Belarus table tennis individual championship has come to an end in Minsk. Alina Nikitchanka and Hanna Patseeva took the first place in women’s doubles. They managed to beat Yakatsyaryna Baravok and Marharyta Baltushite in the tough play in finals with the score 3:2. That’s the first time that Alina and Hanna become the champions of such event, but they already have silver medals from 2015 European Championship and bronze medals from 2017 U-21 European Championship that took place in February. Daria Tryhalas and Nadziezhda Bahdanava won 3:1 in the match against Alina Arlouskaya and Mariya Kuchuk, thus taking the 3rd place.
Ilya Barbolin and Pavel Platonau played with Andrei Tsyarekhin and Aliaksandr Kuchuk in the finals of men’s doubles, with Barbolin/Platonau taking the flawless 3:0 victory. Aliaksandr Khanin and Gleb Shamruk became the bronze medallers after winning 3:1 in the match with Milavanau/Barabanau.
In women’s singles Alina Arlouskaya took the 3rd place. The game Patseeva vs Arlouskaya ended with the latter winning 4:0. Andrei Milavanau was defeated 4:1 by Gleb Shamruk in the match for the bronze medal.
In women’s finals, just like the previous year, Aliaksandra Pryvalava faced Daria Tryhalas. Aliaksandra became the champion, winning 4:1. She imposed her game from the very beginning of the first set, featuring rapid spin changes and multidirectional attacks. In set two Daria got the game rhythm and took the advantage, which allowed her to win. Nonetheless, the rest of the match was played in the favor of Aliaksandra. She gained a lot of points by playing “to the body”. Aliaksandra Pryvalava is an experienced athlete with two Olympics and many Europe championships behind her. She can distinctly see the direction and the necessary amount of force for each of her attacks, and she’s also capable of playing cool when it comes to tense moments.
Daria has surely enhanced her skills in comparison with the previous year championship. She keeps the ball well, her enforcement has become much better, as well as the technical elements performance. However, any critical on-table circumstances still cause instability in Daria’s game due to the psychological conditioning which won’t let her unleash her power.
Aliaksandra Pryvalava commenting:
“I intentionally took a break for the season after the Olympics in Rio. I have steadily come through the individual championship, I may say. The semifinal match against Alyna Arlouskaya was really tough, whereas the finals with Daria appeared to be much easier than in our last year game. I have noted some positive changes in my game, still I can clearly see the things to be worked at. All in all, my psychological conditioning was fine, but the physical weariness was present as well”.
In the men’s finals Aliaksandr Khanin played with Pavel Platonau. Aliaksandr started off intrepidly, producing strong and clear attacks that Pavel couldn’t receive, ending the first set in one breath. Set two was marked with a struggle which ended in Pavel’s favor. The match featured lots of enduring and exciting rallies. A thing to be mentioned is Aliaksandr’s play, for he has performed intriguingly and maturely today. During the match he showed power and steadiness, which is now present in his play to the full extent. Pavel Platonau’s game is also noteworthy, for, despite his conditioning being not of the best and despite his occasional faults in the finals, he took a grip of each point. Owing to his determination, he managed to play the match till the final set, with the initial score being 1:3. In the last set, however, Aliaksandr took several points right from the start and kept the advantage, thus winning his first champion's title in singles at Belarus individual championship.
Aliaksandr Khanin commenting:
“I’m happy I could make it to the top. In the finals I felt like taking advantage over Pavel, but I kept losing concentration in the crucial points at the thought that I was already done. Pavel, on the contrary, played steadily and endured. I’m not a regular player at Belarusian tournaments, so, in comparison with the previous championship, I feel like having improved my game and playing stronger”
The participants of the awarding ceremony:
Chairman of BPA “Belarusian Table Tennis Federation”, the Minister of Finances of the Republic of Belarus - Viktor Viktorovich Amarin;
First Chairman Deputy, the main national team coach, Honored coach of Belarus - Aleksandr Nikolaevich Petkevich;
Chairman Deputy, BSTU associate professor – Viktor Abramovich Shanyukevich;
Chairman Deputy – Pyotr Ivanovich Ivanenko;
Director of the Republican Table Tennis Olympic Preparation Center – Vladimir Dmitrievich Yeslenkov.
Results.
