June 22, 2015, by Lee Chrimes
European University Table Tennis Championship 2015 – Day Three
Event report by Jonathan Spinks, UoN Table Tennis
After the Men’s event was won by Poland’s Rzeszow University yesterday, and the Women’s by Kazan in an all Russian final, we moved onto the singles and doubles events.
Despite an early slip up by some of the men’s team (yours truly included) forgetting to set an alarm, all of our players – just about – made it on time.
First up our lead men’s pair of Paul McCreery & Liam McTiernan confidently saw off a Zurich pair, securing their place in the 2nd round. Unfortunately Ben Gardner and James Grayson could not join them, losing out to a strong Porto pairing.
Next up Paul & Liam played against a Polish pair from Gdansk, but were unable to continue any further in the draw.
With only three women in the team, hopes in the doubles fell on the shoulders of Yolanda King & Tressa Armitage. First up was Kozminski University from Poland, yesterday’s semi-finalists. The girls were able to produce a great display however, and progressed 3-0.
The next round brought a daunting matchup against a pair from the Russian State Humanities University, who came runners-up in the team event. Despite this Yolanda & Tressa were able to match them point for point, and only lost by the narrowest of margins in the deciding set.
This left the team with a few hours spare over lunch, which we used to explore the surrounding area a little more before the singles. James was able to get back on the table, and despite an ever improving display, was unable to defeat the Cypriot number 2.
Next on the table was Ben, who was involved in an entertaining match with Berlin’s Arne Holter, a former German junior international. In the end the German’s class was to prove too much however, claiming the win 3-0.
In perhaps the unluckiest draw of the day, Liam was matched against Rzeszow’s number 1, yesterday’s standout performer, and perhaps favourite for the title. Liam was able to win a few impressive points, but unable to triumph against a player previously ranked in the world’s top 250.
This left just Paul in the running for the men, with on paper a tricky draw against the 10th seed from Gdansk. Paul however was able to produce a dominant display, coming out with a 3-0 win.
The girls matches started after this, but with Tressa receiving a bye to the next round only Yolanda and Marina were in action. Unfortunately Marina was unable keep up with the big hitting of her Turkish opponent from Akdeniz, and bowed out.
On the next table Yolanda was playing against a strong opponent from Poitiers, and looked to be struggling after throwing away a one set lead, and trailed 7-1 in the 3rd. Yolanda was able to rally well however, reeling of a row of great shots, taking the next two sets and the match.
These results mean remaining in the draw for UoN are Paul, Yolanda and Tressa, who all return to action tomorrow morning, hoping to go all the way.
Visit the official EUTTC website for more information, and follow UoN Table Tennis on Twitter for the latest news and photos from the event.
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