Cezar Cozmolici and Camelia Merenco win the Moldova Cadet Table Tennis Cup

On 7 and 8 March, in the village of Avdarma (Comrat district), the country's federation held the next tournament on its table tennis calendar — the Moldova Cup for cadets, that is, for players born in 2005 or later. Its winners were Cezar Cozmolici, a promising pupil of the republic's merited coach Vladimir Semipeadnîi, and Camelia Merenco, the finest pupil of Moldova's merited coach Natalia Smirnova.

As for the winners: for Camelia Merenco this is already a second victory in the cadet cup. Back in 2019 she took it for the first time in her sporting career. And now a new and confident win by this strong pupil of Natalia Smirnova. For Cezar Cozmolici it is a first win of this kind. Last year this young “Franzeluța” player was also rated highly at the cadet Moldova Cup, but managed to reach neither the medals nor the top five. Now, with a high level of execution, he has become the winner of this cup tournament.

As for the venue of this cadet Moldova Cup, it seems the country's federation took no risk at all in entrusting competitions of such a high level not to the major centres of Moldovan table tennis, as in past years, but to the village of Avdarma (Comrat district). History records that the village of Avdarma, in the territory of Gagauzia (Gagauz Yeri), is first mentioned in 1563. Here the word about the local people is passed carefully from generation to generation, and one cannot but admire them, especially now, in our own time: “The local Gagauz are honest, truthful, peaceable, skilled, good-natured and hospitable. They meet travellers as relatives, and shun drunkenness, quarrels and every evil. Among them there was neither theft, nor robbery, nor fraud…”.

The Moldovan table tennis federation held these competitions with the support of Ivan Sarandi, president of the local ANTARES sports club, and of the Avdarma village hall. The matches were played at the Dmitri Celengir lyceum, in two sports halls on 11 tables. And it is worth noting that, for the first time in many years, meals were provided free of charge to every player, coach and referee, for which great thanks are due to president Sarandi. And given that more than 100 players took part in the country's cadet Cup, one can only admire such generous and hospitable organisers from Avdarma. There is no doubt that the masters and amateurs of Moldovan table tennis will come here, to the Gagauz countryside, more than once again for their scheduled competitions.

There were 32 entrants in the women's cadet Cup. The main final stage, played on a double-elimination system, was contested by the 16 best players. In the semi-finals, Valeria Vieru (Bălți), a pupil of Moldova's merited coach Oleg Șaric, met Natalia Smirnova's pupil Valeria Cravcenco. Valeria Vieru, the fifth racket of the recent senior championship of Moldova, beat Valeria Cravcenco convincingly, 3:0. The second semi-final was contested by Camelia Merenco and Iurii Stoica's pupil Victoria Lemnaru from Cahul. Here it was 3:0 in favour of the more experienced Camelia Merenco. The final between Merenco and Vieru ended in a win for Camelia Merenco, 3:0. Merenco took first place, and Vieru, as last year, finished the cup tournament second. Victoria Lemnaru and Valeria Cravcenco met in the match for third place. With a confident win (3:1), Lemnaru took the bronze. Fourth place went to Cravcenco. Fifth was another of Iurii Stoica's pupils, O. Barbu.

There were more than 70 entrants in the men's cadet Cup. The main contenders for the win were Vladimir Semipeadnîi's pupil Cezar Cozmolici; last year's cadet Cup winner Daniel Coșcodan from Călărași, a pupil of Alexandru Radu; and Natalia Smirnova's pupils Andrei Slobodean, Egor Cabaniuc and Gabriel Spivacenco. In the first semi-final Cezar Cozmolici beat Gabriel Spivacenco 3:1. In the second, Daniel Coșcodan beat Ion Nica's pupil Victor Carabaș from Ungheni by the same score, 3:1. In the match for first place Cezar Cozmolici proved the stronger against Daniel Coșcodan, 3:1. Cozmolici took first place, Coșcodan second. In the contest for third place David Cozma of the Comrat youth sports school came through easily (3:0) against the Ungheni player Alexandr Carabaș.

As for the hosts, coach Nicolai Melintii reported that the Comrat district was represented by the very youngest players (aged 8 to 12) coached by Nicolai and Anna Melintii at the ANTARES club in Avdarma, and by pupils of the Comrat youth sports school. In the men's Cup, David Cozma, a young pupil of the Comrat youth sports school (head coach Nicolai Melintii), was a pleasure to watch. David beat his group opponents convincingly and reached the final stage of the tournament, where he lost only one match — to Gabriel Spivacenco — and took the bronze medal. Vladimir Melintii of the Comrat youth sports school and the very young ANTARES club player Alexandr Arnaut, both coached by Nicolai and Anna Melintii, also acquitted themselves well and reached the final stage.

In the women's cadet Cup, three ANTARES club players reached the final stage — Marina Gargalîc, Marina Iazadjî and Nastia Taucci — along with Victoria Nicologlo of the Comrat youth sports school. The young athletes won a string of matches, but lost the decisive ones to more celebrated and older opponents. The Gagauz players finished in the top ten of the cadet Moldova Cup. The best result was Marina Iazadjî's (ANTARES), in sixth place. And, as coach Nicolai Melintii summed it up, the coaching staff is pleased with how its young charges played.

We train a great deal. We have run a selection of small children in the kindergartens. There are some very interesting youngsters. We will do everything we can to find and bring out their talents. Thanks to the support of the ANTARES club president, we have the equipment and kit we need. We are able to travel to tournaments and gather valuable match experience. Thanks to the Comrat youth sports school for sending its players to the tournament. We are always glad of newcomers and look forward to seeing them in the table tennis section, coach Melintii concluded.

It remains only for us to congratulate the winners and medallists of this cadet Moldova Cup on their splendid play, and to wish them the same success at the junior Moldova Cup, which will be held this coming weekend (14 and 15 March) in the capital of our homeland, Chisinau.

Ivan Capsamun