First and third place for Spanou at the Baro Pong International Tournament, two silver Jaridou

Traditionally are the Saris Florina who misses to the Zegin Open Ping Tennis Tournament, but this year, even more Greeks took part in the veterans category.

The blue-white colors also have discrimination each year and have confirmed the rule with new excellent appearances at the 2025 event held 12-14/9. Six medals were conquered by three members of our small national teams: 16 -year -old Georgia Spanou from Sarisses Florina won the gold medal at Under 19 and bronze in women. The 19 -year -old Stella Tzaridou of HANTH came second in the women’s category and under 19 and the young Marios Seridis of the Sarisians took the bronze medal to Under 13 and Under 15.

The “Table Tennis Tournament Zegin Open”, organized by the local club, is growing steadily and has more and more athletes every year and a better racing level. This year, 265 athletes from 17 countries took part. The races included the simple one in the K11, K13, K15, K19 and Men’s and Lycian K13 categories, as well as age categories of veterans. They also had a financial motivation, as this year the total prizes amounted to 18000 €.

In the first two days the age categories became. First with groups and then knockout. The final in the young man was a Greek case, with Spanou dominating Tzaridou with a 3-2 set.

Sheridis was very efficient in the pampas and children and he came to the semifinals and third. The big category was held on Sunday. Tzaridou met Spanou again, this time in the four. There, Thessaloniki prevailed with a 4-2 set. He later lost normal in the final with a 4-0 set by the strong Croatian defender, Ivana Malobabic, who participated in the 2024 Olympics.

Constantine Lykostratis (athlete of Iphitos Patras), Fotis Arvanitis (POK Esperos) and Antonis Bakas (TV Taurus) were still in the men’s category. Arvanitis was placed at 9-16. Bakas and Lycostratis entered the “64” board and were excluded in the first round.

In two categories, 19 -year -old Antonis Tassios of HANTH and little Manolis Pogiatzis of AS Pera Thessaloniki (K13 and K15) participated. Tassios managed to get into the quarter -final round of teenagers. The 15 -year -old Konstantinos Isaakidis was also present. The athlete from Kastoria competed in three categories. As his club informed, Under 15 was placed in the 5-8 seats, in the Under 19 entered the 16th and the men reached up to 32.

For the young athletes from the Saris, the first official races were after summer preparation. In technical guidance they had a huge form of women’s table tennis, the old Greek champion and Mediterranean Fotini Galanou. The great athlete of the 70s and 80s has been the new coach of the club since August.

The Greek veterans who tested their skills in the international tournament should also be mentioned on the occasion. They were Elias Dimitriadis, Pericles Daskalou, Nikos Douis, Yiannis Tzavelas, Panagiotis Pagourtzis and also competed in the men’s category.