by Simon Daish
Trailing G.V Hennebont by a 2-0 deficit, Roskilde was closing in on its fourth group stage defeat but a remarkable comeback effort reversed the Danish side’s fortunes.
Michael Maze got the ball rolling for the visitors with a deciding game victory over Quentin Robinot (12-10, 13-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9) before positive displays from Zhai Yujia and Laurens Tromer against Cedric Nuytinck (9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-9) and Liam Pitchford (12-10, 11-9, 4-11, 6-11, 11-7) completed the recovery.
The other Group D encounter went in Borussia Düsseldorf’s favour as Timo Boll picked up a brace to lead the German champions to a 3-1 success at home to K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo.
SPG Walter Wels has earned its first victory of the 2017-2018 Champions League campaign at the fifth attempt following a fine away performance in Ostrava.
Cho Seungmin was the hero of the match for the away side with the Korean star claiming wins from his fixtures against Tomas Tregler (11-5, 11-8, 12-10) and Panagiotis Gionis (11-4, 14-12, 11-6) as the Austrian club avenged its 0-3 defeat suffered against the Czech team at an earlier stage of the event.
There will be no spot beyond the group stage of this year’s Champions League for K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki, but the team from Poland has improved its chances of earning a place in the ETTU Cup.
Opening with Pavel Sirucek’s fantastic recovery against Quadri Aruna (9-11, 4-11, 13-11, 11-4, 11-9) K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki went on to inflict a 3-0 defeat on Portuguese opponents Sporting Clube De Portugal and will take on AS Pontoise-Cergy in the group finale for third position.
Over in Group B TTSC UMMC has the advantage in the race to achieve a top spot finish after an Alexander Shibaev double saw the Russian side prevail against German rivals FC Saarbrücken.
European Champions League: Results and Fixtures