by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Meanwhile, on duty for the Kazan Innovative University, Anna Blazko donned the Women’s Singles crown and thus successfully defended the title won two years ago when the tournament was staged in Geneva.

At the final hurdle Robert Flores accounted for colleague Piotr Chodorski (11-9, 11-9, 11-1), having at the semi-final stage overcome Turkey’s Gencay Menge from the Marmara University (11-7, 10-12, 11-6, 11-4) and one round earlier Ilya Zhidkov, representing the Magnitogorsk State Technical University (11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6).

In the opposite half of the draw, in the round of the last eight Piotr Chodorski had beaten Kirill Gerassimenko, like Ilya Zhidov from the Magnitogorsk State Technical University, by the very narrowest of margins (8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 5-11, 11-9) prior to reserving his place in the final courtesy of success against England’s Nottingham University student, Danny Reed (9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7).

Success against Kazakhstan, it was the same in the Men’s Doubles competition. In the final Pawel Fertikowski and Robert Floras overcame Kirill Gerassimenko and Ilya Zhidov to claim to the top prize (6-11, 11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8).

“It was a great tournament. Great week here in Olomouc. I´m very happy, I really enjoyed it here. The matches against Piotr are always hard, we know each other very well. Today the first two games were tight, the third game went in my direction. I´m happy I succeeded at this tournament in Olomouc. Three gold medals, that´s simply great.“ Robert Floras

Impressive from Robert Floras, in the counterpart Women’s Singles event, it was an equally imposing performance from Anna Blazhko.

After overcoming the host country’s Aneta Kucerova from the Olomouc Palacky University Palacky, she received a walk-over against colleague Svetlana Mokhnacheva, before overcoming Ekaterina Guseva, also from the Kazan Innovative University, to claim the title (11-8, 11-8, 11-8).

In the adjacent half of the draw Ekaterina Guseva had overcome Qiwen Xiao from the University of Paris in the round of the last eight (11-8, 12-14, 11-5, 10-12, 11-7), prior to recording a semi-final victory over the Czech Republic’s Paulina Nowacka from the Dlugosz University in Czestochowa (11-9, 11-8, 11-7).

“The final was going quite smooth. At the previous championship in Geneva it was harder for me to win the title. Here in Olomouc I won everything without hesitation.“ Anna Blazhko

Disappointment for the host nation but there was success. Paulina Nowacka and Sandra Wabik combined to win the Women’s Doubles title beating England’s University of Nottingham students, Liu Haoyu and Maria Tspaptsinos in the final (3-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8).

European Universities Championships: Complete Results