MADRID, 12 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spaniards Álvaro Robles and María Xiao were close to obtaining the first direct ticket to the Paris Games in the Pre-Olympic Mixed Doubles Tournament, held in Havirov (Czech Republic), where they fell short in the final of their competition draw .
The Spanish duo suffered a defeat in that final, falling by a narrow margin of 3-4 to the North Korean pair of Jong Sik Ri and Kum Yong Kim. After an exciting exchange of sets, where Robles and Xiao came to dominate, the Olympic ticket escaped them in the final details of the last set, with partial scores of 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 15 -13, 9-11 and 11-13.
The Spanish had started their journey directly in the second round because they were first seeded. There they faced and beat the Thais Phakpoom Sanguansin and Orawan Paranang 4-1. Later, in the semifinals, they achieved another victory by the same score against the Austrians Robert Gardos and Sofia Polcanova.
Despite the bitter outcome, Robles and Xiao have another chance to qualify in the second knockout phase of the tournament, where they will advance directly to the second round and await the winner of the duel between the Moldovan pair of Vladislav Ursu with Alexandra Chiriacova and the Czech duo by Jan Valenta with Zdena Blaskova.