Panathinaikos men and women depart on Thursday for Montenegro and the Grand Final of the Europe Trophy Ping Pong, knowing that this year they have a serious chance of reaching too high.
The final stage of the third European team will take place in the picturesque seaside town of Igalo from 4/4 to 6/4/2025. Organized by the European Union of Table Tennis (ETTU) and the “host” of the StK Novi club the event will highlight the champions for the 2024-2025 season.
Montenegro will welcome 12 groups of men and ten women on Thursday, and for Greece it is important that it comes representation and individually from “strangers”, beyond the participation of Panathinaikos.
Malamates Papadimitriou will enhance Serbian Josip Kolumbo and Stella Tzaridou the Maltese Mittc, as they had done months ago in the groups of the regional phase of the competition.
Panathinaikos’ mission goes to Vienna on Thursday via Vienna under the leader of Tassos Symeonidis. The men’s team is formed by Konstantinos Angelakis, Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos and George Constantinopoulos.
The classic Greek Trinity with Katerina Toliou, Konstantina Paridis, Ioanna Gerasimatou is traveling to women on Thursday, but Slovenian Anna Tofad is expected on Saturday. Lefteris Makras and Nikos Zervas will be on yet another European mission.
In the Europe Trophy Regional Games, Panathinaikos had enjoyed a double in Malta. At Grand Final he begins his effort from his first favorite and will seek to reach another year in the trophy after that of the men’s team last year and that of the female team in 2022.
At the men’s Europe Trophy Grand Final he is headed by the First Group and will meet Logis Auderghem TT from Belgium and TTC Zeleznicar from Bosnia/Herzegovina. It should be added that Baltais La from Latvia is in the 3rd group, who, with the decisive contribution of Tassos Rhiniotis, also proceeded with the lead in its region, but now it does not have the current Greek men’s champion of the double men due to racing obligations with another team abroad.
The groups are four, each has three teams and in the quarter -finals the first two qualify for each group to knock out.
In the corresponding stage of women, Panathinaikos is also head of the First Group. He will find the UTTC Panacea Stokerau from Austria and Papadimitriou’s Serbian Josip Kolumbo.
Mittc of Jaridou went to the Second Group with opponents Aquaestil Duga Resa from Croatia (head), Leuven from Belgium and Austrian Olympic Wien.
Three groups were formed and in the next phase the first two teams from each group qualify.
Panathinaikos will give Friday 4/4 all his matches in the groups.
The series of meetings in hours of Greece:
At 10:30 Panathinaikos – TTC Zeleznicar
At 17:30 Panathinaikos – Logis Auderghem TT
At 13:30 Panathinaikos – Josip Kolumbo
At 20:30 Panathinaikos – Panacea Stokerau
* Gerasimatou reappears in the world ranking list after participating in the WTT Feeder in Slovenia last week. The Greek women’s champion is at number 862.
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