The Athlete of the week

Romanian table tennis player Ovidiu Ionescu

Florin Orban, 25.09.2018, 12:18

Romanian table tennis this past Sunday reported the most notable performance of the past 50 years in a European men’s competition. Ovidiu Ionescu walked home with the silver medal in the men’s European Individual Championships hosted by the city of Alicante, Spain. Ionescu thus placed himself on a par with Radu Negulescu who also got silver in Zagreb in 1960. For his notable performance in Alicante, Radio Romania International designated Ovidiu Ionescu the Athlete of the Week.

Ovidiu Ionescu’s trail first included a laid-back, 4-1 win against Dutch challenger Ewout Oostwouder on Thursday. Then, on Friday, the Romanian table tennis player outclassed defending European champion Emmanuel Lebesson, also 4-1. In the round of 16, Ionescu outperformed Danish challenger, 6th-seed Jonathan Groth, 4-2. In the quarterfinals Ovidiu Ionescu secured a 4-3 win against Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus. We recall that Samsonov is a three-time European champion in the men’s singles, in 1998, 2003 and 2005, and a world vice-champion in 1997.

In the semifinals, Ovidiu Ionescu defeated Swedish challenger Kristian Karlsson, 4-2. Karlsson is a silver and bronze medalist in the men’s doubles of the European Championships and a bronze medalist in the nations’ competition. In the final, he played against German challenger Timo Boll. Ovidiu Ionescu had a good start winning the first set, 11-6. Ionescu was granted advantage in the second set, but Boll came from behind and won the set, 11-7. Then Boll went on to win the following sets as well, thus adding the seventh European men’s singles title to his record sheet.

Ovidiu Ionescu was born in Buzau, on June 28, 1989. He currently plays for the German club Post SV Muhlhausen. In European competitions, Ionescu also won bronze jointly with Bernadette Szocs in the mixed doubles, in 2016.