Berlin Eastside Wins Women European Champions League!

Berlin Eastside is the new Women European Champions League after beating Austrian Strock in the final. Although ther German club lost by 2:3 (9:10 in games) in the second leg held in Werner Schlager Academy, it had 3:2 victory (9:8 in games and 158:158 in points) got at home, what allowed it to clinch the title. This time the Berlin's hero was Georgina Pota, who won her first match as expected but she surprised everyone as she was 2:1 up against China's Fan Ying. Despite she didn't win, she got two important game for the whole score. After that Berlin had to win two more games to secure victory and Ivancan got it in the final match. 

On the other hand, Daniela Dodean had a low performance in both, first and second leg. She suffered defeat at hands of Georgina Pota by 3:0 and Irene Ivancan by 3:1, so she was the third player in the second leg. Dodean fell again but this time against Petra Lovas by 3:0, what affected Strock's ambitions. Then Fan Ying let two games go against Georgina Pota, which were crucial for Berlin victory. At the end of the encounter, Daniela Dodean was clearly the most affected player by the defeat. 

Berlin-Eastside 2-3 Strock

In the first match Fan Ying faced the European runner-up Irene Ivancan by 3:0. The Chinese player gave no chance to Ovancan and swept with her by 11:2. Then things didn't change for the German player and succumbed by 11:2 again. In the third match Ivancan showed a small recovery but it wasn't enough because Ying closed the match by 11:8. 

Georgina Pota and Li Qianbing clashed in the second match. Qianbing won the first game by 13:11 but Pota leveled by 11:6. Since then the Hungarian player took control of the match and got the third game by 11:8. However, the Austrian player didn't give up and forced Pota to go to great lengths. Finally, Pota secured her victory by 15:13 and leveled for Berlin. 

Petra Lovas and Daniela Dodean met in the third encounter. Lovas took advantage from Dodean's weak start and won the first game by 11:3. Then the Romanian player couldn't recover and Lovas got the second game by 11:6. The third game was close but the Hungarian player managed to win by 12:10 and put the score 2:1 in favor of Berlin. 

Georgina Pota and Fan Ying clashed in the fifth match. Fan took the lead after winning the first game by 11:8. Then the Hungarian fought back and leveled by 13:11. Pota repeated her strategy and got the third game by the same score. Everybody though that Pota will close the match in the fourth game as she was 7:3 up but the Chinese player had a spectacular recovery and leveled by 11:9. In the deciding game, Fan didn't hesitate and won by 11:4 forcing to fifth match. 

Irene Ivancan faced Li Qianbing in the deciding match. After being 0:4 down, Ivancan fought back and took the first game by 12:10. Then Li took the lead again but this time she kept her advantage and leveled by 11:7. The third game was close and Ivancan managed to have two game points but she missed  them, so Li took her chance and won the game by 13:11. Both players continued fighting and Ivancan managed to be have  two match points again and missed them again. Finally, the German player won the game in her fifth attempt and gave the title to Berlin-Eastside. However, the match didn't finish, so both players came back to the table. This time Li could dominate the game and go the game by 11:8. 

Photo and info. source: ttc-berlin-eastside.de (Ronny Pabst) - ettu.com