by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor
A three-two victory margin was the outcome in the final of the Men’s Team event for Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych against the host nation’s Technical University of Ostrava.
The player to cause the champions elect problems was Ondrej Bajger. He beat both Pawel Fertikowski (11-5, 12-10, 17-15) and Robert Flores (11-7, 11-9, 11-9). However, for the Czech outfit he proved the only winner. Michel Benes was beaten by both Robert Floras (8-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5) and by Pawel Fertikowski (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6). The one further win for the Polish team was secured by Piotr Chodorski, in the third match of the fixture, he overcame Roman Rezetka (11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6).
“It was enormously hard match. The Czech boys give us great problems, they played much better than than one year ago at the Universiade in Zagreb when we won three-nil. All the matches were tight, I‘m happy we finally succeeded but it was not easy at all.“ summarized Tomasz Durajczyk, Coach Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych
At the semi-final stage, Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych had beaten Russia’s Magnitogorsk State Technical University represented by Ilya Zhidkov, Kirill Gerassimenko and Bekulan Zhamal.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Team event, Kazan Innovative University recorded a three-nil win at the final hurdle against Poland’s Jan Dlugosz University of Czestochowa. Ekaterina Guseva gave her team the perfect start by beating Roksana Zalomska (11-5, 13-11, 3-11, 11-9), Anna Blazhko followed suit by overcoming Katarzyna Slifirzyk (7-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-6) before Svetlana Mokhnacheva defeated Kinga Falarz (11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 11-5) to end matters.
One round earlier Kazan Innovative University had accounted for the French outfit formed by Qiwen Xiao, Qwen Geronimi and Kadidiatou Gouressy from the University of Paris in France. Meanwhile, in the opposite half of the draw the Jan Dlugosz University of Czestochowa had beaten England’s University of Nottingham represented by Liu Haoyu, Maria Tsaptsinos and Yolanda King by three matches to one.
2017 European Universities Championships: Team Events – Complete Results