In their home of PalaTennistavolo “Elia Mazzi” Brunetti Castel Goffredo won their fifth Italian Cup in six editions of the event. In the finals the defending champions defeated 3-1 CIATT Prato which is in its first season in the First League and managed to qualify to the Final Four and then also to the decisive match. ASV TT Südtirol beat 3-2 Polisportiva Bagnolese Panino LAB in the match for the third place. The medals and the cup were presented by president of FITeT Renato DI NAPOLI. “We are really satisfied ” commented coach Alfonso LAGHEZZA of winning the fifth Italian Cup with our young players in the field. “The competition was hard because the other teams are strong. We know the final match against Prato could be tricky due to the great experience of our opponents and therefore I am even happier with this result. The double was important but not decisive because we can count on a champion like SZOCS who makes us feel very confident. The girls had to deserve this victory after the initial defeat in the doubles and they did it. MONFARDINI didn’t have a good play in the doubles she was a bit too tense then she calmed down we spoke before her singles. She recovered more mental than physical energies to better manage the match from a tactical point of view. ARLIA played a super match against STEFANOVA and she was good in doubles too. Bernadette is a rock and also in the semifinals against Debora VIVARELLI proved to be a world-class player. Winning at home is worth more at the same time it gives a little more pressure as there are more expectations in front of your crowd. In the end however everything worked out well’. FINALS BRUNETTI CASTEL GOFFREDO – CIATT PRATO 3-1 Gaia MONFARDINI/Nicole ARLIA – Chiara COLANTONI/Nikoleta STEFANOVA 1-3 (11-7 5-11 6-11 9-11) Bernadette SZOCS – Arianna BARANI 3-0 (11-7 11-9 11-4) Nicole ARLIA – Nikoleta STEFANOVA 3-0 (11-9 11-9 11-5) Gaia MONDARDINI – Arianna BARANI 3-0 (11-7 11-6 11-5) ASV TT SÜDTIROL – POLISPORTIVA BAGNOLESE PANINO LAB 3-2 Debora VIVARELLI/Szandra PERGEL – Ema LABOSOVA/Zhang MO 2-3 (11-9 11-6 2-11 4-11 2-6) Le Thi Hong LOAN – Giulia CAVALLI 3-0 (11-7 11-7 11-8) Szandra PERGEL – Zhang MO 0-3 (2-11 8-11 6-11) Debora VIVARELLI – Giulia CAVALLI 3-2 (11-4 10-12 8-11 11-3 6-4) Le Thi Hong LOAN – Ema LABOSOVA 3-2 (9-11 14-12 6-11 11-6 6-2) SEMIFINALS BRUNETTI CASTEL GOFFREDO – ASV TT SÜDTIROL 3-1 MONFARDINI/ ARLIA – LOAN/ PERGEL 3-0 (11-6 13-11 11-7) SZOCS – VIVARELLI 3-1 (11-4 9-11 16-14 11-9) ARLIA – PERGEL 1-3 (8-11 11-6 9-11 5-11) SZOCS – LOAN 3-0 (11-5 11-7 11-5) CIATT PRATO – POLISPORTIVA BAGNOLESE PANINO LAB 3-1 COLANTONI/ STEFANOVA – CAVALLI/ LABOSOVA 3-1 (11-7 11-3 11-13 11-8) WENLING – MO 1-3 (5-11 11-9 3-11 9-11) STEFANOVA – LABOSOVA 3-2 (11-6 4-11 9-11 11-4 6-3) WENLING – JING 3-2 (7-11 23-21 13-11 7-11 6-5)
Double joy for Romania another win for France
In Bucharest both teams of Romania recorded wins in the Stage one of the European Championships. In Netherlands hosts suffered by the hands of French players in Women’s Event. In Women’s Event Romania beat Hungary in straight matches. Bernadette SZOCS beat Leonie HARTBRICH (11:8 11:6 11:8) Adina DIACONU overcame Mercedes NAGYVARADI (11:4 11:7 10:12 11:7) and Elizabeta SAMARA overcame Bernadette BALINT (11:9 11:9 11:7). Romania’s Men team beat Slovenia without Darko JORGIC. Cristian PLETEA overcame Aljaz GODEC (11:7 9:11 11:8 11:4). Hunor SZOCS also needed four games against Peter HRIBAR (12:10 10:12 11:7 11:4) and Ovidiu IONESCU succeeded against Miha PODOBNIK (12:10 10:12 11:7 11:4). In Netherlands Shuohan MEN lost to Oceane GUISNEL (9:11 8:11 8:11) Tanja HELLE lost to Charlote LUTZ (9;11 12:10 8;11 7:11) Emine ERNST beat Nina Elsa GUO ZHENG (12:10 13:11 12:10). LUTZ sealed the duel with the victory over MAN (14:12 11:9 11:8)
Linz will host 2024 European Championships
Following a presentation to the ETTU Executive Board the Austrian TT-Federation has awarded Linz the contract to host the European Championships in October 2024 and the ETTU Executive Board approved the city as the host for the 2024 European Championships. “After Tyrol’s cancellation the state of Upper Austria has made a great deal of effort to organize it and we are looking forward to a good cooperation with Governor Thomas STELZER and Sports Provincial Markus ACHLEITNER” said ÖTTV-President Wolfgang GOTSCHKE. President Wolfgang GOTSCHKE is looking forward to great European Championships with local hero Sofia POLCANOVA as the reigning European Champion at the top of the list . ACHLEITNER justified the application: “This European Championships represents an enormous advertising value for Upper Austria.” Up to 50 nations with a total of 600 players coaches and officials are expected. In addition there is the good geographical location of Linz with its proximity to Bavaria and the Czech Republic. The TipsArena is perfect for handling the entire event. Linz is also experienced as an organizer as the World Team Cup 2009 the Youth World Championships 2005 and most recently four ITTF Platinum events have taken place in the TipsArena. At the presentation in Munich Innsbruck was presented as a preferred candidate. “However after the Tyrol elections the state gave preference to other sports. So we were forced to look for a new organizer ” explains EC-Ambassador and ÖTTV Vice President Stefan FEGERL. “Upper Austria then applied as a table tennis leader and we were able to come to an agreement with Sports Provincial Markus ACHLEITNER ” explains President Wolfgang GOTSCHKE pleased that the European Championships will be staged in the hometown of the reigning European Champion Sofia POLCANOVA. The next steps: After the planning of the EC budget of about 2 million Euro the road shows to advertise the big event in all other federal states will be organized. Local hero Sofia POLCANOVA is also looking forward to the support of the red-white-red fans. Upper Austria’s current Sportswoman of the Year who returned from the European Championships in Alicante 2018 and Munich 2022 with three medals each wants to expand her impressive collection of medals in Linz: “Major sporting events are the absolute career highlights for every athlete. When you can experience something like this almost on your own doorstep it’s even more special. 2024 will be a special sporting year. On the one hand because of the Olympic Games in Paris on the other side because of the European Championships at home where I have to defend two titles ” said Sofia POLCANOVA.
ETTU Executive Board awarded 2023 European U13 Championships to the Croatian TTA
The ETTU Executive Board awarded the 2023 European U13 Championships to the Croatian Table Tennis Association to be held in Zagreb Croatia on 14-18.6.2023. “We are grateful and honored that the ETTU has given us the trust to organize the first European U13 Championship. So far we have been good hosts at all tournaments and we will do everything to do it even better. We support the idea of creating this championship because we believe that it is important to invest in young players and that they gain experience and this type of competition can only serve as a springboard for the future ” said Croatian Table Tennis Association President Zoran PRIMORAC. Podgorica successfuly hosted the first ever Europe U13 Challenge last year which was organized as test event for a future European Under 13 Championships. The positive feedback from the event was a good foundation for the first ever Championships.
New Europe Youth Series starts!
Last week the ETTU Executive Board also confirmed Croatia Czech Republic Greece Montenegro and Türkyie as hosts for the 2023 Europe Youth Series. Greece will organize for the first time a tournament for young players since European youth championships in 1973 and 1987. That underlines the importance of the event for HTTF. The tournament in Loutraki pleased the president of HTTF Konstantinos PAPAGEORGIOU who prioritized the international competitions from the first moment of assuming his duties 22 months ago. He thanked the ETTU for the trust in the Greek federation after the successful European Top 16 in Thessaloniki. For the Europe Youth Series he pointed out that they are based on an interesting form which gives new motivation to the athletes of the children’s and children’s categories. “I want to thank the ETTU very much for the trust they have shown in us after the very successful organization of the Europe Top 16 Cup in September 2021. We are now undertaking one of the debut events of the Europe Youth Series it is an important effort of the ETTU which I hope the European countries will support” said the head of the board of directors of the Greek federation and continued: “I am very happy because it is one of the goals which we personally and as a new administration have set: To bring major international events in Greece. I want to emphasize that in these almost two years we have done better than even the most optimistic would have expected in terms of claiming and taking on international competitions.” The ETTU Youth Series tournament in Pilsen will be played on October 11-15 2023. Nikolas ENDAL vice president of the Czech Table Tennis Association said: “We think this new series of tournaments will benefit young players. Therefore we very quickly asked ETTU to organize one of the tournaments. I believe it will be a big tournament and a lot of foreign players will come. There is an experienced team of organizers in Pilsen. In 2020 the Czech Table Tennis Association held the Czech Republic Men’s and Women’s Championships there. Last year the championship of the Czech Republic in the U15 category. Table tennis has a great tradition in Pilsen and a similarly important event will continue to support the importance of our sport in this region.” * 26-30.4 Europe Youth Series (Croatian Open) Osijek – Croatia 13-17.9 (tbc) Europe Youth Series (Montenegro Open) tbc Podgorica – Montenegro (tbc) 11-15.10 Europe Youth Series (Czech Open) Plzen – Czech Republic 25-29.10 Europe Youth Series (Greece Open) Loutraki – Greece 22-26.11 Europe Youth Series (Türkiye Open) Nevsehir – Türkiye
SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club celebrated jubilee with the win
The semi final line-up in Europe cup Women is complete. Last club to reach the penultimate round is SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club. They did it on occasion of 200th International match. The club needed additional match to secure their place in semis. In the opening leg Hungarian club lost 1:3 and tonight they won 3:0 and 2:1 in additional duel. In second leg Georgina POTA beat Cristina PRIETO (11:3 11:2 11:2) Maria FAZEKAS overcame Roxana ISTRATE (15:13 11:4 11:13 9:11 6:0) and Helga DARI beat Claudia CARAGEA (10:12 11:13 11:7 11:7 6:4). In additional match FAZEKAS overcame PRIETO POTA lost to ISTRATE and DARI beat CARAGEA. Peter BACHMANN coach of Budaörsi Sport Club said: “There were several key moments in the match but in addition to team unity I would highlight the dramatic victories of 21-year-old Helga DARI who did not waver. And of course the home audience helped a lot.” President of the Budaörsi Sport Club Gergely SOMLYÓ was very proud . “In the 20th European Cup series we managed to make our 200th game memorable and we have reached the semi-finals.” Mária FAZEKAS stated that the players did not have much time to prepare for the second leg. “Nevertheless the result proves that we also successfully mapped the serves of their best player the Romania’s ISTRATE. I am convinced that we won because we believed in ourselves all along.”
André HARTMANN visited ETTU during Working week
The ETTU working week was the occasion for one special visit. President of the Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Tennis de Table André HARTMANN joined ETTU members for a nice evening. “We feel very honored for the visit of president of the Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Tennis de Table André HARTMANN during this ETTU Working Week. This was an excellent opportunity to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ETTU moving headquarters to Luxembourg and also to share plans and ideas for future cooperation ” said ETTU Acting President Pedro MOURA.
Sportradar Workshop with the future in mind!
ETTU family had very busy week packed with numerous of meetings. As it was previously arranged in Munich during the European Championships ETTU members gathered in Luxembourg with Sportradar representatives during a 2 day workshop providing opportunity to discuss new tools for further cooperation. “This ETTU Working Week started with a two day workshop with our longtime partner Sportradar. This was an excellent opportunity to be together and discuss different topics that will engage us for better cooperation in the near future ” explained ETTU Acting President Pedro MOURA.
Denamark beat Poland after five matches
In Roskilde in Group A of the Men’s Stage one of the European Championships Denmark beat Poland. Jonathan GROTH was in full swing tonight. In the opening match he overcame Milosz REDZIMSKI (11:4 11:6 4:11 12:10) and in the fourth duel he beat Jakub DYJAS (11:8 11:5 11:4). In the decisive match Anders LIND overcame REDZIMSKI (11:4 12:10 11:5). Jakub DYJAS beat LIND (11:6 13:15 12:10 11:9) and Samuel KULCZYCKI overcame Tobias RASMUSSEN (11:5 10:12 11:4 11:9). Denmark already beat Poland in the away match and lost to Portugal. Portugal also beat Poland.
New financial aid for female Olympians
WOA’s Olympian for Life awardee Simidele Adeagbo OLY has launched an Athlete Grant programme through her SimiSleighs Foundation. A one year program will provide financial support to female Olympians and those hopeful of becoming an Olympian who are training to represent their country at the Paris 2024 and Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. The grants will help cover training and competition expenses provide meaningful personal and professional development experiences and access to a global network of elite athletes. “As an athlete I understand all too well the difference access to crucial resources can make ” said Simidele Adeagbo OLY founder of the SimiSleighs Foundation. “Making these strategic investments through our Athlete Grant program will help so many deserving women around the world who are currently in need of support. Now is the perfect time to elevate our comprehensive support of a new generation of female athletes with Paris 2024 on the horizon and the road to Milano-Cortina 2026 just beginning.” Applicants must be fluent in English. Applications must be received by Monday February 6 2023 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. More information can be found here: https://www.simisleighsfoundation.org/ssf-athlete-grant-program
