by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

A two matches to nil win was posted against Italy’s Federico Crosara and Guiseppe Vella, before a two-one defeat was experienced at the hands of the Czech Republic’s Jiri Suchanek and Martin Zvolanek.

Italy and the Czech Republic meet in the concluding group stage contest; teams finishing in first and second places, as in all Para events, advance to the main draw.

Defeat for France but not for not for Germany, Poland and Ukraine in events where the defending champions completed their initial stage engagements..

Thomas Brüchle and Thomas Schmidberger recorded a two matches to nil win against Spain’s Iker Sastre and Roberto Rodriguez in their opening Class 3 encounter prior to emerging successful by the same margin against Slovenia’s Bojan Lukezic and Primoz Kancler. Likewise, in Class 10, Patryk Chojnowski and Igor Misztal, showed no hint of charity. A two-nil verdict was the result in opposition to the Ukraine selection of Serhill Boiko, Lev Kats and Viktor Karp, before Denmark’s Peter Rosenmeier and Martin Nielsen experienced the same fate.

No changes to the selection of two years earlier; however that was not the situation for Ukraine in Class 8, where Viktor Didukh and Ivan Mai welcomed Roman Vakarash. They beat Jean-Paul Montanus and Andrianus Van Amerongen of the Netherlands by two matches to nil before recording the same degree of success against Belgium’s Mark Ledoux and Mathieu Loïcq.

In a similar vein Turkey’s Abdullah Ozturk and Nesim Turan; the defending Men’s Class 4 champions, overcame the Slovakian combination of Andrej Meszaros and Boris Travnicek in their opening engagement. A two-nil score line was the margin of victory.

It was the same in Men’s Team Class 9; Belgium’s Robin Devos and Ben Despineux, the Vejle champions, made a highly successful start to their campaign. In their one and only contest of the day,  they recorded a two-nil win in opposition to Israel’s Aviv Gordon and Samuel Shur.

Opening wins for Turkey and Belgium in the Men’s Team event, in Class 5 as it was the same for Germany as it was for Ukraine in Class 7; the only difference being there was a change in personnel.

Selcuk Cetin joined the successful Vejle partnership of Valentin Baus and Jörg Didion in Class 5; the Germans making a positive start to their campaign by posting a two-nil win in opposition to Norway’s Tommy Urhaug and Sebastian Vegsund.

Similarly in Class 7 with Bogdan Omelcuck added to the team, Maksym Nikolenko and Mykhaylo Popov started their title retention quest in style. They beat Switzerland’s Thomas Rosenast and Valentin Kneuss by two matches to nil.

Play in the Men’s Team event continues on Monday 2nd October.

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2017 European Championships: Latest News

2017 European Championships: Daily Bulletin

2017 European Championships: Live Stream