Hungarian Table Tennis Association and the Club Arena Győr invites your young players to participate at the International Open Table Tennis Competition for the Cup of Hopes. The tournament will be played in a venue that is part of the Network of the European Training Centers the Project launched by ETTU. Mini Cadet Boys’ Singles (U11) Mini Cadet Boys’ Singles (U12) Mini Cadet Boys’ Singles (U13) are invited to Hungary in Győr Club Arena Table Tennis Hall from 14th to 16th April. The Club Arena Sport Centre one of the most important table tennis complex in Hungary part of the ETTU’s Network of European Training Centres. Players may play in their own age group. Furthermore who play in age group U11 may also play in age group U12 and U13 who play in age group U12 may also play in age group U13. The competition is open to all National Associations Regional Delegations and Clubs. Closing date for entries is 31st March 2023 Entries should be sent to the following address: Hungarian Table Tennis Association H-1146 Budapest Istvánmezei út 1–3. Hungary E-mail: gyac@arenagyor.hu
Double joy for France tonight
In the Stage one of the Europe Championships both French teams played at home in Montpellier. In Group A3 in Men’s Event France beat England 3:0 and in Group A3 in Women’s Event host prevailed in four matches against Netherlands. For a second time in three days France overcame England. Same as on Friday in England France needed only three matches to close the duel. Simon GAUZY beat Tom JARVIS to give hosts good start Felix LEBRUN beat Paul DRINKHALL and Can AKKUZU overcame David MCBEATH (11:9 11:4 11:5). Women’s team needed one match more to beat Netherlands. Prithika PAVADE overcame Tanja HELLE (11:6 11:1 8:11 11:1) and MEN Shuohan (13:11 11:7 11:6). MEN scored for Netherlands in the match against Pauline CHASSELIN (6:11 3:11 10:12) but Camille LUTZ beat Emine ERNST (6:11 11:4 14:12 15:13).
Linz AG Froschberg secured penultimate round
The champions from the season 2013 and 2009 Linz AG Froschberg secured fifth semifinal of the Champions Legue Women. In the second leg of the quarterfinal Austria’s club beat French Etival Clairefontaine ASRTT. They needed one match less than in opening leg. Sofia POCANOVA won both her encounters. She beat Marie MIGOT in the opening match (11:5 11:6 11:7) and SHAO Jieni in fourth (11:9 8:11 11:7 9:11 6:3). Suthasini SAWETTABUT also prevailed against SHAO (12:10 11:7 12:10) whilst Hana MATELOVA won the only point for Etival Clairefontaine ASRTT against Margarita BALTUSHYTE (12:10 11:9 11:5). “It was tough match but we fought all together again! I think I was calm in my last match and it was the key. In the end we both knew which tactics to play and in came to who will play more on the table. I am very proud of the team and I hope we will continue this way! Thank you to the spectators for the support today was amazing atmosphere ” stated POLCANOVA. Champions league Women reigning champions KTS Enea Siarkopol Tarnobrzeg is also in semis alongside Metz and UCAM Cartagena TM.
Wins for KS Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Tecnigen Linares
After five matches KS Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki secured the opening leg win in the Europe Cup Men. Polski Cukier Gwiazda Bydgoszcz lost their home match. Vladislav URSU was the only player to score for the hosts. He beat Marek BADOWSKI (10:12 11:9 11:9 11:5) and Miłosz REDZIMSKI (12:10 16:14 11:1). On the other side all three players in Bogoria managed to recorded the win. REDZIMSKI beat Carlos CABALLERO (11:9 12:10 8:11 11:8) Panagiotis GIONIS beat Artur GRELA (11:7 11:9 7:11 11:7) and in the decisive match BADOWSKI beat CABALLERO by sudden death point (5:11 11:6 7:11 11:9 6:5). In the semis are already: AS Pontoise Cergy TT K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo and GV Hennebont TT. In Women’s Europe Cup quarterfinal Tecnigen Linares beat SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club. Roxana ISTRATE gave hosts in Spain great start. She beat Maria FAZEKAS (11:8 12:14 11:7 12:10). Georgina POTA leveled the match. She beat Carmen TORES (11:2 11:1 11:4) before Claudia GARAGEAS beat Helga DARI (11:9 6:11 9:11 11:7 6:5). Roxana ISTRATE beat POTA in the last match (9:11 9:11 11:8 11:6 6:5). ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly Italian Quattro Mori Cagliari and Czech Moravsky Krumlov already secured their semi-final’s spots.
ETTU Working Week in Luxembourg
ETTU Executive Board and ETTU staff gathered this week in Luxembourg for meetings. The Working Week was highlighted with the change of the position of the ETTU Secretary General. After 9 years Richard SCRUTON stepped down as Secretary General but he will remain on duty as a Senior Advisor. Unanimously Executive Board decided to appoint Pierre KASS as ETTU Secretary General. “Pierre’s history competence and compromise within ETTU is more than enough to justify the Executive Board unanimous decision of nominating him as ETTU Secretary General. While we are so grateful to Richard’s dedication to ETTU as we wish to keep his experience and knowledge inside the organisation we all feel very confident about our future in this new era. Having ETTU General Secretariat leaded by Pierre KASS having Galia DVORAK as Deputy Secretary General is also securing the future of our organisation ” said Acting President Pedro MOURA. Secretary General KASS thanked the EB members for their trust in him and promised to put all his efforts to good use and do great work with all members and staff. KASS is in more than three decades dedicated to table tennis firstly as an active player former national team player and later as a tireless administrative officer working under leadership of Jeanny DOM and SCRUTON. Not only as administrative who connects the ETTU members the Executive Board and clubs leagues event organisers KASS is also moving power behind new event. Beside great energy he was putting into improving Europe club competitions his efforts to involve more European clubs resulted in creating and launching the Europe Trophy. Secretary General KASS started in ETTU in 2009; worked at the position of ETTU Assistant Secretary General until 2013. From 2014 to 2022 KASS was carried duties of ETTU Deputy Secretary General. From 2018 he was appointed ETTU General Data Protection Regulation Officer and he is still on this position; since 2014 in charge of ETTU finances KASS also worked as Euro-Asia All Stars Challenge team Europe manager in 2017 and he is European Champions League Men and Women Management Board member. Galia DVORAK is appointed Deputy Secretary General whilst Andrea BJURSTRÖM is full time Executive Assistant and club Competition Manager.
Fantastic night for France
In the Stage one of the European Championships teams of France recorded wins tonight. In both Men’s and Women’s matches France came up with the clean record; in away matches they beat England and Slovakia. England beat Serbia last night but tonight they failed to repeat the result. France was in the driving seat from the beginning. Paul DRINKHALL lost to Can AKKUZU after thrilling five games (12:14 13:11 9:11 11:5 8:11) at the beginning of the match. In next Tom JARVIS failed to change the course of the duel and lost to Felix LEBRUN (11:5 7:11 8:11 7:11). David MCBEATH suffered by the hands of Jules ROLLAND (7:11 11:13 13:15). “I think I started well but Paul was playing quite well also. Felix was maybe a little bit nervous at the beginning but let’s not forget he’s only 16. He got better and better in the rally and in the receive. In the third match David was ahead in the beginning of every game but then he was more precise in the end of the games ” said AKKUZU. In Women’s Event France won the match against Slovakia 3:0 but in two duels was forced to go full distance. Barbora BALAZOVA lost to YUAN Jia Nan after five close games (18:16 11:4 10:12 6:11 8:11). Only Prithika PAVADE solved her match against Ema LOBOSOVA in straight games (11:9 11:5 12:10). Charlotte LUTZ beat Tatiana KUKOLKOVA by narrow margin (13:11 10:12 9:11 11:9 13:11).
AS Pontoise Cergy TT in the semis
AS Pontoise Cergy TT justified they good game in the opening leg of the Europe Cup Men and reached the semi final. In second leg in Italy French side needed only three matches to beat USD Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo. Tristan FLORE overcame Mihai Razvan BOBOCICA (11:5 11:3 11:9) Esteban DORR prevailed against Andrea PUPPO (11:8 11:7 12:10) and Flavio MOURIER beat Matteo PETRICCIOLI (11:3 11:7 11:9). To the semi finals also progressed K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo and GV Hennebont TT.
JOB OPENING SOCIAL MEDIA /DIGITAL CONTENT
Job Description: The European Table Tennis Union is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Social Media Community Manager to join our team. The successful candidate will be responsible for growing and engaging the table tennis community through social media as well as managing and growing the ETTU online presence. Key Responsibilities: Develop manage and implement strategies to grow the table tennis community through social media organically and inorganically. Communicate the relevant activities and updates of ETTU in the appropriate channels. Create and grow the audience of new and trending social media platforms. Create and curate engaging content such as videos photos and written publications adapted to the tone and the audience of each platform. Write creative captions that tell a story and speak directly to the relevant demographic and respond to questions/queries in a professional and timely manner. React quickly and creatively at live events while planning and publishing content across all platforms. Understand the inner workings of table tennis tournaments and be able to be in the right place at the right time to capture/post live content at events. Keep up to date with the latest trends and developments in social media and community management. Analyse and report on social media metrics and KPIS. Qualifications/Requirements Proven experience as a social media community manager or similar role. Strong understanding of Social Media platforms and best practices. Excellent writing and communication skills. Knowledge of table tennis and understanding of the international competition structure. Comprehension of how fans and new audiences consume content. Ability to plan organise and think practically paying attention to small details. Fluency in English is mandatory fluency in other languages is a plus. Ability to produce regular accurate and engaging content to tight deadlines across multiple projects. Experience using image and video editing software. If you are passionate about table tennis and ready to start working right away please send your application including motivational letter and curriculum vitae (CV) to registration@ettu.org and projects@ettu.org no later than Friday 10th February 2023.
FANTASTIC ATMOSFERE IN DUBROVNIK
The Croatian table tennis team achieved an important victory in the second match of the European Championship Stage one; Croatia beat Austria 3:2 in Dubrovnik. With this victory a huge step was taken towards qualifying for the final stage of the European Championships in Malmo. Croatia is the leading team in the group with 2-0 Austria is second with 1-1 and Spain has two defeats. The Austrians arrived in Dubrovnik without GARDOS but they still had a dream start. LEVENKO defeated GAĆINA 3:0 and then HABESOHN saved 0:2 against PUCAR. Croatia recovered and showed strong character. ZELJKO outplayed SERDAROGLU 3:0 and GAĆINA continued in the same rhythm with HABESOHN (3:0). In the end PUCAR totally dominated and beat LEVENKO with 3:0. “In the first two matches the problem was it might sound strange that the host made so much effort around us. The organization was great but we were burnt out by too much desire and could not give our best. Both Andrej GAĆINA and Tomislav PUCAR played below their level in the first two matches. Filip ZELJKO brought extra energy to the hall with his performance and the other players felt it as well. It’s as if they woke up” said Croatian coach Neven KARKOVIĆ. Croatia played in Dubrovnik for the first time and it turned out to be a great success because the atmosphere was great. It is not surprising that the Croats celebrated the victory by singing with the fans. “We have been to places where there were spectators but nowhere did we feel that connection with them as was the case now in Dubrovnik. These were two fantastic days for us” said KARKOVIĆ. The match started with a big round of applause for Marinko MATULOVIĆ long-time president of club Libertas Marinkolor and former vice-president of the Croatian Table Tennis Association. Zoran PRIMORAC and Renato ČENGIĆ president and director of CTTA presented MATULOVIĆ with an award for his great contribution to Croatian table tennis. That is why it is not surprising that the applause lasted because MATULOVIĆ played table tennis in the south of Croatia for more than 20 years. “First I would like to thank the City of Dubrovnik for hosting this match then club Libertas Marinkolor for the extraordinary organization and finally a big thank you to the spectators who raised us from the dead when we were losing 2:0. When ZELJKO easily won that third match I felt that everything was turning in our favor. Once again thank you Dubrovnik ” said Zoran PRIMORAC president of CTTA. CROATIA – AUSTRIA 3:2Gaćina – Levenko 0:3 (-11 -8 -7)Pucar – Habesohn 2:3 (2 7 -5 -8 -4)Zeljko – Serdaroglu 3:0 (8 5 9)Gaćina – Habesohn 3:0 (6 9 9)Pucar – Levenko 3:0 (6 6 4)
Budaörsi Sport Club will play 200th International cup match against Linares
The women’s table tennis team SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club played a total of 198 matches in their last twenty cup seasons. In the current jubilee twentieth cup series the team defeated Greek Austrian and Italian opponents to enter the best eight teams of the Europe Cup. The first match of the quarter final will take place on Saturday in Linares which will be the team’s 199th European cup match. The second leg will take place on Tuesday 31st January at 6:00 p.m. in Budaörs when the team of Budaörs will celebrate the double centenary by playing their 200th match in their 20th year being on the European cup field. The team of Budaörs have met Linares twice in recent years resulting in one Spanish and one Hungarian victory. In the current duel if both teams can play in their best line-up (in the case of Budaörs: Georgina PÓTA Mária FAZEKAS and Helga DARI) the Spanish side have a slightly better chance to win but the current Hungarian champion will do everything to ensure that after the two legs things will turn out with an unexpected result and hence getting into the best four teams. Between 2003 and 2023 the team of Budaörsi Sport Club won medals in the Champions League in the ETTU Cup and in the Europe Cup as well but the leaders of the team are most proud of the fact that all these were achieved exclusively with Hungarian players. The primary goal of the club of Budaörs has always been to serve as effectively as possible the Hungarian table tennis and Hungarian sport itself while representing the city of Budaörs its supporters sponsors the Hungarian Table Tennis Association and Hungary at the forefront of European table tennis. The Table Tennis Department of the Budaörsi Sport Club welcomes everyone to the BVUSS small-ball hall on 31st January at 6:00 p.m. to watch the Europe Cup game and celebrate the double centenary together.
