Liebherr EC

Hungarian hopes of progress very much alive after qualification stage

19 Oct 2016

Matters concluded on the first day of play at the Liebherr 2016 European Championships in Budapest, the host nation’s Peter Teglas, the national coach for the Hungarian women’s team, was most contented.

Three players in action in the qualification stage of the Women’s Singles event, all three remained unbeaten; moreover, as the initial phase came to an end one day later on Wednesday 19th October, hopes of progress to the main draw remained very much alive.

First place in the group for Dora Madarasz (Photo: Richard Kalocsai)

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Szandra Pergel and Dora Madarasz continued their unbeaten run to top their groups and thus booked main draw players, where they join seeded colleagues, Georgina Pota and Petra Lovas.

Impressively, Szandra Pergel beat Montenegro’s 15 year old Ivona Petric (11-4, 11-4, 11-4, 11-8); Dora Madarasz defeated Latvia’s Inta Zdanovska (11-6, 11-7, 11-6, 11-8).

Alas, for Mercedes Nagyvaradi it was defeat and second place in the group but runners up spot means hopes are still very much in tact. Seven players who finished in runners up position, drawn at random, gain main draw places; the remaining 12 players compete in a preliminary round.

In her opening contest on the second day of action, she was beaten by Britt Eerland of the Netherlands (10-12, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6, 13-11); a result to be anticipated with Britt Eerland being listed at no.105 on the current Women’s World Rankings as opposed to Mercedes Nagyvaradi who is at no.241.

However, in her concluding contest, it was different scenario; she overcame Croatia’s Dorina Srebrnjak (13-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-8) to secure runners up spot.

Britt Eerland, the third highest rated player on duty in the qualification stage, duly topped her group, as did the other leading names in first phase action.

In addition to Szandra Pergel and Dora Madarasz, it was pole position without defeat for Ukraine’s Ganna Gapanova, Romania’s Camelia Iacob, Austria’s Li Qiangbing and Lithuania’s Ruta Paskauskiene, as it was for the Spanish duo of Galia Dvorak and Maria Xiao.

Liebherr EC Szandra Pergel Dora Madarasz Mercedes Nagyvaradi

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