“If you get to the final, you have to believe you can win”

• Romania – France, the final of the European Championship, will take place on Sunday, October 19, at 18:00, live on AntenaPlay.

For the first time in history, the Romanian men's team reached the grand final, surpassing the previous best result, three bronze medals won in 2005, 2007 and 2009 by the teams that included Andrei Filimon, the current head coach.

So far we had three bronze medals and now this is the first silver medal in our history. We have had an amazing generation before us and now with these young players it may not be the last medal in the team event

– Ovidiu Ionescu

Romania beat Serbia 3-0, Sweden 3-2 and, on Saturday, in the semifinals, Slovenia 3-0.

Iulian Chiriță in action in the CE team “quarters” Photo: ETTU

“We still can't believe we're in the final, it's the first time for the Romanian men's team, so it's a great feeling. It was a difficult meeting with Slovenia. Darko is one of the best in Europe, maybe number one or two, and he is a very strong player. But I know him quite well, I already played against him twice this year, so I managed to play very well throughout the match and I'm very happy that I didn't lose to him again”, he said Iulian Chiriță, the one who scored the first point in the semifinal with Slovenia, beating Darko Jorgic 3-2.

It was very important, because after we beat the number one player of the opponents, the whole team could relax more. I talked to the coaches before the match about the composition of the team, and they told me: «You will play against Darko», so I specially prepared for that. Once you beat the opposing team's top player, everything changes, the team feels more confident. They all played very well and I am very proud of them

– Iulian Chiriță

The 21-year-old continued his meeting story: “In the second match, Edy started playing really well, which gave us a lot of confidence. And Ovi, I'm very happy that he managed to win the last match against Tokic. He's a very interesting guy who always brings great energy to the team. Honestly, I still don't have words to describe the fact that we're in the final. It's incredible. But we're already looking forward to giving our best.” and to we play a very good match in the final.”

Romania-Slovenia 3-0

• Iulian Chiriță – Darko Jorgic 3-2 (9-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 12-10)

• Eduard Ionescu – Deni Kozul 3-0 (16-14, 11-5, 11-4)

• Ovidiu Ionescu- Bojan Tokic 3-0 (11-7, 12-10, 11-4)

In the grand final, Romania will meet France, a team that has three European titles in its record, the last one in 1998. “It will be very difficult against France, they are all top players. But we know Félix and Alexis quite well; we have played against them many times. They are very strong and very confident. However, we have nothing to lose. We will fight for every point, every set and every match. We are ready for tomorrow and whatever comes next.” Chiriță pointed out.

France has Félix and Alexis Lebrun, Simon Gauzy, Thibault Poret and Flavien Coton, usually sending the Lebrun brothers and Gauzy to the table.

Ovidiu Ionescu: “Sport has demonstrated many times that surprises are possible. In the final we will give everything”

The veteran Ovidiu Ionescu also shared his impressions: “It's an incredible feeling, I still can't believe we're in the final of the European Championship. The team competition is simply amazing. Congratulations to everyone who helped and supported us; I played an incredible match. Iulian's win against Jorgic, a top 10 player, gave us enormous confidence. Iulian's win and then Eddie's win against Kozul helped us a lot. When we played the third game, I can't say I was relaxed, but I was definitely more confident that we could finish the job and win in the end”Ovidiu said.

3-0 doesn't reflect how hard it was, it was much tighter. It was an incredible performance by the whole team

– Ovidiu Ionescu

As for the final, Ovidiu emphasized: “We beat Sweden and I think that if you reach the final, you have to believe you can win. France is probably the strongest team at the moment, but sport has shown many times that surprises are possible. In the final we will give everything.”

Ovidiu Ionescu after a successful point PHOTO ETTU

Romanian men's team

• Eduard Ionescu (20 years old) – 15th place in the European ranking, 50th place in the world ranking

• Iulian Chiriță (21 years old) – 22nd place in the European ranking, 73rd place in the world ranking

• Ovidiu Ionescu (36 years old) – 30th place in the European ranking, 117th place in the world ranking

• Darius Movileanu (20 years old) – 53rd place in the European ranking, 207th place in the world ranking

• Andrei Istrate (20 years old) – 61st place in the European ranking, 226th place in the world ranking