by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
Neither outfit was seriously troubled; the only minor hiccup being witnessed by Izabela Lupulesku who suffered defeat by the very narrowest of margins when facing Norway’s Ilka Doval. The 18 year old recovered from a two games to nil deficit to record a somewhat unexpected success (6-11, 4-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10).
However victory for Tijana Jokic against Nadezhda Bogdanova (8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 6-11, 11-7) added to wins from Dragana Vignjevic against Portugal’s Raquel Andrade and success for Izabela Lupulesku in opposition to Nadezhda Bogdanova secured a three matches to one victory over the international trio.
Disappointment for Raquel Andrade, Nadezhda Bogdanova and Dragana Vignjevic but second place in the group was secured. They recorded a three-one win against the outfit comprising Serbia’s Adela Ardeljan, Switzerland’s Katerina Rehorkova and Snezana Markovic.
The one win for the vanquished was recorded by Adela Ardeljan; in the third match of the fixture, she beat Raquel Andrade (12-10, 7-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6).
Second place secured in some style; in the counterpart group it was a very different scenario.
Italy’s Simona Ettari, in partnership with the host nation duo of Nikolet Oros and Marija Stajic, beat the Bulgarian trio of Maria Yovkova, Esin Said and Nazezhda Sarieva by three matches to two.
However, in their next engagement, they experienced a three-nil defeat at the hands of the Serbia ‘B’ combination formed by Edina Benko, Ana Aleksandric and Andjela Menger.
Success for Serbia ‘B’ but in their concluding contest against Bulgaria it was defeat; they experienced a three-one reverse.
Thus match ratio decided the final order; Serbia ‘A’ (4:3) finished ahead of Bulgaria (5:4) with the international combination of Italy and Serbia in third place (3:5). Teams finishing in first and second places in each group advanced to the main draw, therefore Serbia ‘A’ joined Romania in the second stage.
Places in the main draw for Serbia in the Junior Girls’ Team event, it was the very same in the Cadet Girls’ Singles competition.
The Serbia ‘A’ Team duo of Reka Bezeg and Radmila Tominjak finished in first place in their group ahead of the combination formed by colleague Danijela Bosika and Romania’s Luiza Popescu.
Meanwhile, in the corresponding group the Serbia ‘B’ pairing of Danijela Karkusova and Anna Fejos concluded matters in second spot behind the Bulgaria ‘A’ Team duo of Kalina Hristova and Ivet Ilieva.
Play in the Junior Girls’ Team and Cadet Girls’ Team events conclude on Saturday 8th October.
