Defeat in the final of the Women’s Team event and it was defeat in the final of the Men’s Team competition at the Erke German Open in Berlin on Saturday 22nd November 2008.
Germany lost to Poland.
The Polish contingent of Lucjan Blaszczyk, Jakub Kosowski and Wang Zeng Yi overcame the German team comprising Christian Süss, Bastian Steger and Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth by three matches to one.
Wang Zeng Yi has very much been the player in form for Poland throughout the whole event and in the final he maintained that form.
Perfect Start
He gave Poland the perfect start by beating Christian Süss in a tough five games encounter before Bastian Steger levelled matters with victory over Jakub Kosowski.
The match score level, Lucjan Blaszczyk and Wang Zeng Yi gave Poland the advantage with a four games victory over Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth and Christian Suss before the much improved Jakub Kosowski brought matters to an end with victory over Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth.
Good Reasons
“Of course, we were not sure right from the beginning to win the German Open, but we were optimistic”, said Lucjan Blaszczyk. “There are good reasons for that.”
One of those reasons was how the player who proved was playing at a new level would respond.
“First of all, Jakub Kosowski is a young player you can rely on and very often he was good for two wins”, continued Lucjan Blaszcyk. “Moreover, it’s a fact Wang Zeng Yi and myself form a strong doubles combination; this us the opportunity of tactical variations so we can adapt as needed.”
Expert Coach
Certainly the doubles in the Olympic format is crucial and having options gives a team an advantage and the coach on duty for Poland is a wise man when it comes to doubles. The coach was Tomas Krzeszewski, the player with whom Lucjan Blaszcyk enjoyed great success including ITTF Pro Tour titles.
“All teams in this tournament were very strong”, concluded Blaszczyk. “We turned out to be the best and we are of course delighted; we are very happy about our first place at the German Open in Berlin.”
Philosophical
Meanwhile, for German coach, Richard Prause, it was a philosophical response.
"We had a 50-50 chance against a strong Polish team”, he said. “They did a little better than us today concerning on ‘little things’ in table tennis, in the end they deserved the victory; congratulations to them."
A sporting response; for Germany the silver medal, for Poland it was valuable gold.
Source: www.ittf.com
