The teams competitions were continuing at European Universities Table Tennis Championship in Olomouc till evening hours. In the men´s category in quartifinal the seeded Saarland University failed when didn´t copy with strong Russian Magnitogorsk. The hit of Friday´s semifinal round will be the battle between The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych and Magnitogorsk State Technical University. Even the table tennis from Technical University of Ostrava are among the best four men´s teams and thus have a certainity of at least bronze medal. In the women event one of seeded teams – Kozminski University didn´t reach the semifinal when being beaten by University of Paris 13 which was made stronger by Qwen Geranimi.
Men from Technical University of Ostrava composed by Ondrej Bajger, Michal Benes a Roman Rezetka were the best in the qualification rounds out of Czech university teams. They won the group A without any hesitation.
Even women from Universtity of Economics Prague advanced to the quartifinals even though from the second place. The three-leaf Lucie Ruzickova, Petra Zyková and Michaela Havlickova beated University of Porto in the decisive match most tightly. In the quartifinals Prague was not successful when beaten by strong team Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa 0:3. In the key group match table tennis women players from Palacký university didn´t copy with rivals from France. University of Paris 13 added great Qwen Gemini onto the player´s list for this match who basically decided about advancement of the French team to the medal battles.
Even the men from Palacký university Olomouc (Jan Bohac, Libor Smocek and Patrik Horvath) didn´t succeed. In a strong competition in group D they didn´t win any match and will continue to play for 17th till 20th place.
Table tennis players from Technical University of Ostrava succeeded even in the evening quartifinal match against Finnish team Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences which they beated 3:1. Points for Ostrava were gained by Michal Beneš and Ondrej Bajger who enjoyed victory twice. “We had a really good draw and perfectly took advantage of it. Michal´s first point was important. We knew that Finns have one very good player but Tennilä finally didn´t make any point and everything was clear. In the semifinal it will be different, we will have a rival of higher performance,“ summarized the quartifinal match of Technical University of Ostrava Ondrej Bajger.
On the second table strong Russian team from Magnitogorsk won with the team from German Saarland University 3:1 and in the semifinal hits against the biggest favourite of the tournament from the Polish Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych. Coach of Russian team Vladislav Alontsev knows that tomorrow his players wait for the most difficult rival: “In my opinion the two best teams of the tournament will meet. It will be early final. I expect hard battle of two top quality and equal teams,“ noted Vladislav Alontsev.
European Universities Table Tennis Championship in Olomouc
Team competition - Results:
Men’s - quartefinal
Technical University of Ostrava (CZECH REPUBLIC) - Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (FINLAND) 3:1
Michal Benes – Otto Tennilä 3:2 (9,-10,2,-9,6), Ondrej Bajger – Aleksi Hustonen 3:1 (-5,2,8,7), Roman Rezetka – Pauli Hietikko 1:3 (9,9,-9,11), Ondrej Bajger – Otto Tennilä 3:0 (5,1,4).
Kozminski University (POLAND) - University of Nottingham (UNITED KINGDOM) 3:2, The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych (POLAND) - Rzeszow University of Technology (POLAND) 3:0, Saarland University (GERMANY) - Magnitogorsk State Technical University (RUSSIA) 1:3.
Semifinal pairs: Technical University of Ostrava - Kozminski University, The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych - Magnitogorsk State Technical University.
Women’s - quartefinal
Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa (POLAND) - University of Economics Prague (CZECH REPUBLIC) 3:0
Katarzyna Slifirzyk – Petra Zyková 3:0 (8,9,9), Roksana Zalomska – Lucie Ruzickova 3:0 (7,3,9), Kinga Falarz – Michaela Havlickova 3:0 (5,6,4).
University of Bordeaux (FRANCE) - University of Nottingham (UNITED KINGDOM) 0:3, Kozminski University (POLAND) - University of Paris 13 (FRANCE) 1:3, Kazan Innovative University (RUSSIA) - University School of Physical Education in Wroclaw (POLAND) 3:0.
Semifinal pairs: Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa - University of Nottingham, University of Paris 13 - Kazan Innovative University.
Complete results of European Universities Table Tennis Championship in Olomouc here: http://tabletennis2017.eusa.eu/results
Photo gallery here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/149714679@N04/