The 2020 European Champions League women's final saw two tremendously talented teams test their table tennis tenacity. Played in the now-ubiquitous "bubble" format, the continental clash concluded yesterday in Linz, Austria. Hometown favorites Linz AG Froschberg hosted the heavily favored Berlin Eastside TTC, winners of four previous titles. In such intense circumstances, it helps to have an experienced skipper at the helm. Berlin Eastside TTC coach Irina Palina (pictured, right) is no stranger to the pressure of women's team competition, nor to success therein. A Russian native, she and her countrywomen remain the only women's team to beat China at the World Cup, pulling off the upset in 1994. For good measure, Palina dominated the European Championships League back when it was known as the Europe Club Cup of Champions. Palina helped her Hungarian TTC extend its record number of European club championships to a staggering 25. With the best-of-five match tied at two-all, it would all come down to Linz AS Froschberg's Margarita Pesotska pitted against Berlin Eastside's Nina Mittelham (pictured, second from left). On paper, it appeared a fair enough fight, Germany's world #39 Mittelham within striking distance of the Ukranian world #32 Pesotska. As the two European stars were theoretically equitable, so they were in practice. Back and forth they went until the best-of-five match stood at two games apiece. At this juncture, an experimental rule came into play. The fifth and deciding game in any match would be decided by a sudden-death race to six points. The 24-year-old Mittelham seized the early advantage, claiming the first three points with unrelenting pressure to Pesotska's backhand (and one lucky edge ball). Then, the 29-year-old Pesotska showed the value of experience, calmly tying the game as Mittelham started to give away points with errors. During a timeout, Mittelham conferred with her coach Palina. With the championship on the line, the veteran coach found the right words in whichever lingua franca she shares with her young star. After the pep talk, the only point Pesotska scored was when Mittelham missed a serve, an anomaly in an otherwise dominant closing run. On her first match point, Mittelham crushed an inside-out forehand loop kill for a third ball winner, collapsing to the floor in ecstatic relief. "It is unbelievable, it is even hard for us to believe what happened," said coach Palina. "I told Nina to take a risk. She had nothing to lose. It was a remarkable win." The legendary player Irina Palina is now coaching the next generation to rise to the occasion. Judging by Berlin Eastside's fifth championship, it appears they are listening.

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