A perfect start
Austria’s aces startet strong on the first qualifying day at the Liebherr European Table Tennis Championships in Linz/Austria. Nina Skerbinz caused a sensation in her EC Debut with two group victories. The preliminary round will be completed on Wednesday, and in the evening European champion Sofia Polcanova will also start into the competition.
Robert Gardos has successfully started the title fights in the sports country of Upper Austria with two wins in the singles. The 45-year-old veteran initially gave Norwegian Noah Khai Lam no chance in the qualification, winning easily in three games and then lived up to his role as favorite against Alex Naumi (FIN) with a 3-1 win after being down by 0-1. Andreas Levenko also played his way into the qualification final in a quick round. The 26-year-old right-hander won the opening match against Federico Giardi (SMR) in three straight games and also kept the upper hand in the subsequent match against the Slovenian Brin Vovk with a 3-1 victory. This means that the group winners will face a group runner-up in tomorrow’s play-off.
Maciej Kolodziejczyk (23) started the qualification with a 3-0 victory over Greenlands Ivik Nielson, but then he had to bow to the Bulgarian Yoan Velichov 0:3. Julian Rzihauschek (15) and Liu Zhenlong (19) also suffered defeats in their opening matches. The two European Championship debutants will play their second group match on Wednesday and still have a chance for a place in the preliminary round. Daniel Habesohn, the only Austrian man seeded, will be competing in the European Championships on Thursday in the singles and as well alongside his doubles partner Robert Gardos.
Skerbinz creates a cheering atmosphere
The Austrian women, who compete in the singles qualification in groups of four, also played brilliantly. Karoline Mischek, Anastasia Sterner and Liu Yuan celebrated two victories each, as well as Nina Skerbinz, who made the first big statement in her European Championship debut. At 14 years old first defeated the much more highly rated Polish player Natalia Bogdanowicz, and also had the better end in her second game against Ema Labosova (SLK) with a score of 3-1, causing corresponding cheers in the well-attended stands. The women will also play in tomorrow’s play-off for a place in the main round. The group winners are competing against the runner-up in each group.
Austrian medal hope will get started
Sofia Polcanova, who is seeded in all three disciplines, will start the title fights on Wednesday evening alongside Robert Gardos in the mixed first round (32). The duo has won bronze at the European Championships in Munich in 2022. European Championship debutants Maciej Kolodziejczyk and Anastasia Sterner beat the Israeli pairing Eitay Shushan/Elinor Davidov 3-2 in the first round, but lost 0-3 to the Swiss Rachel Moret/Barish Moulett in the qualifying final.
