Slovene Darko Jorgic in men and naturalized German Han Ying in women won the prestigious European Top 16 title in table tennis for the first time in their careers.
In the finals, Jorgic defeated Sweden’s Trouls Meregard 4-3, while Han Ying had an easier task with a 4-0 set victory over Russia’s Polina Mikailova.
The top annual event took place for the fourth time in recent years in Montreux, Switzerland, which once again took the baton from Thessaloniki, which perfectly organized the postponed event of 2021 last September at the premises of XANTH.
In the Europe Top 16 Cup, Panagiotis Gionis also had the honor to play for the eighth time and to add another successful result to his career with the victory over the Austrian Robert Gardos and the placement in the 5-8 positions.
The men’s singles final was shocking. The great young Meregard, who also comes from the silver medal in the men’s singles of the World Championship, led with 2-0 and 3-1 sets of Jorgic. The charismatic tall Slovene, however, made a great counterattack and, after reducing to 3-2 sets, winning… 11-1 in the fifth, took the next two in overtime!
The evolution: 8-11, 5-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-1, 12-10 and 12-10
Jorgic had reached the Top 16 final in 2020, while Meregard, who played in the Top 16, replacing his compatriot Matthias Falk, had this experience for the first time.
In the semi-finals, the dominant Germany in the last tournaments received a χ strong blow. Meregard defeated Timo Ball, the long-time European (and No. 1 on the board) 4-1 set, while Jorgic outscored Patrick Franziska, the athlete who had prevailed in 2021 in Thessaloniki, and eliminated him in the quarterfinals in Montreux. Γκιώνη.
Han Ying with her defensive style of play was very consistent in another tournament and seemed extremely difficult to deal with. Perhaps it is not accidental that she had more difficulty, as she said, in the quarterfinal against Romania Elizabeta Samara, who is also her teammate in a European club (4-3 sets).
In the semifinals, the Chinese-born champion eliminated Romania’s Bernadette Shocks 4-0 and in the final defeated Polina Mikailova with the same score. The Russian also has a defensive style of play, but in this peculiar “duel” Khan passed her tactics and reached the trophy (11-8, 14-12, 13-11, 11-7).
Third place: Sox and Sofia Polkanova from Austria, who were the number 1 favorite, took third place (Polkanova was defeated in the other semifinal by Mikailova with 4-2 sets from 1-2 behind).
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