Lions win Portugal Cup
Table tennis wins first title of the year for Sporting CP
Sporting Clube de Portugal’s men’s table tennis team won, this Sunday, the Portuguese Cup in the sport by beating, in the final, GDCS Juncal by 3-0 in Viana do Castelo. It was the 33rd time that the Alvalade emblem won the competition.
The table tennis players Leoninos, who completely dominated the tournament as the results always ended with 3-0, also marked this beginning of 2022, as they won the first title of the year for the Club.
It all started on Saturday, when Sporting CP – with Bode Abiodun, Diogo Carvalho and Diogo Silva in the team and with Chen Shi Chao as coach – entered the final phase of the Portuguese Table Tennis Cup, held at the Centro Cultural de Viana do Castelo over the weekend, with a 0-3 victory over GD Toledos. On the same day, in the quarter-finals, another 3-0 victory, this time over ADC Ponta do Pargo, but with much more difficulty than the previous one.
On Sunday morning, the opponent in the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup was AR Novelense, and the result settled again at 3-0 for Sporting CP in a relatively calm way.
In the final, Sporting CP’s opponent was GDCS Juncal, a team from the Azores, but the result was the usual: 3-0. Still, the task was the most complicated yet. Opening the match, Diogo Carvalho advanced 2-0 over José Magalhães, who responded and made it 2-2. Finally, Leão managed to win by 11-7 and reached 3-2, putting Sporting CP ahead.
Bode Abiodun against Kirill Shvets followed. The Russian came forward with a 7-11, but the green and white Nigerian managed a comeback with 11-4 and 11-7. Kirill Shvets made it 2-2 and, in ‘black’, Bode Abiodun was stronger (12-10). 2-0 for Sporting CP.
The third and final meeting was a doubles match, with Bode Abiodun and Diogo Silva to face José Magalhães and Konstantin Chernov. The final result was fixed at 3-1, having been the least demanding duel of the entire challenge.
Thus, Sporting CP reached 3-0 and beat GDCS Juncal in the final of the Portuguese Table Tennis Cup. Chen Shi Chao’s team thus started the year in the best possible way.
Sporting CP 3-0 GDCS Juncal
Diogo Carvalho 3-2 José Magalhães (11-7, 11-3, 10-12, 7-11 and 11-7)
Goat Abiodun 3-2 Kirill Shvets (7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 9-11 and 12-10)
Bode Abiodun / Diogo Silva 3-1 José Magalhães / Konstantin Chernov (11-8, 11-6, 3-11 and 11-6)