Giorgia Piccolin (right) and her mixed doubles partner Niagol Stoyanov (left) were defeated. © FITeT

World Cup adventure for South Tyrol's table tennis aces ends early

The World Table Tennis Championships will take place in Doha, Qatar, between May 17 and 25. For the two hopefuls from South Tyrol, the journey has already come to an end.

19 May 2025

From: never

Giorgia Piccolin and her mixed doubles partner Niagol Stoyanov were eliminated in the round of 32. Just two days after their surprise victory over the Romanian duo of Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs, who had been seeded number 12 in Qatar, they were eliminated by the Egyptians Youssef Abdelaziz and Mariam Alhodaby. The Azzurri put up a brave fight in the 1:3 (7:11, 11:6, 7:11, 10:12) defeat, but were unable to take the lead after temporarily leveling the set. The fourth set saw a thrilling exchange; at 10:8, Piccolin and Stoyanov had two set points, but missed both, ultimately finding themselves powerless against their opponents' first match point.

Shortly thereafter, Piccolin's final exit was sealed. The 29-year-old from Bolzano, who had prevailed against Belgian Lilou Massart 4-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5) in her opening match, was eliminated in the round of 64 on Monday afternoon by the number 17 seed Hyo Won Suh from South Korea, losing 1-4 (6-11, 12-10, 8-11, 4-11, 8-11).

Vivarelli loses at the start

Debora Vivarelli had to accept an early exit from the World Championships on Sunday. The 32-year-old from Kaltern faced Romanian Elizabeta Samara in Doha. However, she was no match for her 24th-seeded opponent, and Vivarelli suffered a decisive 0-4 defeat (4-11, 3-11, 8-11, 2-11).