Greece won a bronze medal in the men’s team event at the Balkan Table Tennis Championships in Sarajevo on Wednesday, September 16, while the women’s team finished fourth.
The men’s national team beat Romania 3-2 in the bronze-medal match to extend its record of podium finishes since the Balkan Championships for senior players returned in 2022.
Greece won the title in 2023 and 2025 and has finished on the podium every year since 2022.
George Konstantinopoulos, Gerasimos Chatzilygeroudis and Alexandros Madesis secured the latest medal under the guidance of coach Christos Lamis.
Greece had earlier completed an unbeaten group-stage campaign before beating North Macedonia 3-0 in the quarter-finals. Serbia then ended its title hopes with a 3-1 victory in the semi-finals.
The Greek team recovered in the bronze-medal match against a much stronger Romania side than the one it had faced in the group stage.
European junior team silver medallist Robert Istrate recovered from a minor injury and moved into Romania’s first position, helping his team level the match at 2-2. Greece, however, secured the bronze through two wins from Konstantinopoulos and one from Madesis in closely contested matches.
Konstantinopoulos opened with a 3-1 victory over Istrate before Robert Pontar defeated Chatzilygeroudis 3-2. Madesis then edged Horia Ursut 3-2, while Istrate beat Chatzilygeroudis 3-2 to level the tie.
Konstantinopoulos then defeated Pontar 3-1 to secure the bronze for Greece.
Quarter-final: Greece 3-0 North Macedonia
- Gerasimos Chatzilygeroudis beat Filip Mladenovski 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-4)
- George Konstantinopoulos beat Kristian Stanokovski 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-6)
- Alexandros Madesis beat Luka Stojtsev 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-4)
Semi-final: Greece 1-3 Serbia
- George Konstantinopoulos lost to Nemanja Dillas 0-3 (7-11, 9-11, 6-11)
- Gerasimos Chatzilygeroudis lost to Dimitrije Levajac 0-3 (10-12, 5-11, 9-11)
- Alexandros Madesis beat Uros Ninkovic 3-0 (12-10, 11-5, 11-7)
- George Konstantinopoulos lost to Levajac 2-3 (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 9-11, 9-11)
Bronze-medal match: Romania 2-3 Greece
- Robert Istrate lost to George Konstantinopoulos 1-3 (4-11, 10-12, 11-8, 8-11)
- Robert Pontar beat Gerasimos Chatzilygeroudis 3-2 (9-11, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11, 11-8)
- Horia Ursut lost to Alexandros Madesis 2-3 (9-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6, 7-11)
- Robert Istrate beat Gerasimos Chatzilygeroudis 3-2 (11-3, 11-4, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7)
- Robert Pontar lost to George Konstantinopoulos 1-3 (5-11, 6-11, 11-5, 10-12)
Moldova won the men’s gold medal after beating Serbia 3-2 in the final.
Greek women finish fourth
The Greek women’s team also mounted a strong challenge for a return to the Balkan podium but finished fourth after losing 3-2 to Bulgaria in the bronze-medal match.
Ioanna Gerasimatou, Malamateni Papadimitriou and Dimitra-Thomaïs Tsekoura represented Greece under coach Konstantinos Kostopoulos.
Greece began the knockout stage with a 3-1 quarter-final victory over Turkey. Tsekoura won the decisive third match in five sets before Gerasimatou secured the tie with a second individual victory.
Serbia then beat Greece 3-0 in the semi-finals. Gerasimatou came close to bringing Greece back into the contest but narrowly lost her five-set match.
In the bronze-medal match, Greece faced three Bulgarian players familiar from their spells in the Greek A1 league.
Gerasimatou produced another two victories, but Papadimitriou and Tsekoura lost their closely contested matches, allowing Bulgaria to secure a 3-2 victory.
Quarter-final: Turkey 1-3 Greece
- Banu Simsek beat Malamateni Papadimitriou 3-1 (13-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-6)
- Bursa Demir lost to Ioanna Gerasimatou 0-3 (7-11, 5-11, 4-11)
- Asunde Simsek lost to Dimitra-Thomaïs Tsekoura 2-3 (11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 2-11, 10-12)
- Banu Simsek lost to Gerasimatou 1-3 (10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11)
Semi-final: Serbia 3-0 Greece
- Aneta Masuti beat Dimitra-Thomaïs Tsekoura 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-6)
- Reka Bezeg beat Ioanna Gerasimatou 3-2 (11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9)
- Sara Radak beat Malamateni Papadimitriou 3-1 (11-8, 7-11, 11-6, 13-11)
Bronze-medal match: Bulgaria 3-2 Greece
- Maria Yovkova beat Dimitra-Thomaïs Tsekoura 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-2)
- Viktoria Persova lost to Ioanna Gerasimatou 1-3 (6-11, 11-9, 5-11, 7-11)
- Kalina Hristova beat Malamateni Papadimitriou 3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11-0, 11-7)
- Maria Yovkova lost to Gerasimatou 2-3 (9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 6-11, 5-11)
- Viktoria Persova beat Tsekoura 3-1 (11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5)
Serbia won the women’s title after beating Romania 3-1 in the final.
