GAC GROUP 2011 2011
World Table Tennis Championships
It was defeat in the Preliminary Round of the Women’s Singles event for Moldova’s 15 year old Olga Bliznet at the GAC GROUP 2011 World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam on the afternoon of Monday 9th May 2011.
She was beaten in four straight games by Turkey’s Fulya Ozler, a player who certainly responded at the critical times.
It was a contest where arguably experience was the key and where the teenager needed a few more strings to her bow.
Eight years the senior of Olga Bliznet, Fulya Ozler, to her credit remained calm and total focused in the crucial stages of the contest, it was only the fourth game that the Turkish player was able to command proceedings.
Not Without Experience
Only 15 years old but the Moldovan is a player of some experience; it is her third World Championships. In 2009 she made her debut in the H.I.S. World Championships in Yokohama and in 2010 she was on duty for her country in Moscow at the Liebherr World Team Championships.
Furthermore, she qualified for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in 2010 and she acquitted herself extremely well, against all expectations, she reached the quarter-final stage of the Girls’ Singles event.
Pleased with Performance
“I was pleased with how I played in Moscow last year”, said Olga Bliznet. “I lost four-nil today but I don’t think I played badly and you must realise that you cannot win all the time; sometimes you lose.”
There is a very mature head on young shoulders and certainly she is a very intelligent young lady; at no stage did she need the help of an interpreter to translate from her native Russian to English.
She could even understand my broad Yorkshire accent; that’s talent. Yorkshire I mean not understanding the accent!
Great Experience
“Last year in Singapore was a great experience”, continued Olga Bliznet. “There were so many good players than and when I succeeded in the qualification tournament I was so pleased.”
Olga Bliznet is a defender, rarely against Fulya Ozler did she attack and when she did she made mistakes. It is in that area of the game that she needs more strings to her bow, more variation in defence and a great confidence when the chance come to attack.
More Speed
“I need to be faster, I need to move quicker”, sighed Olga Bliznet. “Also I must be able to attack more; that’s important.
Improve attack and at the same time maintain her solid defensive techniques; now geography could be in her favour.
Defensively Minded Country
Moldova is in eastern Europe, it borders two very strong table tennis countries, Romania and Ukraine.
Now, in female table tennis, Ukraine is famed for its defenders; Elena Kovtun, a stalwart defender won the Junior Girls’ Singles title at the 1984 European Youth Championships whilst of the modern day Ukrainian Women’s Team, both Tetyana Sorochynksa and Ganna Gaponova are defenders.
Notably Tetyana Sorochynksa won the Cadet Girls’ Singles title at the European Youth Championships in 1998.
A Nation of Attackers
So travel to Ukraine for defensive practice and then across the other border to practise attacking playing; a Romanian defender is a rarity and in the likes of Daniela Dodean, Elizabeta Samara, Bernadette Szocs, Cristina Hirici et al; there is a host of players who have European, ITTF Pro Tour and ITTF Junior Circuit titles to their credit.
So to Romania for attacking practice, Ukraine for defending; or should it be the other way round?
Note the Name
Whatever, one fact is certain, in the years to come from Moldova, not a country rich in table tennis history, there is one very promising player, a young lady set to take her country to new heights.
Note the name Olga Bliznet.
