Sgouropoulos the most successful European table tennis athlete at a young age

With his triumph at the Spa, in his last… performance in the Under 21 category, Giannis Sgouropoulos wrote another “golden” page for Greek sports in general and the sport of table tennis in the country in particular. He came back stronger after last year’s… parenthesis, won his fourth European title in five years and confirmed that he is ready for high… flights in the men’s category as well.

Reaching these unrepeatable performances, however, he does not write only for Greece in indelible letters his name in history. He also becomes the most successful European table tennis player in the simple age group! The European U21 Championship can be held in just five years, but counting it together with the old institution of the respective championships for young people and children, we find that no other athlete has reached so many first places in the most important competition.

Sgouropoulos also has reason to be proud, because he surpassed legendary athletes in this area, such as Jan-Ove Waldner, Timo Bowl and Vladimir Samsonov!

Our little research concerns, of course, only the sport of the simple. If we were looking at results in the doubles and team competitions it is clear that we would find many athletes with more than four titles.

The institution of the European Youth Championship began in the distant 1955. Since 1965 it has been held continuously with the exception of last year, where it was canceled due to the pandemic. In 1966, the categories of boys and girls were added to those of teenagers and teenagers, and they have been held continuously since 1974.

Sgouropoulos, along with his games in the youth category, managed to have a “full” presence in the European U21 Championships. Of course, before the birth of this institution in 2017, the protagonists of young ages had the opportunity to compete only in the European youth.

So, in order to be correct in comparing the performances, next to the efficient six years of Sgouropoulos in the European juniors and U21 we put a corresponding six years of the older athletes in the age categories of children and teenagers.

It is confirmed with data, then, that the Eleusinian ace is now the most effective in the simple in the chronicles of these European championships! He left behind a total of seven athletes, who have three gold medals in the race!

He became European champion in the junior singles in 2017 and 2018, achieved the same distinction in 2019 and this year in the Young Men and surpassed:

– The Soviet Bagrat Burnazian, who won the gold medal three times in the simple European Championship: In 1971 for the children, in 1974 and in 1975 for the teenagers.

– The “sacred monster” of table tennis, Jan Ove Waldner, who also won three titles. He did a series of simple juniors from 1981 to 1983 and earlier he had lost two opportunities to take the lead in children as well! In 1979 he was defeated in the final by Czechos Broda and in 1980 by his Swedish teammate Jorgen Persson.

– The German Timo Ball, who is the record holder in the European men’s championships, but at a young age the same performance in the simple. The timeless top athlete had become the European champion of the junior children in 1995 and followed the two years 1997, 1998 in the junior junior.

– Vladimir Samsonov from Belarus, who everyone knows how great a career he had in the field before announcing his departure last summer. “Vlady” had taken the children’s simple in 1989 and the youth simple in 1992 and 1993.

– The German Christian Sousse, who also celebrated three titles. In 2002 and 2003 consecutive in the young simple and earlier, in 2000, in the children’s simple. In fact, he came very close to another trophy for the children in 1999, but he had lost in the final to the Hungarian Daniel Zvikl.

– The Frenchman Alexandre Cassen. Like Sgouropoulos and others mentioned above, he had two titles in the youth singles in 2014 and 2016, while in 2012 he was the winner in the children’s singles.

– Russian Vladimir Sintorenko, the only athlete on my list to have a title in the Young Men. The left-handed ace won two consecutive trophies in the children’s singles in 2016 and 2017 and later, in 2020, he became European champion in the singles U21.

Giannis Sgouropoulos wrote an epic on Sunday afternoon and other record numbers show it:

# He became the first athlete to win two firsts in the simple in the short history of the European Under 21 championships. Nothing similar has happened to women since 2017, when the institution began. Russia’s Maria Tailakova, who had become the singles champion in 2018, found the opportunity again, but was defeated in the final by Germany’s Annette Kaufmann.

# He is the only athlete who before this title has become European champion in the junior junior. In fact, he had achieved it twice before 2019, his first year in the Young Men. The Czech Tomas Polanski, who was the winner in 2018 in Minsk, and the Russian Vladimir Sindorenko, who won last year in Varazdin, had been European champions in the children’s singles, but not in the junior category.

* With four European titles in five years in the junior category, he generally stands out in the relevant tables for the European Championships. Only the unique Timo Ball passes him, who impressed with his achievements at the time when European men’s championships were held every year! From 2007 to 2012, the German star won five titles in the men’s singles.

# No one else has the absolute in four European junior finals. And of course (the unbelievable) to end all with 4-3 sets. And with a different opponent each time. The Romanian Plateas and the Swede Meregard in the European Junior Championships, the German Engemann and the Russian Grebnev in the Young Men.

# In last year’s U21 tournament, where he broke the streak of his dominance, he was eliminated in the 16th team by the Russian Sintorenko. The rematch he got this year from the Russians in his final in the youth categories, was impressive and is also something rare. He defeated Grebnev in both the stage 2 group and the final and eliminated Katsman in the semifinal, with “full” all the matches and the last two to end in seven sets.

# In these five years of his tremendous performance in the European Championships, Sgouropoulos did not lose a single game that reached 3-3! And it’s not just the four finals that ended in the same dramatic way! For example, in 2017 the semifinal with the Romanian Sipos and yesterday the semifinal with Katzman also ended with 4-3 in his favor.