Balkan Youth Table Tennis: Kosmas/Kontopoulou secure medal in U15 mixed doubles

Giorgos Kosmas and Mavra Kontopoulou secured the boys’ and girls’ mixed doubles at the Orestiada Balkan Youth Table Tennis Championships and it is the third for our national teams in this year’s competition after the youth team’s silver and children’s bronze. team.

The duo made it to the semi-finals and since there is no playoff for places 3-4 at the event, they are sure to be on the podium. Three other Greek pairs went for similar success, Stathis Manolopoulos/Evangelia Meramvelliotaki and Alexandros Madesis/Stella Tzaridou in the under-19 medley and Kostas Fakaros and Vasiliki Boulas in the under-15 medley.

In the evening they beat the strong twins, but also the ranking in 5-8 place is a positive report. Madesis and Tzaridou fought to five rounds.

On Saturday, Kosmas and Kontopoulou will look for a new step, the boys’ and girls’ doubles and singles will also start.

In mixed doubles for boys and girls, the scoreboard was “32”. A very good sign was visible for Kosmas/Kontopoulos at the very beginning, when they were eliminated in the first round by the first favorites of the competition, the Montenegrins Krivokapic/Sembek. In a completely even match, they won 3-2 sets (5-11, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11) and also gained psychology. In the semifinals, they defeated the Bosnians Vesovic/Ceric 3-1 (11-9, 10-12, 11-4, 11-7).

In the semifinals, they faced Moldova’s Mosneaga/Sireac. They dominated the first two sets, then faced more trouble, but made it to the final 3-1 run with a 3-8 comeback in the fourth set (11-7, 11-6, 10-12, 11-9).

On Saturday at 18:30 at 18:30 in the “televised” table 1 Tauro Table Tennis athletes will compete to enter the final against Romanian opponents Istrate/Beazu.

In the same age group, Fakaros and Bula initially fell to Radonić/Vujović from Montenegro 3-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-5, 11-4). In the round of 16, they continued positively against Celic/Sadoje from Bosnia with a 3-1 set (11-6, 9-11, 11-7, 13-11).

In the eight, the Greek champions were outside second favourites, Romanians Pontar/Gifkou, they fought for the best but lost 3-0 sets (6-11, 8-11, 5-11).

The Romanian duo eliminated Yannis Koutras/Alkisti Kasimis earlier with a 3-0 set (6-11, 9-11, 8-11). In the third semi-final, it was difficult for the Greek pair to defeat the Kosovar Mahmouti/Bailey with a 3-2 set (11-3, 11-8, 10-12, 8-11, 11-7).

Konstantinos Alexoudis and Stella Mavromataki beat North Macedonian Jakimovski/Stoyanovska 3-1 in the first round (3-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8) and 3-0 in the eighteenth semifinal. Nagy/Prekup from Romania (9-11, 6-11, 5-11).

Petros Liotsis and Angela Noure also started with a win. They defeated Stoytskov/Miltanova from Bulgaria 3-1 in a set (11-8, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6) and in the second round they lost to Kahraman/Simsek from Turkey 3-0 in a set (4-11, 7-11, 2 -11).

The Bulgarians Nikolaev/Nikolova fell to Kioseloglou/Zenidis in the round of 32 3-0 in sets (9-11, 7-11, 7-11).

A similar table was made in the mixed doubles for teenagers and young adults, although it was preceded by two preliminary matches. The current Greek champions of the class, Madesis and Tzaridou, initially beat Bulgarians Dimitrov/Persova 3-1 (11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 12-10).

In the semifinals, they eliminated Turks Temel/Nebhan 3-0 (11-2, 11-8, 11-6) and made it to the medal match. The match against the Romanians Guesdea/Ungvari was exciting and was decided in overtime. The Greek duo equalized 0-2 in the set, then saved the match point, but finally “bent” 3-2 and found themselves in places 5-8. (4-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-13).

Manolopoulos/Meramvelliotakis made an equally great “fight”. In the round of 32, they beat Kosovo’s Maloku/Hashani 3-0 in a set (11-9, 11-6, 11-8) and in the round of 16, they beat Serbia’s Vesmar/Gvozdenovic 3-1 in a set (11-). 8, 11-5, 11-13, 11-3).

In the eight, they took the first set against Turks Dursu/Karaka, but lost the next in detail and went down 3-1 (11-7, 7-11, 6-11, 10-12).

Dionysis Timamopoulos and Lemonia Gaydatzi came very close to the quarter-finals, winning 3-2 sets in a big match against Guesdea/Ungvar. In the first round, they won easily in three sets against North Macedonia’s Glavevski/Kovacovska (11-2, 11-4, 11-6) and the Romanian duo in the lead sets 2-0, but also took the lead in the fifth set by 4 points (11-9, 11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 8-11).

Alexandros Alexopoulos and Chrissi Fotiadou lost the Bulgarian duo Bekir/Georgieva 3-1 at the start (12-10, 4-11, 7-11, 11-13).

Yannis Anastasiadis and Katerina Alexoudis were eliminated by Serbian Ninkovic/Radak 3-0 in sets (7-11, 5-11, 6-11).

In the end, Konstantinos Milikoudis and Dimitra Petsiva played in one of the two qualifying matches and lost to Sepa/Popovic of Serbia 3-1 in a set (12-10, 3-11, 12-14, 8-11).