October 13, 2011
The day of the defending champions
Courtesy of Butterfly-World
Well Germany and the Netherlands are the winners of the team events at the European Championships in Gdansk after all. The champions of 2010 in Ostrava have therefore pulled it off again. It was only statistics that weren´t in favor of Germany in the run-up to the final against Sweden. Never before had the DTTB team beaten Sweden in a European Championships Team final, the record standing at 0:4. The last opportunity was the final in Zagreb in 2002 where Germany suffered a 2:3 defeat.
Here in Gdansk the circumstances were completely different. Germany was favorite to win the title right from the outset and has once again lived up to expectations. Bearing in mind that with Christian Süß, who was absent due to injury, Germany also have another top player within their ranks, the 3:0 victory in the final was merely the logical consequence and acknowledgement that, inside Europe, Germany is simply in a league of its own. Fact is that Germany´s biggest challenge throughout the team event was their semi-final encounter with Portugal, which indicates that Timo Boll and his team colleagues are also definite medal prospects in the individual event.
In the women´s final Romania certainly had chances against the defending champions. Both Elisabetha Samara (against Li Jie) as well as Bernadette Szocs (against Elena Timina) gambled away match points. In the final match of the contest Daniela Dodean faced Li Jie (who she had recently beaten) and could have turned the match around.
Could have...
The result was a well-deserved 3:0 victory for the defending champions and the fact remains that Romania’s young squad will now have to wait even longer for the desired European Championships Women´s Team title. Maybe the hour of success will strike for Dodean, Samara, Szocs and Co. in two years time at the European Championships in Schwechat. Now they have two years to mature even further and gain more valuable experience.
| Download the latest Flash Player to view content. |
