A fighting performance from Andrei Filimon secured victory for Romania in their final match in Group A of Championship Division of the Men’s Team event at the Evergrande World Team Championships in Guangzhou on Thursday 28th February 2008.

He saved match points before overcoming Robert Gardos in a thrilling five games duel after Adrian Crisan had overcome both Robert Gardos and Werner Schlager. The wins for Austria came from Werner Schlager in opposition to Andrei Filimon in the second match of the fixture from Chen Weixing against Constantin Cioti in the third duel.

The victory meant that Romania finished the group in second place with Austria third.

First Place
China secured first spot by beating Italy three-nil; a match in which Ma Lin beat Yang Min, Wang Hao defeated Mihai Bobocica and Wang Liqin accounted for Mattia Crotti.

Never Wins
“It was always going to be a difficult match against Robert Gardos”, said Andrei Filimon who appears to be playing at a new found level in Guangzhou.

“I’ve lost to Robert many times”, the Romania star continued. “In fact I think the last time I beat him we were both juniors; he likes the way I play but today I was really motivated.”

Hunting and Shooting
So what is the reason for the outstanding play shown by Andrei Filimon. “Fishing and hunting”, he smiled. “Hunting is good physical preparation, I go out in the boat fishing; ten hours a day, it clears my head.”

Some theory Mr Filimon; why am I sceptical?

Architect
Andrei Filimon was the hero of the victory but Adrian Crisan was the architect and in Guangzhou I’m sure he’s playing better and better.

“I was aggressive against Werner Schlager, I was positive; in the past I’ve had problems returning his services; today I returned well”, explained Adrian Crisan. “Against Robert Gardos many of the rallies were backhand to backhand; I played faster than him and fore sure I feel I’m playing better as the competition develops.”

Croatia
Meanwhile, in the one remaining fixture in Group A in the Championship Division of the Men’s Team event Croatia finished in style beating Belgium three-one.

Roko Tosic defeated both Martin Bratanov and Yannick Vostes whilst Andrej Gacina also overcame Yannick Vostes; the one success for Belgium came from their rising junior star, Benjamin Rogiers. He beat Borna Kovac in the third match of the duel.

Final Places
The top three places in the group went to China, Romania and Austria with Italy fourth, Croatia fifth and Belgium sixth.

Articol publicat de Ian Marshall pe site-ul Federatiei Internationale de Tenis de Masa, www.ittf.com.