Day three of the European Olympic Qualifications tournament held in Luxembourg on the 13th April 2012 came to an end with four players officially qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics! The first player to qualify was Austria's Robert Gardos, then Portugal's Marcos Freitas and Joao Monteriro and finally the number 1 seed of the tournament Bastian Steger.
Tomorrow four more players and on Sunday three more players will have the chance to qualify!
Portugal’s Joao Monteiro - Photo Lomaev
Bastian Steger
Bastian Steger the silver medalist at the recent World Team Championships justified his position. In the final he defeated Hungary's Adam Pattantyus who overcome Tiago Apolonia in the previous round which was a surprise for all.
Steger expressed, "I had many tough matches through the tournament, I had a hard group and already saw Adam defeat some very good players along the way". On route to his qualifcation ticket to London 2012 Olympics Bastian defeated Constantin Cioti, Jens Lundqvist, Marko Jectovic, Pavel Platonov and Omry Benari.
Robert Gardos
Robert Gardos the number two seed for the event secured a place in the London 2012 Table Tennis Olympics as he defeated Daniel Zwikl in the final! Gardos quoted, "This tournament is extremely special to me, you do not play for money or ranking. You play for something much bigger than that, a place at the Olympics!"
On route to London, Robert overcome Slovakia's Peter Sereda in the quarter final and then Great Britain's Paul Drinkhall in straight games in the semi final to face Daniel Zwikl in the final.
Marcos Freitas
Marcos Freitas emphasised the pressure this tournament puts on you. In his own words, "I was in the same situation last time for qualifications to Bejing and I knew what to expect. However it is so difficult to play this qualification tournament. Playing three matches in just one day puts so much stress and pressure. Its enormous!"
On route to Marcos qualification ticket to London he disposed Aleksandr Smirnov, Lubomir Postej and Adam Pattantyus in his group. Marcos then went on to defeat Thomas Keinath 4-0 and than Liam Pitchford of Great Britain by 4 games to 2. In the final Marcos defeated Emmanuel Lebesson to book himself a place for the London 2012 Olympics!
Joao Monteiro
Last but not least Portugal's Joao Monteiro booked his place in London by defeating both Andrej Gacina and Kirill Skachkov in four straight sets. In the group stages Joao disposed Kou Lei, Daniel Zwickl and Lauric Jean.
Joao expressed, "This tournament is very demanding, both physically and mentally. It is hard to play five days here, luckily I managed to qualify in the first attempts."
Congratulations to Bastian Steger, Robert Gardos, Marcos Freitas and Joao Monteiro in qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics!
To follow all the latest news, results and videos from the European Olympics Qualifications click here
Source of article: ettu.org
TableTennisDaily
Tomorrow four more players and on Sunday three more players will have the chance to qualify!
Portugal’s Joao Monteiro - Photo Lomaev
Bastian Steger
Bastian Steger the silver medalist at the recent World Team Championships justified his position. In the final he defeated Hungary's Adam Pattantyus who overcome Tiago Apolonia in the previous round which was a surprise for all.
Steger expressed, "I had many tough matches through the tournament, I had a hard group and already saw Adam defeat some very good players along the way". On route to his qualifcation ticket to London 2012 Olympics Bastian defeated Constantin Cioti, Jens Lundqvist, Marko Jectovic, Pavel Platonov and Omry Benari.
Robert Gardos
Robert Gardos the number two seed for the event secured a place in the London 2012 Table Tennis Olympics as he defeated Daniel Zwikl in the final! Gardos quoted, "This tournament is extremely special to me, you do not play for money or ranking. You play for something much bigger than that, a place at the Olympics!"
On route to London, Robert overcome Slovakia's Peter Sereda in the quarter final and then Great Britain's Paul Drinkhall in straight games in the semi final to face Daniel Zwikl in the final.
Marcos Freitas
Marcos Freitas emphasised the pressure this tournament puts on you. In his own words, "I was in the same situation last time for qualifications to Bejing and I knew what to expect. However it is so difficult to play this qualification tournament. Playing three matches in just one day puts so much stress and pressure. Its enormous!"
On route to Marcos qualification ticket to London he disposed Aleksandr Smirnov, Lubomir Postej and Adam Pattantyus in his group. Marcos then went on to defeat Thomas Keinath 4-0 and than Liam Pitchford of Great Britain by 4 games to 2. In the final Marcos defeated Emmanuel Lebesson to book himself a place for the London 2012 Olympics!
Joao Monteiro
Last but not least Portugal's Joao Monteiro booked his place in London by defeating both Andrej Gacina and Kirill Skachkov in four straight sets. In the group stages Joao disposed Kou Lei, Daniel Zwickl and Lauric Jean.
Joao expressed, "This tournament is very demanding, both physically and mentally. It is hard to play five days here, luckily I managed to qualify in the first attempts."
Congratulations to Bastian Steger, Robert Gardos, Marcos Freitas and Joao Monteiro in qualifying for the London 2012 Olympics!
To follow all the latest news, results and videos from the European Olympics Qualifications click here
Source of article: ettu.org
TableTennisDaily
