This morning, Romania beat Germany 8-5 at the World Cup of Table Tennis for mixed teams and waited with bated breath for the result between Hong Kong and Japan, decisive for the semi-finals of the competition.
Berni Szocs and Andreea Dragoman put their shoulders to Romania’s success. Photo ittf.com
Japan needed a win to overtake Romania in the rankings and fought tremendously to prevail against those from Hong Kong. After two and a half hours, with the score 7-7 (the match ends when the first team reaches 8 sets won), the Japanese lost dramatically in the last set, losing 11-9!
Romania still has to play in the group stage only against the main favorite, China, which has shattered everything so far. The match is being played at this time, but the result only matters for prestige: our girls and boys are in the semi-finals, where only Asian teams have reached: China, South Korea and Hong Kong!
Against Germany, Romania achieved its sixth victory in the competition, two in the first phase and 4 in the second phase of the contest. The tricolors guided by coaches Andrei Filimon and Ionuț Seni fought with the same determination for each set that determined the final score of the meeting. The balance was maintained in the duel of the mixed doubles pairs, Ovidiu Ionescu/Bernadette Szocs – Fanbo Meng/Franziska Schreiner, with good moments on both sides, but with a borderline ending that belonged to the opponents, 1-2 (10-12, 11-9, 10-12). Adina Diaconu (#92 in the world) played a huge role at the game table, and her 3-0 victory (12-10, 11-3, 11-3), against the athlete Yuan Wan (#82 in the world), brought team safety.
Darius Movileanu and Eduard Ionescu scored the winning point
In men’s singles, Eduard Ionescu (#78 in the world) remained connected to the stakes of the meeting with Germany. Although he lost the first two sets, he found solutions and managed to raise the level of the game to bring a team point after the match with Kay Stumper (#84 in the world), score 1-2 (5-11, 3-11, 11-6 ).
Romania’s heroes at the competition in China. Facebook photo
Instead, the doubles matches belonged to Romania. Andreea Dragoman and Bernadette Szocs completed each other against the pair of Yuan Wan/Franziska Schreiner, score 2-1 (11-8, 11-13, 11-6), and Darius Movileanu and Eduard Ionescu resisted the pressure and had the shots necessary for victory with Kay Stumper/Fanbo Meng, 1-0 (12-10).
