TipsArena of Linz with a 3-2 victory against Annett Kaufmann/Patrick Franziska (GER) in the mixed semi-finals of the Liebherr European Table Tennis Championships 2024. It was only in the final that the Austrian duo were stopped by the Spaniards Maria Xiao/Alvaro Robles (No. 3) with a 0-3. After winning bronze at the European Championships in 2022, they now clinched silver.
The final began bitterly: Polcanova/Gardos found themselves 0-7 behind, lost the first heat 8-11, the second game 9-11 and were also 0-2 behind in the third set. Only after the time out of team coach Chen Weixing the Austrian found their rhythm, equalized from 0-2 to 2-2 and took the first lead in the final with 7-6. But then the number four of the tournament missed two game balls, Maria Xiao/Alvaro Robles turned the heat to 12:10 and celebrated the European title. Robles, the double vice world champion of 2019, lifted his partner into the air and celebrated the first European gold of the Liebherr European Championships 2024.
Before there was pure drama in the semifinals: The Austrian got off to a good start against Annett Kaufmann and Patrick Franziska from Germany, won the first game 11-8, and missed two game balls in the second heat. The match continued to be balanced and extremely exciting, then the Austrians converted their fourth match point to win the decider by 16-14 and secured their place in the final.
In the singles, Sofia Polcanova (No. 2) had previously celebrated a clear 4-0 victory over the U19 European Vice Champion Veronika Matiunina (UKR/46) and qualified for the round of 16. On Saturday 11:30 a.m. the 30-year-old will challenge the Swede Christina Kallberg (No. 14). After her eighth victory in the European Championships, the Athlete of Linz said: “I was too unfocused, was 0-4 down, had to push myself. Luckily, that worked out.”
Polcanova, was challenged at the beginning of the day alongside Bernadette Szócs in the round of 16 of the women’s doubles. The defending champions also overcame the Turkish pair Ece Harac/Ozge Yilmaz, securing their ticket for the quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory. In the round of the last eight, Polcanova/Szócs will now face the top-seeded Spanish-Romanian pairing Maria Xiao/Adina Diaconu.
In the men’s round of 16, Daniel Habesohn and Robert Gardos felt the full class of Qiu Dang/Benedikt Duda. The Austrian couldn’t find their rhythm and had to admit a defeat quite clearly in three games. In the same time Maciej Kolodziejczyk secured a place in the quarter-finals with Vladislav Ursu (MDA) at the European Championship premiere. The 23-year-old from Wels and his Moldovan partner of the same age narrowly won the first two games against Darko Jorgic and Tomislav Pucar, each with a score of 12-10. Then the Slovenian-Croatian pairing could win the games three and four. Kolodziejczyk/Ursu prevailed in the decider with a score of 11-7.
