Who is going to Beijing?

The answer after this weekends qualifications is that there are 16 players how played in Budapest that can book there ticket to Beijing. I’m going to tell you a little bit about some of the players who qualified.

I was in Budapest watching the qualifications and of course I got my own favourites.
One of them was Ahmed Al Saleh from Algeria. He started the tournament by winning his group in front of Spanish player Machado 13-11 in the deciding game. He later on beat Pazsy and Yang Min both in five games. This meaning that he was in the last sixteen and qualified for the Olympics. But in the next match he met Karakasevic and the 28 year old Egyptian wasn’t satisfied finishing in the last sixteen he wanted more. After six games he had more or less crushed Karakasevic and was now to meet Adrian Crisan in the quarterfinals. This time he didn’t have the luck on his side and he lost 15-13 in the deciding game after having five match points! A great tournament for this African player who has an excellent feeling for the game, a good serve and a great backhand.

Another favourite was Apolonia from Portugal; he is ranked as number 106 in the world. This young guy is playing in Jülich on the second table and won 6 games and lost 10. I don’t know if he is staying there but I’m sure he will perform better next season.

Apolonia started of with winning his group quite easy over Tomasi, Italy, and Sanguasin, Thailand only leaving them one game together.
He then crushed Pavelka 4-0 after an impressive performance. He pushed the ball far out in Pavelkas forehand and then quite easily winning the point directly or after just a few times over the net. Apolonia really played well on defence and Pavelka didn’t stand a chance. Pavelka suffered a bit from a sour leg but he wasn’t even close so I don’t think he would of won anyway.

Alfredo Carneros from Spain qualified for the last 16 by winning over Chang in a very tight game. Before that he beat Tugwell from Denmark and English young gun Drinkhall. Carneros wins his games by fighting and never giving up, a great quality for a tt-player. I really think he is worth his place in the Olympics. He has really earned it more then most.

More from Budapest later..