A gold medal, three silver and a bronze for Greece in the individual events of the Cyprus International Friendship Tournament

Five more medals were enjoyed by the Greek table tennis team at the end of this year’s Cyprus International Friendship Tournament, which took place over the three-day period 22-24/11 in Nicosia. The tally in the individual events was one gold medal, three silver and one bronze and completed the 1st place in the men’s team and 3rd in the women’s team two days ago.

The second first place for Greece in the annual invitational event of the All Cyprus Table Tennis Federation came in the men’s doubles. Alexandros Madesis and Stathis Manolopoulos were crowned champions today Sunday, repeating their success last year.

Also, there was participation in three more finals. In the women’s doubles with Evangelia Meramvelliotaki/Stella Tzaridou, in the men’s singles with Manolopoulos and in the women’s singles with Tzaridou. Finally, Madesis was ranked 3rd in men’s singles to complete the positive Greek presence. The young team with the two 19-year-old athletes and the two 18-year-old athletes was coached by the federal coach Christos Lamis, in his efficient first mission after his return to SEF.

The games were held at the “Evangelos Florakis” multi-training center, gathered athletes from six countries and were dedicated by P.O.E.P.A. “in memory of Mikis Herakleous (1944-2024), former champion of Cyprus, who with his many years of presence in table tennis and in the national team offered important services to the progress and development of the sport”.

The simple started on Saturday with the groups. In the men’s category, Manolopoulos dominated Group A with five wins in five matches (two matches were tied). Madesis took first place in group B with five wins in as many games. For the last day, the 8 teams were left with the matches having the system of the best of seven sets.

Manolopoulos from the top of the table beat the Hungarian Pour with 4-2 sets and also with 4-2 the Lebanese El Habbas. In the final he faced the experienced and all-time leading Cypriot Mario Yangou and won 4-1 sets (6-11, 3-11, 2-11, 11-8, 2-11).

Madesis narrowly defeated Hungarian Kizakis in the quarter-finals with 4-1 sets and lost in the semi-finals to Yangou with 4-1 sets.

In the women’s singles and the group stage, Tzaridou won 1st place yesterday, undefeated in three matches, while Meramvelliotaki qualified with 2nd place from a group of five. Recorded three wins (one draw) and one loss.

Today, in the knockouts, Tzaridou defeated Yachnian from Lebanon with 4-0 sets in the 8th round and El Habes from the same country with 4-1 in the 4th round. In the final she met the Hungarian Fegios and was defeated 4-0 sets (8-11, 6-11, 13-15, 5-11). Tzaridou was the winner of the competition last year in Cyprus when the tournament was for athletes up to 21 years of age. Meramvelliotaki, who since Friday was struggling with neck discomfort and strained a lot, was eliminated in the 8th round with 4-2 sets by El Habes.

In the men’s doubles, Madesis/Manolopoulos initially dominated group B with five wins in five matches. Today in the 4th they eliminated El Habash/Faches from Lebanon with 3-0 sets and in the final they defeated the Hungarians Pour and Kizakis with 3-1 sets (11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 12-10).

In the women’s doubles, Tzaridou/Meramvelliotaki advanced to the knockouts yesterday undefeated with the 1st place in a group of 4. On Sunday, they took another step by beating Yahnian/El Habes from Lebanon with 3-1 sets. In the final, they again found an obstacle in front of them from Hungary, namely Fegios and Kis and won 3-0 sets (8-11, 8-11, 5-11). The Greek delegation warmly thanked the administration of P.O.E.P.A. and the organizing committee for another excellent year of hospitality.