With 100 entries, the international table tennis festival of Florina

The eighth international table tennis festival of Florina was held for three days (28-30/6/2024) in the indoor gym of the DAK of the city and gathered about 100 athletes from eight countries.

With many categories for men and women and with the opportunity for a significant number of competitions for athletes of different ages, the individual tournament brought out the character of the Festival and satisfied all missions. It ensured the right conditions in a city that demonstrably loves and “cultivates” the Olympic sport in depth and offered attractive images to sports fans.

The organizer this year was ASEA Sarises Florina with co-organizers the Regional Unit of Florina, the Municipality of Florina, the Municipality of Prespa and the Active Youth of Florina (OENEF), while the games were held under the supervision of E.F.O.E.P.A.

The Festival was addressed to all fans of table tennis, regardless of level, gender and age. As every year, in addition to the age categories, there was also the so-called Open, meaning for everyone, which also had a cash prize. For the first and the first the amounts were 700 and 400 euros respectively.

In addition to the athletes of the local association and many more Greeks from Thessaloniki, Patras, Kastoria, Athens, Naoussa, Corinthia, Kavala, Ptolemaida, Komotini, Kozani, Karditsa, Trikala and Veria athletes from North Macedonia, Malta, Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia/Herzegovina participated.

For the women, the entries came from Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia and, of course, Greece. International athletes and young people from the big category offered a high level of competition, but also competition and it is characteristic that no one and no one could celebrate two firsts. In addition, it was again seen that the tournament gives the opportunity to developing Greeks to give useful tests against foreign athletes without going to costly events abroad.

The entries from Malta are an encouragement for the organizers, while there have been discussions with surrounding countries, as the geographical position of Florina favors direct communication and cooperation with the Balkans.

Gerasimos Hatzilygeroudis emerged as the champion in the men’s Open category (where the semi-finals and the final took place with the best-of-seven-set system). In the final, he surprised, defeating Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos in 4-1 sets (11-6, 11-6, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7).

The finalists were together last September in the National team that won the gold medal in the Balkan Championship. Serbian Dragan Djordjevic and 14-year-old Yiannis Kioseloglou took the bronze medal.

Malamatenia Papadimitriou took first place in the women’s Open category. Also, with a “best of seven sets” system in the foursome and in the final, our left-handed international beat Nelia Tuslekova with 4-2 sets (11-6, 12-14, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7). Voulgara is known to the Greek public from her presence for some years on the Greek A1.

Sisters Nestoria and Irini Chrysostomidou from Florina won the bronze medal.

Among the men, the 20-39 year old category took place with an equally good level of competition. Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos and Gerasimos Hatzilygeroudis also reached the final, this time the former prevailed with a 3-0 set (11-9, 11-3, 11-3). The third place was taken by the Maltese Diego Yasan and Venko Stoyanov from North Macedonia.

Also, the men and the 40-49 year old category were dominated by the Bulgarian Cheko Konev. In the final, he beat Giorgos Kryonas with 3-1 sets. The bronze medal was won by Skopje’s Rubindso Risteski and Piri Koman.

In the 50-59 category, Dragan Djordjevic took first place. The Serb defeated Romanian Liviu Predoaca, coach of ASEA Sarises, in the final with 3-0 sets. The Turkish Murat Kourtoulous and Thomas Soubasis finished in the next positions.

In the 60+ category, Skopje’s Risto Temelkov was first. In the final, he overcame Nikos Douis with 3-1 sets. They were followed by the Bulgarian Nedko Christov and Alexandros Sklias.

In the under-19 category, the Albanian Aron Koni emerged as the winner. In the decisive game, he defeated Yiannis Kioseloglou of Loutraki with 3-1 sets. Albanians Bled Hadjari and Anastasios Fousekis wore the bronze medal around their necks.

In the under-15 category, Kioseloglou won another medal, this time gold. The member of the National youth team beat Chrysovalantis Sambalis in the final with 3-1 sets. The Fusekoi brothers from Patras, Spyros and Anastasios, took third place.

Spyros Fousekis reached the highest step of the podium in the under-13 category. In the final, he defeated Marios Seridis from Florina with 3-1 sets. Savvas Kimtsidis and Nikos Alexidis ranked third.

The youngest of the Fuseki brothers, Alexandros, prevailed in the category up to 11 years old. In the decisive match, Konstantinos Kryonas from Kavala prevailed with a 3-0 set. On the third step of the podium were Angelos Lagouvardos from Thessaloniki and George Kyritsis from Kozani.

Nestoria Chrosstomidou was the winner in the women and under 15 category. In the final, she beat her twin sister, Irene, 3-1 sets. The bronze medal was won by Elpida Tassiou and Georgia Spanou.

Elpida Tassiou took first place in the under-13 category. The athlete from Thessaloniki beat Natalia Kapagiannidou from Kozani in the final with a 3-0 set. The third place was shared by the Bulgarians Emma Sakova and Katerina Salkina.

And finally, in the girls under 11 years old, the Bulgarian Katerina Salkina took the lead. In the final she defeated the Albanian Anna Kokonesi 3-0 sets. The third place was taken by Katerina Papalexi and Marina Katsantoni.

The women’s category up to 19 years old was not held due to low participation.

In addition to administrative staff of Sarissa, three members of the Board of Directors of EFOEPA were also present at the games. Christos Tassios, who is president of the Local Committee of Northern Greece of the Federation, Takis Tzovolos, president of the Local Committee of Western Greece/Peloponnese, and Xenia Stathis.

The Sarises were administratively represented by the president, Giorgos Lygouras, the vice-president, Sakis Sambalis, and the general secretary, Yasser Elsami.