Disqualification of the tournament number one, three medals for the home star, crowded stands with great fans and an amazing golden ride of two unlucky girls. The European Individual Championships in Linz offered top-class table tennis and many interesting stories. And not only for the two winners of the most prestigious singles competitions, Alexis Lebrun and Sofia Polcanova. Hana Matelová and Barbora Balážová proved it. In the final, after a fantastic performance, they defeated the reigning European champions 3:2 and dethroned them. The Czech-Slovak pair thus ended the long wait for a medal at the fifth attempt and will bring back the most valuable one.
In a year when European table tennis had a huge success at the Olympics after many years, fans were rightly curious to see what the peak season of the old continent would have to offer. And it has to be said that the Austrian ones can be envied by others. They had a week full of emotions.
Their biggest star Sofia Polcanova played the finals of all three competitions. Together with Roberto Gardos, she was aiming for her first gold in the mixed doubles tournament, but together they fell short against the Spanish pair Alvaro Robles, Maria Xiao. The Spanish pair played at the Olympics this year and confirmed their great form this time as well. A 3-0 win meant the pair won their first gold. The bronze podium was occupied during the ceremony by Germany's Patrick Franziska and Annett Kaufmann and France's Simon Gauzy and Prithika Pavade.
In the women's doubles, Sofie Polcan together with the Romanian Bernadette Szocs defended the gold from the last championship in Munich. Maybe they would have succeeded, but the second disappointment was prepared for the Austrian fans by two players who were rather unlucky at big events until this year. Hana Matelová and Barbora Balážová finally reached the podium after unsuccessful quarterfinal battles at the previous European Championships. Then they made it through the semi-final with the Polish-Slovak pair Natalia Bajorová, Tatiana Kukulková and in the final they made the Czech and Slovak fans happy, which logically disappointed the Austrian ones. They defeated the defending champions 3:2 in sets and finally tears of happiness instead of tears of sadness ran down their faces. Somewhat unexpected bronze medal was won by Serbians Izabela Lupulescu, Sabina Surjanova.
"Jwe're European champions, I immediately asked Baska how she sounds. I can't believe it. It was originally supposed to be my last tournament, but certain things have convinced me that I'm going to keep going and we'll play at least one more World Championship together. We'll be defending the quarterfinals there, and maybe we've finally broken through and it will click there too," added by great news for the Czech national team.
The crowded stands of TipsArena finally got their gold. Sofia Polcanova played with confidence in the women's singles and lost only two sets in the competition. She lost to Germany's Nina Mittelham in the semi-finals and to her doubles partner Bernadette Szocs in the final. She defended her title with a well-deserved victory and had a great time on the podium.
The men's doubles competition also had one sovereign. The French pair Felix Lebrun, Alexis Lebrun also lost only two sets on their way to the title and confirmed their position as the only one in the tournament. The Swedish pair of Anton Kallberg, Truls Moregard had no chance in the final. The bronze went to Maciej Kolodziejczyk of Austria and Vladislav Ursu of Moldova and Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson of Sweden.
Clearly the most interesting competition in the European Championships programme was the men's singles. The defending champion Qiu Dang of Germany finished without a medal, as did the tournament leader Felix Lebrun of France and the two-time TOP 16 winner Darko Jorgic of Slovenia. Far behind the podium were the hopes of experienced Austrians Daniel Habesohn and Robert Gardos, while Olympic silver medallist Truls Moregard of Sweden had to settle for bronze.
German Benedikt Duda and Frenchman Alexis Lebrun were in the best shape. In the quarter-finals, Duda turned away a match point with Felix Lebrun at 1:3 and showed an amazing turnaround. He won 4:3 and the young Frenchman, under the weight of his emotions, did something that he will regret for a long time. He angrily threw his racket into the fence and was even disqualified from the competition. Duda, on the other hand, continued his spirited ride and in the semi-final he beat his more experienced teammate Dimitrij Ovtcharov quite clearly 4:2. The second semi-final was much more clear-cut, with Alexis Lebrun beating Truls Moregard 4-0 and then beating Duda in the final with the same result. With his second gold, Alexis Lebrun became the most outstanding figure of the championship.
European Individual Championships, Linz:
Men's singles, semifinals: Benedikt Duda - Dimitrij Ovtcharov (both Germany) 4:2 (8,8,5,-8,-6,8), Alexis Lebrun (Fr.) - Truls Moregard (Sweden) 4:0 (10,5,5,6). Finals: Alexis Lebrun - Benedikt Duda 4:0 (5,8,6,2).
Women's singles, semifinals: Bernadette Szocs (Romania) - Maria Xiao (Spain) 4:1 (3,-9,7,6,6), Sofia Polcanova (Austria) - Nina Mittelham (Germany) 4:1 (10,7,-10,4,6). Finals: Sofia Polcanova - Bernadette Szocs 4:1 (8,-11,10,6,9).
Men's doubles, semifinals: Alexis Lebrun, Felix Lebrun (Fr.) - Maciej Kolodziejczyk (Rak.), Vladislav Ursu (Mold.) 3:0 (5,9,3), Anton Kallberg, Truls Moregard - Mattias Falck, Kristian Karlsson (all Swed.) 3:0 (10,6,2). Finals: Alexis Lebrun, Felix Lebrun - Anton Kallberg, Truls Moregard 3:0 (2,6,8).
Women's doubles, semifinals: Sofia Polcanova (Austria), Bernadette Szocs (Romania) - Izabela Lupulescu, Sabina Surjan (Serbia) 3:2 (-10,4,5,-5,3), Hana MATELOVÁ, Barbora Balazova (Sloven.) - Natalia Bajor (Pol.), Tatiana Kukulkova (Sloven.) 3:2 (-8,-5,12,5,11). Finals: Hana MATELOVÁ, Barbora Balazova - Sofia Polcanova, Bernadette Szocsova 3:2 (7,-7,9,-7,6).
Mixed doubles, semifinals: Alvaro Robles, Maria Xiao (Spain) - Simon Gauzy, Prithika Pavade (France) 3:1 (8,5,-9,9), Robert Gardos, Sofia Polcanova (Austria) - Patrick Franziska, Annett Kaufmann (Germany) 3:2 (8,-10,-12,9,14). Finals: Alvaro Robles, Maria Xiao - Robert Gardos, Sofia Polcanova 3:0 (8,9,10).
Full results of the European Championship can be found HERE
Czech Table Tennis Association/ gnews - RoZ
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