After a promising entry to the mixed final, Sofia Polkanova and Robert Cardos had to concede defeat against the Spanish pair at the European Table Tennis Championships in Linz.
Mixed doubles pair Robert Cardos and Sofia Bolganova won silver at the European Table Tennis Championships in Linz on Friday. In the first final of these title fights, the home team lost 0:3 (-8,-9,-10) to Spain’s Alvaro Robles/Maria Chiao. This makes Austria’s association (ÖTTV) ten gold medals in the history of the European Championships and one gold medal in mixed doubles. The European Championship gold won by Werner Schlager with Hungarian Christina Toth in 2003 was the first in red-white-red.
After her first defeat in the ninth of these title fights, Polkanova has the chance to successfully defend her two titles from Munich in 2022. -Old is in the singles category having fought in the round of 16. Maciej Kolodziejczyk will also compete in the doubles finals on Saturday. For Cardos, on the other hand, the title fights ended with his 14th European Championship medal and a fifth silver medal. Three gold and six bronze awards have been received so far.
The semi-final was an hour-long match against the German pair
In the mixed semi-finals, Kartos/Polganova earned their own fourth match point with a 3:2 (8,-10,-12.9, 14) win over Germans Patrick Francisca/Annette Kaufmann. Along with Szöcs, Polkanova is looking for her next continental podium spot with a 3:1 (8.5,-5.8) in Turkish Ece Harac/Ozge Yilmaz against Xiao and Romanian Adina Diaconu on Saturday morning.
Polkanova went 4-0 (5,4,6,9) in her second round singles match against 18-year-old Ukrainian Veronika Matzhunina. “I tried to push myself,” said the number two in the individual competition, referring to the issue of high physical and mental stress at the European Championships. “Because if I had stayed calm, I think I would have lost.” Bolganova, the second seed to advance to the quarter-finals, also played on Saturday, Sweden’s Kristina Kolberg.
In the men’s doubles round of 16, Kartos and Daniel Hapsohn lost 0:3 (-11, -9, -6) to Germany’s Tang Qiu/Benedict Duda. The defeat of the former two-time European champions and five-time European Championship finalists was deserved after a not-so-good run. “I missed a lot of counter topspin balls that I should have,” Habeson summed up. “We missed too many opportunities in my opinion. It’s dangerous against a pair like that, they’re consistent.”
Kolodzijczyk, on the other hand, has the chance to secure his first European Championship podium in the public class. 23-year-old European Championship debutant Tomislav Bucar/Dargo Djorgic (CRO/SLO) lost 3:2 (10.10, -9, -3.7) to his Moldovan standard partner Vladimir Ursu in the doubles round of 16. “We know we can win. We’re in good shape. (APA)