Balkan ping pong champion

With a flawless run of five games and a victory in Constantinople 3-1 set in Turkey in the final, the Men’s National Pinging Pong team emerged as a “golden” Balkanist for the third time in the historical institution.

Filling three consecutive finals reiterated the great success of 2023, while her first title was won in 1993. After the Koronovio era, it is also every year in the medals and certainly this year’s great success is strengthened and the morale in the face of the European Championship.

What if two forced changes have emerged in the Balkan’s original mission with the absences of Constantine Angelakis and Yiannis Sgouropoulos? Our representative complex gave great and showed that it has a “depth”. At the same time, our internationals were fully focused and determined, as they had a lot of difficult times.

In the quarter-finals, Stamatouros lost 2-1 to Serbia, but also a 2-0 set in the next match. The 26-year-old ace was overturned there and Greece reached a 3-2 set with a lot of stress.

So he was confident and that was evident in the semifinals. He lost his first individual match against Romania, a traditional Balkan championship protagonist, but also European power and reacted ideally. With a series of wins and new help from the experienced in the Hadjilleris institution, he reached a 3-1 set.

On Thursday night, the program closed a very strong and spectacular final with the “hostess” Turkey. Greece went with positive thinking and complete readiness even though it was in the trio of last -minute change. Mr. Constantinopoulos was tired and, in consultation with Kostas Vatsaklis, sat on the bench. The coach put the long-awaited Rhiniot in position 2 and he justified him with great appearance and victory-a “key”.

In the fifth set of the inaugural match against Gigenler led 10-7, accepted the reduction in Pontus and got a timeout. On the return, he did not take the 11th point, but maintained calm and faith to do immediately after 12-10. At that point he essentially paved the way for the final dominance, regardless of whether Stamatouros missed a good chance to make Guduz 2-0.

In the five sets and this match, the Piraeus champion then led 4-1, 6-4 and 9-7, but lost with a marginal difference. In the crucial third match, Hatzlygeroudis confirmed that it is a valuable “tool” for the team. With excellent choices in the end he prevailed in a new… 3-2 set thriller against Yilmaz and made our national favorites.

Stamatouros was not allowed to leave untapped and a second chance. With a strong and mature game he achieved the second win against the first Turk and wrote the final 3-1 set.

The fifth athlete of our team was Alexandros Madessis, who may not have competed, but of course, he had his own contribution to the distinction and now he is looking forward to his debut in the event through the individual competitions.

Awards were not made tonight because it has “pulled” the program and the championship is moving on Friday with the individual.

Our knockout struggles:

In detail, the evolution of the final Turkey – Greece 1-3:

Abdullah Gigenler-Tasos Riniotis 2-3 (11-5, 12-14, 5-11, 11-9, 10-12)

Ibrahim Guduz-George Stamatouros 3-2 (10-12, 11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 11-9)

Tugai Yilmaz-Gerasimos Hadjlygeroudis 2-3 (11-9, 4-11, 6-11, 11-4, 6-11)

Gigenler-Stamatouros 0-3 (5-11, 7-11, 5-11)

In detail, the evolution of Romania semifinal – Greece 1-3:

Andrei Istrate-Konstantinos Constantinopoulos 3-1 (9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4)

Darius Thomas-George Stamatouros 1-3 (11-9, 8-11, 5-11, 9-11)

Matei Doumirscu-Gerasimos Hadjlygeroudis 1-3 (11-2, 6-11, 6-11, 7-11)

Istrate-Stamatouros 0-3 (3-11, 10-12, 8-11)

In detail, the evolution of the quarter -finals Serbia – Greece 2-3:

Nemanja Dilas-Konstantinos Constantinopoulos 3-1 (1-11, 11-9, 16-14 11-3)

Peros Tepic-George Stamatouros 0-3 (9-11, 8-11, 9-11)

Uros Ninkovic-Tasos Riniotis 3-2 (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 4-11, 11-8)

Dilas-Stamatouros 2-3 (11-7, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 12-14)

Tepic-Constantinopoulos 1-3 (11-7, 3-11, 2-11, 7-11)

Romania won the bronze medal. In the match for 3-4 places it won Italy 3-0.