[Tennis de table] Howald (men) and Roodt (women) win at La Coque

LUXEMBOURG CUP The two collectives showed that they were the strongest this weekend by easily dominating their opponents in the final.

Howald confirmed his good disposition yesterday at La Coque by winning the Luxembourg Cup for the men’s team. Already knocked out by Hostert-Folschette in the quarter-finals, the club from the capital once again thwarted the odds, easily taking the upper hand over Lénger (4-0).

The first poster between the Croatian Frane Runjic and the Czech Tomas Koldas gave rise to a match of very high level with some formidable flights on both sides. There was however matter to lose the thread for the 474^e world player of DT Howald led 2 innings to nothing. But it was nothing, the latter managed to remain calm and go up his handicap to win the match in a completely crazy end to the game.

And as, for his part, Marc Dielissen only needed three small sets to force the decision against the leader of DT Lénger, Christian Kill, DT Howald took the lead with two successes in his pocket. It was then the turn of Xu Wang and Tomas Koldas to come to the table to challenge Jim Cloos and Arlindo De Sousa in two already decisive encounters for Andy Schoetter’s guys.

On one side or the other, the two DT Howald players fought hard and ended their match victoriously (3-0) to offer the trophy to their team in just over an hour.

Marc Dielissen could enjoy this second Luxembourg Cup for DT Howald: «It’s a big surprise, especially by the score. I think the first two games hit them hard. Christian (Kill) was not in his match against me and Tomas had an incredible match against Frane Runjic. For us, it was an ideal start. I hope that this victory will motivate us even more for the championship.»

Roodt in control

Among the ladies, if the surprise came from Echternach winning Nidderkäerjeng (4-3) in the semi-final, the challenge was too big in the final for the girls of Traian Ciociu against Roodt. The Luxembourg coach was expecting a big challenge against Tessy Gonderinger and her teammates. It was.

With a score of 4 to 2, there was not really a turning point in this final. Despite the defeat, the Echternach players delivered a valiant performance, with a fine performance by Arina-Dora Singeorzan against Annick Stammet (3-0) and Carole Hartmann against Christine Konsbruck (3-0).

The latter gave their all, but the classification gap with Roodt’s team was too great. In an almost one-sided meeting, Tessy Gonderinger, Annick Stammet, Christine Konsbruck and Laura Burcheri showed that the current championship leader was back in the Luxembourg Cup after leaving the trophy to Nidderkäerjeng for three years.

Of course, Roodt landed at La Coque with his international Tessy Gonderinger all crowned with a qualification for the next European championships with the national team. And despite an ankle injury caused during training, the Luxembourg number 3 did not leave room for suspense by winning her two matches without being scared.

«It was not ideal in terms of support. But we forget all that with the victory. I always have great pleasure in sharing the victory with my club teammates, especially since we wanted to win this Cup again after that of 2019. Now, we hope to achieve the double with the championship“, she slipped.