseva (8-11, 8-11, 5-11) and the top seed, Sweden’s Siri Beniegord (4 -11, 1-11, 3-11).
Sarikaki was in the 15th group. He also suffered three defeats and finished last. She lost 3-0 sets to the head, Swiss Ilvi Urlik (3-11, 5-11, 6-11), 3-1 sets to Veranika Baranava, who competes as an independent (9-11, 11- 9, 9-11, 4-11) and with 3-1 from the Swedish Alicia Enbom (6-11, 13-11, 10-12, 5-11).
Tasiou was in the 20th group and was also in fourth place. She lost to Slovakian leader Bianca Basova with 3-0 sets (6-11, 5-11, 10-12), to Slovenia’s Karin Slatinšek with 3-1 sets (7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 9 -11) and from the Bulgarian Beloslava Balkanska with 3-1 sets (6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 12-14).
THE FIRST MATCHES IN THE DOUBLE MIX
The double mixed boys and girls started in the afternoon with a board of “128”. Sassanis/Michalaros entered strongly and defeated the Bulgarians Dimitar Dimitrov/Kalina Stefanova in the first round with 3-0 sets (11-6, 11-3, 11-9). On Saturday they face Pindar Sheridan/Anastasija Zibunova from Ireland and Latvia respectively in the “64”.
Vatsaklis/Sarikakis had a “bye” in the first round and on Saturday they will face Filip Nagy/Bianka Basova from Slovakia.
Markoulakis and Michalarou were eliminated in the first round with an upset by Ivan Zetsau and Uliana Bairakova who compete as independents. They won the first two sets 11-6, 14-12 and lost the next 2-11, 7-11 and 9-11.
* The Cypriot Giorgos Tziampos also participates in the individual events of the European Championship. He is the 13-year-old son of Andreas, a former international and well-known to Greek fans of the sport from his time in A1 with AO Tataula. Giambos was eliminated fourth in the 21st group, but the most important thing is that he also gets valuable experience for the future and now continues in the B level.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
