by Simon Daish
Czech Republic won its third match in a row in group G after beating Lithuania in its own backyard to move on to six points.
The previous meeting between the two countries required the full five match distance before the Czech Republic managed to close out the win, but on match day four it was a much more straightforward task for the Czech squad after they overcame the Lithuanians without dropping a single game.
Kateřina Tomanovská gave the visitors the lead with a straight games success against Lithuania’s Eglė Stuckytė (11-8, 11-9, 12-10) before victories from Iveta Vacenovská and Hana Matelová against Ugne Baskutyte (11-4, 11-5, 11-5) and Kornelija Riliškytė (11-6, 11-5, 11-2) completed the job for the Czech Republic.
Group F saw Austria victorious once again, as Amelie Solja won a brace against opponents Kosovo.
The opening two fixtures for Kosovo had resulted in 3-0 defeats, but this time around a straight matches loss would be avoided as Austria had to settle for a 3-1 win against the hosts.
Iliriana Haliti picked up an impressive win for Kosovo against Selina Leitner (6-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-13), but Amelie Solja’s victories over Linda Zeqiri (11-2, 11-1, 11-8) and Viona Maloku (11-5, 11-9, 11-3) alongside a win for Karoline Mischek gave Austria the points.
Romania was another country to win its third consecutive match in the Women’s Championships division qualifiers, after a successful visit to Greece.
The previous round of matches didn’t provide Greek supporters with much to cheer about: they lost out 1-3 against the Netherlands and another 1-3 scoreline followed for the Greeks as Elizabeta Samara, Bernadette Szőcs and Camelia Iacob came away with the win for Romania.
Hungary was the host nation for the LIEBHERR 2016 European Championships, and the country’s Women’s Team continued to perform well in their qualifying group for the 2017 European Championships after they defeated Belgium to move top of group J.
There were also victories for France, Poland, Russia and Germany in their respective ties.
