by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

It was not to be the scenario; the Russian duo experienced a quarter-final defeat.

They were beaten by the Swedish pairing of Simon Berglund and Anton Källberg; furthermore, they experienced defeat after winning the first two games and being close to success in the third (5-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7).

Defeat for the top seeds in the round of the last eight pairs but not for the second seeds; the combination formed by Hungary’s Bence Majoros and Croatia’s Tomislav Pucar overcame the English combination of Tom Jarvis and Helshan Weerasinghe (11-8,9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3).

The result means that Hungary is guaranteed at least one player in the Men’s Doubles final. At the semi-final stage Bence Majoros and Tomislav Pucar face the all-Hungarian combination of Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi, the quarter-final winners over Poland’s Marek Badowski and Patryk Zatowka (11-8, 12-10, 8-11, 11-7).

In the opposite half of the draw Simon Berglund and Anton Källberg meet the partnership formed by Denmark’s Anders Lind and the Slovak Republic’s Alexander Valuch. Determined, in the round of the last eight pairs they recovered from a two games to nil deficit to beat the Czech Repiblic pairing of Tomas Polansky and David Reitspies 8-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-6).

Play at the 2017 European Under 21 Championships concludes on Sunday 5th February.

Latest results: Stag European Under 21 Championships.