by Simon Daish
Leading FC Saarbrücken by a 3-1 score-line from the 1st leg but G.V. Hennebont knew that a strong away outing would be required to hold off the German side and low and behold the final was decided by the narrowest of margins.
Fan Shengpeng picked up Hennebont’s one and only victory of the 2nd leg, defeating Darko Jorgic (15-13, 11-6, 11-9). One-way traffic then followed as Patrick Franziska and Tomas Polansky overcame opposition from Liam Pitchford (11-7, 5-11, 10-12, 13-11, 11-9) and Cedric Nuytinck (9-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7) to hand Saarbrücken the lead.
Closing out the proceedings, Darko Jorgic picked up an impressive comeback win against Liam Pitchford (9-11, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4) as Saarbrücken came away with a 3-1 victory. However, it wasn’t enough as Hennebont edged to their first Men’s ETTU Cup title thanks to a superior games won ratio across the two legs (19:16).
In the Women’s ETTU Cup final UCAM Cartagena met French opposition in CP Lyssois Lille Métropole – Prevailing 3-1 in the away leg, Cartagena won by the same margin on home soil to lift the trophy for the third time.
Liu Xin put the home team in front with a four games victory over Yang Xiaoxin in the match opener (11-8, 11-8, 4-11, 11-9) but the visitors soon levelled the scores as Tamolwan Khetkhuan beat Maria Xiao (11-2, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11).
Silvia Erdelyi De Souza guaranteed the title for the Spanish team, claiming a straight games win over Agnes Le Lannic (12-10, 11-7, 11-6) before Liu Xin closed out the evening with a convincing display against Tamolwan Khetkhuan (11-5, 11-6, 11-9).