The Romanian national representative of table tennis has qualified to the quarter-finals of the World Championship in Halmstad (Sweden) on Tuesday, after defeating, in less than six hours, two Asian teams: Taipei (3-0) and North Korea (3-1).
Thus, Romania tops Group C means the direct qualification to the quarter-finals of the competition, where the national team will face the winner between Taiwan and Hong Kong.
“The Romanian table tennis school has shown its value. Our girls are competitive, they play at high level every match. I am glad that many colleagues coaching Asian countries ask me what the secret of our performances is,” Cristi Romanescu, the President of the Romanian Table Tennis Federation (FRTM) has told ProSport.
He added that “after the match against the Netherlands we needed some time to recover. But in the decisive match we focused on the game and played at the highest level. This is Romania!” Elizabeta Samara (photo), Romania’s number one player, former European Champion, said.
Romania’s team was defeated by the Netherlands 3-1 on Sunday. The Romanian federation challenged the result, due to the fact that the referee approved the team, according to a new regulation, one hour before the match, in alphabetical order, leaving on the bench the best players (Elizabeta Samara and Bernadette Szocs).
On Tuesday, the Romanian table tennis federation announced on Facebook that the protest and request for replaying the match against the Netherlands was rejected by the organizers of the World Championship in Sweden, with the score remaining 1-3.
Group C standings: Romania – 9 points, North Korea – 9, Taipei – 8, Netherlands – 7, Poland – 6, Czech Republic – 6.