St Petersburg October 2008
Wales men’s team gain promotion & women just miss out by one place
The Welsh men’s team of Adam Robertson, Ryan Jenkins and Stephen Gertsen won the men’s Standard Division team event at the European Championships held in St. Petersburg, Russia from the 4th to 12th October. Following a 100% win record for all three players in the group stage, they then went on to beat Finland 3 – 2 in the semi-final and Israel 3 – 1 in the final. Adam Robertson playing some scintillating table tennis in winning all his games. The team captained by George Evans received medals and should also be getting a cup. Next year the men’s team will be promoted to play in the Challenge Division.
The ladies team of Naomi Owen, Naomi Wilson and Natasha Rees missed out on promotion from the Standard Division by one place. Naomi Owen played very well and only lost one game out of the ten she played in the team event. The team had a good team spirit and was very unlucky not to go up. The captain of this team was Barry Robertson.
Adam and Naomi Owen stayed on for the singles events.
Adam got through to the last 64 by beating Berner of Norway 4 -1, where he met Paul Drinkall of England. He had a very closely fought match with Paul losing the first two sets after deuce, but then went down 4 – 0. The game could have easily gone the other way.
Naomi had a very tough draw, meeting Stefanova of Italy in the last 128, and after a strong fight in the first game, losing 14 – 12, and also a strong last game, she lost 4 – 0.
In the doubles Naomi paired up with Na Liu of Ireland and they lost in the last 64 to a Russian pairing Kolodayzhnay and Mikhail.
Adam paired up with Danny Read of England and they also lost in the last 64 to the Danish pair of Monrad and Sternberg.
The playing venue and the hotel were very good, but the organisation of the event, apart from transport, left a lot to be desired.
Barry Robertson