No success in the evening for either Team
25th May 2010by Malcolm Macfarlane
The listing was posted by English Table Tennis Association
The England Men's Team's second match of the day at the Liebherr 2010 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow was against the top seeds in their group - the Slovak Republic. The Slovaks were just too strong. World no 89 Lubomir Pistej was too strong for Danny Reed in the first game winning in 3 straight games, second match was Paul Drinkhall against Erik Illas, Illas took the first two games, Paul recovered to take the third but was unable to resist in the fourth. England 0-2 down.
Liam Pitchford playing at three had the task of beating the Slovak no 1, world no 96, Peter Sereda, again the Slovak took the first two games, Liam pinched the third but there was nothing he could do to stop the Slovak in the 4th Game. Team match score 3-0 to Slovak Republic
At the same time at the other end of the hall England Women were busy facing Croatia.
What a start from Kelly Sibley, coming back from 1 game down to take world no 89, Cornelia Vaida in 4 games, Kelly was really on fire especially with the spinny backhand loop which really troubled Vaida.
Next up Joanna Parker against the left handed power of Andrea Bakula, once again the power was just too great and Jo never got in front in any game except the third where she moved to 4-0 but she was quickly pegged back to 4-4 and that was that.
Karina Le Fevre was given a taste of senior table tennis in the third game against Croatian No 4 Mirela Durak, but Durak was just too quick and powerful and this one slipped away in 3 games.
Fourth game, back to Kelly Sibley against the left handed Bakula, The first game went to the Croatian but Kelly stormed back to take the second comfortably. The third game was the key and Bakula had the luck at the right time to stand 9-9 instead of 10-8 down when a ball crept over the net, that third game went to Bakula on deuce, the fourth game was another real battle but Kelly just could not get ahead more then a point and in the end two big forehands from the Croat took the match for Croatia 3-1.
The ITTF liked Kelly's performance too, to see what they said click here
England Men face Iran tomorrow lunchtime in the last match of their group, the England Women must look to overturn the result a month or so ago in Preston when they lost to Poland, after all, their only other match in the group left to play is against China!!!
Results
Mens Team
England 0 Slovak Republic 3
PISTEJ Lubomir beat REED Daniel 16-14, 11-6, 11-7
ILLAS Erik beat DRINKHALL Paul 11-7, 11-7, 5-11, 11-7
SEREDA Peter beat PITCHFORD Liam 11-9, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6
Womens Team
England 1 Croatia 3
SIBLEY Kelly beat VAIDA Cornelia 5-11, 11-8, 11-6, 14-12
PARKER Joanna lost to BAKULA Andrea 7-11, 6-11, 7-11
LE FEVRE Karina lost to DURAK Mirela 3-11, 7-11, 3-11
SIBLEY Kelly lost to BAKULA Andrea 8-11, 11-4, 10-12, 9-11
Photo: Kelly Sibley, another great win over the 2000 European Youth Champion, Cornelia Vaida