Comfortable wins in the top half of the draw for the victors was the order of the day in the Men’s Team at the Erke Austrian Open on Wednesday 29th October 2008.
However, in the lower half of the draw there were close calls for three of the four teams who eventually secured quarter-final places.
Poland excelled to overcome Croatia, recording a three matches to one victory but for Japan, Slovakia and Chinese Taipei there were more testing times.
Japan defeated the Czech Republic, Slovakia overcame England and Chinese Taipei ended Brazilian hopes; all decisions needing a vital fifth match duel.
Spirited Recovery
Against the Czech Republic, matters appeared to be progressing unhindered for Japan with Seiya Kishikawa and Kenta Matsudaira recording respective wins against Antonin Gavlas and Lubomir Jancarik to move into a two matches to nil lead.
However, the team from the Czech Republic responded.
Tomas Jancarik and Tomas Konecny joined forces to win the doubles against Kenta Matsudaira and Taku Takakiwa before levelling at two-all with Konecny being the man in form. He defeated Seiya Kishikawa in impressive style recording a straight games win.
Victory Secured
The scores level, the outcome rested on the shoulders of Taku Takakiwa and Antonin Gavlas; the verdict going in straight games in favour of the former.
Lubomir Pistej
It was very much a team effort that brought success for Japan whilst for Slovakia it was thanks to Lubomir Pistej that a victory over England was recorded.
He beat both Danny Reed and Darius Knight in the first and last matches of the duel with Thomas Keinath adding the one further success by beating Paul Drinkhall. The English wins came from Drinkhall against Peter Sereda and in the doubles with Reed joining forces with Darius Knight to defeat Keinath and Sereda.
Chuan Chih-Yuan
Similarly in the duel against Brazil, Chinese Taipei must thank Chuan Chih-Yuan.
He remained unbeaten overcoming Gustavo Tsuboi and Thiago Monteiro with the one further Chinese Taipei success coming from Wu Chih-Chi; in the vital last match of the duel, he defeated Cazuo Matsumoto.
The man to suffer in the duel was Chiang Hung-Chieh; he was beaten in five games in the opening duel by Cazuo Matsumoto whilst in partnership with Wu Chih-Chi, he suffered in the doubles against Thiago Monteiro and Gustavo Tsuboi.
Less Traumatic
Close calls but for Poland life was less traumatic.
Wang Zeng Yi opened proceedings with victory over Roko Tosic before Andrej Gacina levelled for Croatia by beating Daniel Gorak.
Alas for Croatia there was to be no further success. Lucjan Blasczyk and and Wang Zeng Yi joined forces to win the doubles against Ronald Redjep and Andrej Gacina with Blaszczyk bringing matters to a close wirh victory over the suffering Roko Tosic.
Quarter-Finals
In the quarter-finals, Poland plays Japan with Slovakia confronting Chinese Taipei. v
Source: www.ittf.com
