Table tennis: Portugal is on the verge of medals

If they win in the quarter-finals, the two national teams will immediately be guaranteed a place on the podium.

The men’s and women’s national teams are close to topping the podium in the European Team Championship, after qualifying for the quarter-finals, today, Thursday, in Malmo, Sweden. In the event of victory, the two teams automatically receive bronze medals, distributed among the defeated semi-finalists without direct confrontations. They are still in a position to discuss their titles.

To reach the quarter-finals, the two teams led by Markus Freitas (19th in the world) and Fu Yu (27th) defeated the Czech Republic 3-0, and Croatia 3-1, in the round of 16, respectively.

Starting for the men’s national team, without wasting any part against the Czechs, Thiago Apolonia (52) and Markus Freitas also dominated Lubomir Jancaric (91) and Pavel Cirusek (416) flawlessly, both with a score of 3-0 (11-6, 11). -9, 11-7, 11-8, 11-2, 11-3), while Joao Giraldo (46) lost the third set to Tomas Polanski (144), but then finished the fight (11-5, 11-8). , 5-11 and 11-8).

“Overall, we all performed very well. The team’s level proved to be very high, which explains the very comfortable partial performances in all matches. “We were at a great level to achieve it,” said Joao Giraldo, who felt, on an individual level, “much better” compared to the last match against Greece. “I felt more confident and more comfortable… I think it was a very important victory to help the team and maintain our confidence.”

In women, Portugal lost a match to Croatia because young woman Ines Matos (262), 18 years old, was unable to beat Hana Arapovic (140), and lost 0-3 (6-11, 10-12, 6-11).

The highest-ranked Xiao Jinye (54th) and Fu Yu made up for their partner’s inexperience by winning their matches. The first was decisive again against Ivana Malubić (91), 3-0 (11-2, 11-4 and 11-5), and Mateja Geiger (194), 3-1 (10-12, 11-3, 11-). 5 and 11-6), the latter being the second group so far. Fu Yu also had no difficulties against Mattia Geiger, whom he defeated 0-3 (8-11, 2-11, 7-11).

“I have already adapted to the wing, the lighting and the floor and I felt like I was playing well, at my usual level. The team is very united and will do its best to achieve good results. We have to play well, and fight hard, to be able to beat Sweden,” said Xiao Jinyi.

Today, Friday, the men’s team, the European champions in 2014, will face the winner of the match between Denmark and Romania, while the women’s team, which won the silver medal in 2019 and the bronze medal in 2021, will meet the winners of the challenge between the host Sweden and Poland. The two teams have already won the World Cup title in Busan, South Korea, in 2024.