by Simon Daish
Shan Xiaona put in a heroic performance for the German side, contributing two victories as TTC Berlin Eastside opened its group stage outing with a 3-1 home win.
Success for Shan Xiaona came in the opening and closing fixtures of the match against Renata Strbikova (12-14, 14-12, 11-9, 11-7) and Natalia Partyka (8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-3, 11-8), while the latter player also lost out to Georgina Pota in straight games (11-8, 11-8, 11-5).
Group A hosted a thrilling opening encounter as Bursa Buyuksehir Belediyespor of Turkey welcomed Austrian opponents Linz AG Froschberg.
Yana Noskova pulled off a strong comeback against Tin-Tin Ho (12-14, 5-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-8) to hand the home side the advantage after the opening three fixtures, but with Lee Ho Ching suffering a defeat to Sofia Polcanova (9-11, 7-11, 3-11) the match was sent into a deciding battle.
Much to the delight of the home crowd Hu Melek emerged victorious over Zhang Mo in the fifth fixture (11-9, 11-4, 4-11, 11-5), giving Bursa Buyuksehir Belediyespor two important group stage points.
Dr. Časl occupies top spot in Group C after the Croatian team registered a 3-1 triumph over ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly.
The star of the match for the hosts was Doo Hoi Kem, who opened the tie with a four games to one win against Galia Dvorak (11-7, 13-15, 13-11, 11-9) and brought the proceedings to a close with her five games victory over Kim Hayeong (11-7, 14-12, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8).
Han Ying, Elizabeta Samara and Li Qian came through their encounters without dropping a single game between them as Polish side KTS Tarnobrzeg negotiated its opening meeting against TuS Bad Driburg with a perfect 3-0 score.
European Champions League: Results and Fixtures