Women’s table tennis team reached the semi-finals of the European Games

The women’s table tennis team reached the semi-finals of the European Games 2023 qualifying tournament in Krakow at the Hutnik Arena this Thursday thanks to the triumphs of Fu Yu, Yeni Shao and Ines Matoš against Ukraine.

Olympic champion Fu Yu and young Ines Matoš, aged 18, started the meeting in the best possible way, beating Anastasia Dimitrenko and Solomiya Brateiko with a score of 3:2, recovering from the debut 2:11 and winning with a score of 11:4 and 11.-9, conceded 5-11 and closed with the “black” with a score of 11-4.

Then Zheny Shao lost to the best Ukrainian chess player Margarita Pesotskaya with a score of 3:1 (11:3, 9:11, 11:7 and 11:7), but Fu Yu beat Brateiko with the same result (12:10, 2-11, 11-1 and 11-5).

To conclude, Zheny Shao beat Dimitrenko 11–7, 11–9 and 11–5 to allow Portugal to enter the medal draw, whether it was the final if they won the “half” or the bronze game if they lost. .

“We knew before the game that it would be very difficult. It was very important to win in pairs. Winning in pairs was the most important part. Lusa, selector, Xie Huang.

According to the coach, playing in pairs puts some pressure at first, especially on the young Inés Matoš or Mathilde Pinta, so the goal is mainly to win individual games between Fu Yu, the 30th player in the world at the age of 44, or Shao, 44th, but he was happy with the victory that opened: “3-2, which was not easy, but went to Portugal.”

As Zheny Shao explained, the final game was “decisive”, as it would be Matos who would play the decisive match if he lost, and therefore emphasized his “full concentration to guarantee victory”.

For her part, Inés Matoš sees Portugal as “the stronger team in the world”, which gives them “confidence”.

“We were a little surprised that Hanna Khaponova didn’t play, but maybe they thought that Shao Zeni and Fu Yu were too strong against defenders,” the girl said.

Ahead of the next leg, Xie Jouan’s men, ranked 11th in the world national team rankings, will face favorites Germany or Sweden, who are still facing each other, in the final duel scheduled for Friday.

Also this Thursday, the men’s national team, ranked eighth in the world rankings, will face Romania, ranked 24th, in a match scheduled for 16:00 local time (15:00 Lisbon).

Portugal now has 13 podiums in Krakow 2023, namely four golds, seven silvers and three bronzes.

The Third European Games will last until Sunday in Krakow and in the Polish region of Lesser Poland, with 30 sports and 48 participating countries on the program, including Portugal, whose delegation has more than two hundred athletes.