by Ian Marshall, Editor
In the men’s team event, top seeds, Germany with Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska on duty recorded a 3-0 win against the no.17 seeds, the Czech Republic trio comprising Pavel Sirucek, Tomas Polansky and Lubomir Jancarik.
Likewise, in the women’s team competition, it was 3-0 win for the top seeded Romanian trio comprising Bernadette Szocs, Elizabeta Samara and Daniela Monteiro Dodean; they showed no charity when facing Slovakia, who fielded just two players in the guise of Ema Labosova and Eva Jurkova.
Successful starts
Impressive from the teams at the top of the order in their opening contests, it was the same for the next in line. Focused on first place, in the men’s team event Sweden, France and Austria all made successful starts to their campaigns.
Selecting Jon Persson, Mattias Falck and Truls Möregard, Sweden recorded a 3-1 win in opposition to the no.18 seeds, Hungary’s Adam Szudi, Bence Majoros and Tamas Lakatos; the one success for the Hungarians being achieved by Bence Majoros, in the third match of the engagement, he accounted for Mattias Falck (11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5).
A four match success for Sweden, it was the same outcome for the French trio formed by Emmanuel Lebesson, Simon Gauzy and Tristan Flore; they overcame the no.20 seeds, the Spanish combination of Alvaro Robles, Jesus Cantero and Carlos Machado; just as with Hungary, the one win came in the third match of the fixture, Carlos Machado beat Tristan Flore (12-14, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7).
Moments of concern, not so for Austria’s Stefan Fegerl, Daniel Habesohn and Robert Gardos; they opened their itinerary with a 3-0 win against the no.19 seeds, Ukraine’s Yevhen Pryshchepa, Yaroslav Zhmudenko and Viktor Yefimov.
Similar situation
Comprehensive victories, it was the same in the women’s team competition, next in line to Romania; Germany and Hungary all posted 3-0 wins in their initial engagements.
Selecting Shan Xiaona, Nina Mittelham and Wan Yuan, Germany overcame the no.16 seeds, the Italian formation of Ana Tofant, Katarina Strazar and Lea Pulin. In a similar manner, Georgina Pota, Dora Madarasz and Szandra Pergel combined to beat the no.19 seeds, Belgium’s Margo Degraef, Lisa Lung and Nathalie Marchetti.
Meanwhile, for the Netherlands, the no.4 seeds, life was only marginally more testing. Selecting Britt Eerland, Li Jie and Kim Vermaas, a 3-1 opening win was secured in opposition to Serbia’s Izabela Lupulesku, Andrea Todorovic and Tijana Jokic; the one success for the defeated being that secured by Tijana Jokic in opposition to Kim Vermaas (11-5, 12-10, 11-3).
Serbian recovery thwarted
Comprehensive victories, the only real scare amongst the teams who occupied the top position in their respective groups was that experienced by Poland, the no.7 seeds, when facing the no.22 seeds, Serbia. A 3-2 margin of victory was the end result, a spirited Serbian recovery being thwarted.
Marek Badowski gave Poland the perfect start by beating Aleksandar Karakasevic (11-6, 11-9, 11-9), before Jakub Dyjas accounted for Zsolt Peto (5-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-7) to double the lead. Enter Marko Jevtovic, he overcame Samuel Kulczycki (11-8, 11-9, 11-4), Aleksandar Karakasevic prevailed against Jakub Dyjas to level matters (6-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-13, 11-9). The outcome in the melting pot, Marek Badowski beat Zsolt Peto (11-9, 4-11, 11-9, 11-2) to bring the contest to a conclusion.
Play in the group stage of both the men’s team and women’s team evets concludes n Thursday 5th September.
