European Youth Ping-Pong Championship: In positions 17-20 the girls, in positions 9-16 the boys

With a promising new look, the National Table Tennis Girls beat Ukraine 3-1 in sets and have the right to dream of promotion to the European Youth Table Tennis Championships in Malmö. The representative group entered the table in positions 17-20 and, if they score two more victories, they will secure promotion to the A’ division.

He did not start with this goal, he has a very difficult task, but he will look without anxiety to exhaust the possibilities for overcoming. On Monday, it faces Italy.

The boys naturally lost in the main draw of the “16” against Turkey with 3-0 sets. They wanted to, but couldn’t apply the pressure like in the recent Balkan Championship against one of the competition’s favourites, so they went 9-16. Always chasing the victory that will keep them in the A division, they face Hungary on Monday, which also started in the A’ level.

Teenagers and juniors did not compete in Sunday’s second section in Malmö and return to action on Monday.

The Under 19 boys begin a new bid to reach promotion to Europe’s A division through 17th place. They now have groups for places 17-28 ahead of them. The Under 19 girls are fighting for their final ranking in positions 25-36.

The girls’ national team surprised in another match. On the scoreboard of positions 17-24 she was flawless after the initial 0-1 and with composure and determination she reached the 3-1 set against Ukraine. Having only two gymnasts in the whole tournament and, in fact, in their first participation in the institution is important only because it improves her position, but of course the thought can also travel to the privileged 17th place.

The next step, i.e. the final at the B level, will be sought on Monday at 14:20 against Italy, which defeated Bosnia/Herzegovina with a 3-1 set.

In detail, the progress of the match Greece-Ukraine 3-1:

Anna-Fanuria Mitka-Tetiana Poukalo 0-3 (9-11, 5-11, 6-11)

Christina Tzenidis-Olexandra Kritina 3-1 (9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9)

Tzenidis/Mitka-Diana Kolienikova/Kritina 3-1 (7-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-5)

Mitka-Kritina 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-7)

Ukraine began its presence in the A category. However, it finished last in the second group and then also lost in the playoffs (3-1 to Serbia), as a result of which it is chasing its return to the A level through the 17th place.

In the children’s group, Greece was a clear outsider against the third favorite of the table, Turkey, and first wanted to become competitive with good psychology after the positive result against Israel and without stress. He only managed it intermittently, however, generally did not threaten and was fatally beaten 3-0.

The team from the neighboring country is essentially the continuation of last year’s European Under 13 champion, while its athlete, Ocal, was named European champion in the singles category about two months ago. In the first phase, Turkey had won the first place in the 3rd group, but suffered a defeat against Portugal with 3-2 sets.

In detail, the evolution of the match Turkey-Greece 3-0:

Gorkem Otsal-Kostas Fakaros 3-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-9)

Kenan Kahraman-Yiannis Kioseloglou 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-5)

Ocal/Kahraman-Fakaros/Kioseloglou 3-0 (12-10, 11-8, 11-2)

The boys had also faced Turkey in the semi-finals of this year’s Balkan Championship. They had applied pressure then and had lost 3-1 sets. Konstantinos Alexoudis and Theofanis Mitkas sat on the bench on Sunday.

On the way to stay in the A’ division, our internationals meet Hungary on Monday, which in the first round was defeated by England with 3-1 sets. The Magyars also belong to the A’ category and initially finished second in the fourth group with two wins and one loss. The great match starts at 12:00 Greece time.

The junior varsity group takes a breather after the playoffs and resumes Monday for the 17-28 spots. It was placed in group L (the second of the total four of the three groups) with opponents Lithuania and Bulgaria and faces them consecutively at 12:00 Greek time and at 18:40.

Bulgaria defeated the Lithuanians 3-0 sets.

The first place in the new group is the necessary condition for the Greek team to enter the mini table 17-20 and play the final match for promotion to the A’ division of the institution.

The juniors did not have a second match on Sunday. For group Q of places 25-36, where they are in charge, they scored a 3-0 victory against Montenegro and on Monday at 10:00 they face Estonia for the third game. At the moment, Greece and Estonia each have 2 points in one match and Montenegro with 2 points in as many games is definitely third in the group.