Egypt confirmed itself on the throne of the women’s table tennis team competition at the Mediterranean Games. At Taranto 2026, under the guidance of Giuseppe Del Rosso, he repeated the success of Orano 2022. In the same final four years ago he beat Italy 3-0, who played a competition to remember and was only surpassed by the team seeded n. 1. Also in the Italian group is the tennis player from Vibo, born in 2005, Miriam Carnovale.
At the “Giovanni Paolo II” stadium in Massafra, in the first singles the 18-year-old phenomenon Hana Goda (n. 22 in the world ranking) was strenuously challenged by Gaia Monfardini (n. 86) and won 3-2 (11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 2-11, 8-11)
The Italian was reached 4-2 (4-4) and restarted (6-4). From 6-5 the 5-0 break gave her the first set. In the second Goda recovered from 1-3 to 3-3 and from 3-4 he reversed the situation (6-4). From 6-5 she earned five set points and took advantage of the second.
Mediterranean Games of Taranto 2026 podium of the women’s team competition. Monfardini, when the game restarted from 3-5, impacted on 5-5 and from 5-7 he won five consecutive points (10-7). At the second opportunity she scored. The Egyptian dominated the fourth quarter and we went to the “beautiful” match, in which the girl from Mantua recovered from 3-5 to 5-5 and from 6-8 to 8-8, before losing the last three exchanges.
The baton was then passed to Giorgia Piccolin (n. 75) and Dina Meshref (n. 34), with the latter crossing the finish line at 3-0 (12-10, 11-9, 12-10). The Bolzano native escaped from 4-4 to 7-4 and from 8-7 to 10-7. She didn’t take advantage of the three set points, while the first (11-10) was enough for her opponent. In the second half Meshref was mostly behind, but always managed to get back on track and from 8-8 she earned two set points (10-8), completing the second.
Upon returning to the table, the trend repeated itself, with Piccolin leading the way. She had two set points (10-8) and did not capitalize on them, being punished at her rival’s first chance (11-10). In doubles, Goda and Meshref completed the job, prevailing 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-7) over Nicole Arlia and Monfardini, in a match without too many shocks.