European Championships | 12 Jul 2017
Two most recent men's Champions will play in Group B in Luxembourg
The Draw of the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Table Tennis Championships
Austria (2015 champion) and Portugal (2014 winner) will share Men's Group B in the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Table Tennis Championships. That was the outcome of the Draw held today in Luxembourg, host country of the event scheduled for September 13th to 17th. Luxembourg's top women's player NI Xia Lian carried out the gripping draw of the teams for the Championship, the Challenge and Standard Divisions.
The „referee“ of the Team Event, Stuart SHERLOCK (ENG), was in charge of the draw in Luxembourg-Kirchberg; he was assisted by the Belgian ETTU Competition Manager Didier LEROY, the Norwegian President of the ETTU Technical Committee, Oivind ERIKSEN, and Event Manager Jean-Marie LINSTER from Luxembourg.
Regarding Draw for the Men's event, reigning champion Austria will face 2014 winner Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia. Six times consecutive champion Germany, actual runner-up, will play in Group A beside 2015 bronze medalist Belarus, Croatia and Spain.
The German ladies, title-holders since the previous event, will meet Hungary, Sweden and Croatia in a group. NI Xia Lian, the present number 57 in the world ranking, was not lucky in the draw for her team. The hosts will face Romania, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Luxembourg men’s team, seeded in the Championship Division will compete against Sweden, Greece and Russia.
In the Championship and Challenge Divisions each team plays each other team in each of the 4 groups, which entails 3 matches per team in the best-of-five system. At the end of this group phase, the first and second placed will go to the quarter finals and play by k.o. for places 1 to 8, while the third and fourth placed compete for positions 9 to 16. In the Challenge Division the first and second placed compete for positions 17 to 24, whereas the third and fourth place vie for positions 25 to 32. In the Standard Division all matches will be played starting with position 33.
WOMEN`S DRAW: 38 teams in total
Women`s Championships Division
GROUP A: Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Croatia
GROUP B: Romania, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Luxembourg
GROUP C: Austria, Portugal, Ukraine, Spain
GROUP D: Poland, Russia, France, Belarus
Women`s Challenge Division
GROUP E: Slovak Republic, Lithuania, Switzerland, Finland
GROUP F: Serbia, Belgium, Italy, Denmark
GROUP G: Turkey, Wales, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria
GROUP D: England, Slovenia, Greece, Israeli
Women`s Standard Division
GROUP I: Norway, Estonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Latvia, Scotland, Macedonia
MEN`S DRAW: 42 teams in total
Men`s Championships Division
GROUP A: Germany, Croatia, Spain, Belarus
GROUP B: Portugal, Austria, Slovenia, Slovak Republic
GROUP C: Sweden, Greece, Russia, Luxembourg
GROUP D: France, Romania, Poland, Ukraine
Men`s Challenge Division
GROUP E: England, Denmark, Netherlands, Ireland
GROUP F: Czech Republic, Turkey, Bulgaria, Switzerland
GROUP G: Hungary, Belgium, Finland, Estonia
GROUP H: Italy, Serbia, Israeli, Lithuania
Men`s Standard Division
GROUP I: Latvia, Norway, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Cyprus
GROUP J: Scotland, Wales, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina, Macedonia