The first day of the International Friendship Tournament 2024, organized by the Pan-Cyprus Table Tennis Federation from Friday 22/11 in Nicosia, was particularly productive for the Greek side.
In the team event, the team won the gold medal for men and the bronze medal for women. In the final and in the match for 3rd place, they defeated Cyprus and Lebanon respectively 3-2. The head coach is Christos Lamis from the federation. Alexandros Madesis and Stathis Manolopoulos make up the men’s representative team in the established tournament and we remind you that they also won first place last year. Stella Tzaridou and Evangelia Meramvelliotaki are the women’s duo.
The matches continue until Sunday 24/11 at the “Evangelos Florakis” multi-training center and the singles and doubles events for men and women take turns. The awards will be presented all together on Sunday. P.O.E.O.A. dedicates the tournament “to the memory of Mikis Herakleous (1944-2024), former champion of Cyprus in table tennis, who with his many years of presence in the sport and in the national team offered important services to the progress and development of the sport”.
FINAL WITH CYPRUS A
In the men’s team final, it was also very gratifying that the 1st team of Cyprus also qualified with athletes well known to the Greek public: Marios Yangou, who until a few years ago competed in the Greek championships and in 2011 won the title with AO Tataula and the teenager Elias Sarbel, who for the last two years has been supporting Athina Maggoufanas in the A2 category. Our national team, which up to that time had four victories in the same number of matches, narrowly won the double and this proved decisive for the subsequent final victory with 3-2.
In detail the progress of the final Greece – Cyprus A 3-2:
Alexandros Madesis – Elia Sarbel 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 12-10)
Stathis Manolopoulos – Marios Yangou 0-3 (9-11, 6-11, 3-11)
Manolopoulos/Madesis – Yangou/Sharbel 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 5-11, 15-13, 11-5)
Madesis – Yangou 1-3 (1-11, 2-11, 11-6, 3-11)
Manolopoulos – Sarbel 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 13-11)
Greece initially dominated group B. She finished her games unbeaten in three matches. In the opening game, they beat Hungary 3-1. Madesis lost in the beginning and Manolopoulos equalized with 3-2 sets. In the doubles, the internationals defeated us 3-0 and later Madesis gave the final victory with a score of 3-2.
In the 2nd game, the match against Lebanon also had obstacles. Madesis again from position 1 had two wins this time with 3-1 sets. At the beginning, Manolopoulos prevailed with a 3-0 set, while the double was lost.
At the end of the group, Greece beat Cyprus B 3-0. Madesis defeated Theofanous with 3-2 sets, Manolopoulos with 3-1 against Chatzinikolas and together with the same opponents in the doubles with 3-0 sets.
In the crossover semi-finals the duo faced Malta, who had progressed with 2nd place from Group A. Greece had no pressure until they reached 3-0, with Manolopoulos and Madesis taking 3-0 sets and the doubles ending 3-1 sets.
THE WOMEN’S MARCH
The women’s national team competed for 3rd place with Lebanon. Within the same day he met him twice, the impressive thing is that he had the same number of victories with a reversal from 2-0 behind! It is also characteristic that in the “small” final she won all three individual matches with 3-0 sets. Earlier, in the 4th round, they had lost to Hungary 3-1.
The evolution of the small final Lebanon – Greece 2-3 in detail:
Lori Vahanian – Evangelia Meramvelliotaki 3-1 (8-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-5)
Mariam El Habes – Stella Tzaridou 3-2 (11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-9)
Vahanian/El Habes – Tzaridou/Meramvelliotaki 0-3 (13-15, 10-12, 6-11)
Vahanian – Tzaridou 0-3 (9-11, 5-11, 2-11)
El Habes – Meramvelliotakis 0-3 (6-11, 5-11, 5-11)
The women’s course started from the B group. There they took first place with three wins in the same number of matches. In the premiere, they defeated Lebanon 3-2. At first, Tzaridou and Meramvelliotaki experienced defeat. They then prevailed in the doubles with a 3-1 set and reduced the score. Meramvelliotaki tied the match soon after as well in four sets and Tzaridou shaped the final score with another 3-1 set win.
In the 2nd matchday, our national team defeated Cyprus B 3-0. In the doubles, the victory came very hard with 3-2 sets. Earlier, Meramvelliotaki and Tzaridou got positive results in the three sets. Even better was the performance in the 3rd game, where the girls overcame Romania with an emphatic 3-0. Full in almost all the sets, but prevailed at every crucial moment and finally lost only one set in the doubles.
In the cross-over semi-finals, they faced the 2nd from the other group, Hungary. It was a strong match against the representative team of a traditional power of the area until the only defeat came with 3-1. In the beginning Meramvelliotaki lost in five sets to Anna and then Tzaridou equalized with a 3-1 set win against Senge. The doubles with the same opponents was lost with 3-0 sets and then Tzaridou was defeated by Anna with 3-1 sets.
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