Last weekend a very special encounter took place in chinese Zhangjiagang. The allstars from Europe under the guidance of Ex-WSA coach Richard Prause faced their counterparts from Asia. On the side of the European Team, 2 players were nominated who train and live in Schwechat since many years.

These two players were in the end the ones who were crucial for the outcome of the Euro-Asia Allstars Challenge.

 

Robert Gardos and Marcos Freitas provided the sensational victory of the European team in this comparing fight which is held each year since 2009. Already on the first day Robert Gardos was a class of his own and won against the worlds number 16 Gao Ning from Singapur in 3 games. On the second day he played just as well and defeated Noshad Alamiyan without even losing one set. Due to this performance it was no surprise that Gardos was elected the most valuable player of the challenge.

 

Marcos Freitas had to surrender against the superior Ma Long on day one but provided the all deciding point to a 6:2 lead for Europe on day 2. His match against Tang Peng was thrilling until the end. Freitas gave away 4 matchpoints in the 5^th set before he finally won 12:10. Due to this point Europe was lying ahead uncatchable and not even two victories in the end could help the Allstars team from Asia.

 

We don’t want to leave the performance of the Croatian Andrej Gacina unmentioned. He too made 2 points for team Europe and he like Gardos and Freitas was also preparing in the WSA previously.

 

The WSA is very proud of their players and congratulates the Allstars of Europe to this prestigious victory.

 

 

Here you can see all the detailed results:

Day 1 (Saturday, August 1st)

 

Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE) - Bastian Steger (GER)   3:1 (3,-4,9,11)
Gao Ning (SIN) - Robert Gardos (AUT)   0:3 (-6,-6,-9)
Ma Long (CHN) - Marcos Freitas (POR)   3:0 (7,4,7)
Tang Peng (HKG) - Vladimir Samsonov (BLR)   1:3 (-8,-9,8,-6)
Noshad Alamiyan (IRI) - Andrej Gacina (CRO)   1:3 (-9,10,-5,-4)

 

Day 2 (Sunday, August 2nd)

 

Chuang Chih-Yuan (TPE) - Andrej Gacina (CRO) 0:3 (-6,-7,-10)
Noshad Alamiyan (IRI) - Robert Gardos (AUT) 0:3 (-8,-8,-9)
Tang Peng (HKG) - Marcos Freitas (POR) 2:3 (7,-6,3,-6,-10)
Ma Long (CHN) - Vladimir Samsonov (BLR) 3:1 (9,-7,7,7)
Gao Ning (SIN) - Bastian Steger (GER) 3:1 (-3,7,6,7)