European Table Tennis Championships

Polcanova: Medal also secured in women’s doubles

Sofia Polcanova has a good laugh.(Bild: APA/EVA MANHART)

Austria's table tennis team has already won three medals at the European Championships in Linz. After winning mixed silver on Friday with Sofia Polcanova/Robert Gardos, Polcanova with Romanian Bernadette Szöcs and unexpectedly Marek Kolodziejczyk with Moldovan Wladimir Ursu each took a place on the doubles podium. Polcanova also advanced to the singles quarter-finals with her tenth win in her eleventh European Championship match - a 4-0 (8,4,9,10) victory over Sweden's Christina Källberg.

Szöcs/Polcanova defeated Maria Xiao/Adian Diaconu (ESP/ROU) 3:0 (7,13,9), Kolodziejczyk/Ursu Peter Hribar/Deni Kozul (SLO) 3:0 (9,14,10) in the quarterfinals.

Maciej Kolodziejczyk(Bild: GEPA)

In both matches it was decisive that the ÖTTV-players fought off set points in the second round. It was Polcanova's tenth win at these title matches, with only one defeat. "Of course I'm delighted with my second medal. But I still have a very busy program today and have to concentrate on the next task," said the 30-year-old. "I'm trying to look from match to match at this tournament. The schedule is very tight. There's not much time to adjust to the opponents."

The final is in the afternoon
Szöcs/Polcanova are the defending champions and will play Serbia's Izabela Lupulesku/Sabina Surjan on Saturday (4 p.m.) for a place in the final. It will also be extremely difficult for Kolodziejczk/Ursu on Saturday, as they now face French Olympic bronze medallists Alexis and Felix Lebrun. However, the losers are guaranteed bronze, as third place will not be played off. This is a great success for Kolodziejczyk on his European Championship debut in the general class.