by Simon Daish
Saturday 6th May 2017 will be a day that will be remembered by Panagiotis Gionis for a long time following his victory in the Men’s Singles final at the Zagreb Open over Frenchman Tristan Flore (11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-6).
Panagiotis Gionis is delighted with his recent performances, but the Greek competitor is aware of the challenges that await him at the upcoming World Championships and has a busy preparation schedule ahead of the event.
“I’m feeling very well. After the title win at the Zagreb Open my confidence is much higher, but of course the level of the World Championships is much higher. I have some games with my club Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki before the World Championships and we’ll also go to Denmark for five days for a very high level training camp”, Panagiotis Gionis.
Gionis is a highly experienced World Championships player, having made his debut at the 1997 edition of the competition and continued his appearances at the event ever since, making a combined total of 18 appearances across the individuals World Championships and World Team Championships.
However, it is the H.I.S 2009 World Championships in Yokohama, Japan that sticks out for Gionis: he achieved a personal best finish at the tournament and the Greek representative is confident that he can emulate or even go on to surpass that result on his visit to Düsseldorf.
“I remember I had a very good performance in Yokohama where I finished in the top 16. Of course, my target this time is to achieve the same or even better. A quarter-finals finish would be great!”, Panagiotis Gionis.
While a strong performance at the Liebherr 2017 World Championships is highly important for Gionis as 36th positioned player in the ITTF World Rankings table for May 2017, he also has other goals for the year ahead both at club level and international level.
“I would like to win the title with my club in Poland. Also, we’ll try for a medal at the European Team Championships in Luxembourg”, Panagiotis Gionis.
Travelling to Düsseldorf is bound to bring up plenty of happy memories for Panagiotis Gionis, who played his club table tennis for Borussia Düsseldorf prior to his move to Polish side Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki.
Will the Greek star enjoy yet more joy on his return to the German city of Düsseldorf at the Liebherr 2017 World Championships? All will be revealed soon with the big event set to officially get underway on Monday 29th May.
