Linz. The Austrian participants at the European Table Tennis Championships at the Tibbs Arena put on an impressive performance in the qualifying round on the first day of competition. The surprise of the day came as 14-year-old Nina Skerbins recorded two wins on her European Championship debut, as did three other local debutants in their respective groups of four. Robert Kartos and Andreas Levenko have won their groups with two wins each and qualified for the qualifiers.
The first qualifying round matches took place at the Linz Tipps Arena on Tuesday. While women compete in teams of four for the qualifying finals, men compete in teams of three.
Strong start to Austrian table tennis women’s tournament
Caroline Mishek, Anastasia Sterner, Nina Scherpins and Liu Yuan each had two wins in the four-man groups on the first day of competition. The four starters in the qualifiers (ranked by Polkanova in the main event) will play on Wednesday to win the group and qualify for the qualifier finals, which will also be held on the same day.
14-year-old Nina Scurbins wondered
At the end of the month, 15-year-old Nina Skerbins showed her talent with a 3-1 win over highly rated Pole Natalia Bogdanovic. A little later, to the delight of the spectators, the Vienna-born athlete defeated Slovakian Ema Labozova with the same result. In the ORF interview, the young Austrian is proud, but he wants to focus fully on the next games.
Kartos and Levenko won their groups
Robert Kartos and Andreas Levenko lived up to their roles as favorites in their groups on Tuesday, coming into the qualifiers with two wins. After the opening win, Maciej Kolodziejczyk, the top seed in his group, bowed 0-3 to Bulgarian Yoan Velichov. Julian Rzihaszek (15) and Liu Zhenlong (19), two European Championship debutants, have each suffered a defeat in the opening round and will play their second game on Wednesday.
Exciting games on Wednesday
Looking forward to see who will qualify for the main event on Wednesday. Austria’s medal hope Sofia Bolganova will enter the title fight with Robert Cardos in the mixed 1/16 final on Wednesday evening.
Tickets are still available for the next few days of the tournament and can be ordered here.