Czech Women’s team kept spectators at the edge of their seats in five matches thriller against Italy. In Havirov hosts recovered after being 2:1 in reverse to win the duel against Italy in Group A2 of the Stage one of the European Championships Team. The back-bone of Czech Republic’s win was Hana MATELOVA with two wins over Debora VIVARELLI (11:9 11:13 8:11 11;6 14:12) and Giorgia PICCOLIN (11:2 11:6 11:6). Zdena BLASKOVA lost five games thriller against PICCOLIN (11:9 10:12 12:10 10:12 9:11) but in the decisive match she beat VIVARELLI (9:11 11:4 11:4 11:4). Katerina TOMANOVSKA lost to Nikoleta STEFANOVA (9:11 9:11 4:11). Renata STRBIKOVA commenced her term as head coach with the victory. “It was my first match as a head coach and I have to say that the players prepared a really nervous debut for me. But it turned out well so I’m very happy. First single was very important when Hana MATELOVÁ played well in the end against Debora VIVARELLI. Then it could have been over when Zdena BLAŠKOVÁ had a match point against Giorgio PICCOLIN. But the Italians returned to the match and I am very happy that Hana MATELOVÁ also managed to record the win in the second individual match. Then Zdena BLAŠKOVÁ also played well without nerves so I am very satisfied.” Elena TIMINA also pointed at the opening match as a was very important. “We had a chance to win 3:0 unfortunately MATELOVA won in the close finish at the end of the first match. We were under a lot of pressure because we knew we had to win 3:1 or 3:1 with a good number of games. We still had a chance until the fourth singles match. We have to quickly forget the disappointment and prepare for the next phase of the game.” Italy failed to post any victory in four matches and there is only one left in the Group – between Czech Republic and Portugal tomorrow. Portugal has three wins so far whilst Czech’s ratio is 1:2.
Renáta ŠTRBÍKOVÁ new head coach of Women’s Czech team
Tomorrow in Havirov Czech Republic will meet Italy in the Stage one of the European Championships Teams. It will be the first match for the hosts under the new leadership. Just a few days before the duel there was a change in the position of coach of the Czech women’s national team. Renáta ŠTRBÍKOVÁ became the new head coach; assistant is XU Kai who worked in Poland for over twenty years. For the match are listed: Hana MATELOVÁ Kateřina TOMANOVSKÁ Zdena BLAŠKOVÁ Markéta ŠEVČÍKOVÁ and Jana VAŠENDOVÁ and the goal is of course to advance to the championship in Malmö. “The change of the head coach was unexpected and quick but I think I had enough time to prepare well for the adversaries. If the Portugal team comes complete they are favorites. But we’re not giving up on this game either. For me personally it is good that play against the Italian team first. We already beat them in the opening match. Of course we will want to win we will motivate the players for that ” said Renáta ŠTRBÍKOVÁ before the matches.
Portugal recorded second away win in three days
Portugal made it two out of two in the Stage one of the European Championships Teams. Marcos FREITAS Joao GERALDO and Tiago APOLONIA beat Denmark in their second away match in Group A2. Previously they beat Poland in Poznan. In Roskilde FREITAS opened the duel with the victory over Anders LIND (11:6 11:7 11:13 11:6) GERALDO prevailed against Jonathan GROTH (13:11 15:13 11:5) and APOLONIA beat Tobias RASMUSSEN (11:6 11:9 11:5). “It was important to record straight matches victory. Two away wins puts us in the very good position. We are very motiveted to repeat the same success in front of home crowd. We hope we will conclude the opening Stage in the same maner ” said FREITAS.”Denmark is top class team last time we lost against them. This time we were very focused.” In the same Group Poland will meet Denmark on Thursday.
TTC Neu-Ulm and ttc Berlin eastside wins the German Cup
Champions League men’s semifinalists TTC Neu-Ulm and Women’s quarterfinalists ttc Berlin eastside secured the German Table Tennis Cup. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV was “totally happy” on Sunday afternoon. The German national player may have been spoiled for the title having already won two individual Olympic bronze medals – but OVTCHAROV also experienced a premiere in the Final Four. With the TTC Neu-Ulm the 34-year-old celebrated the triumph in the German Table Tennis Cup and thus secured the club’s first title in the club’s history. The Neu-Ulm team won the final against record cup winners Borussia Düsseldorf 3-0. In the semifinals they had previously won the derby against TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 3-0; in the same stage Düsseldorf won 3-0 against 1. FC Saarbrücken TT. “It was a very special event for all of us ” OVTCHAROV stated. Because not only the title win was historic but also the atmosphere. 5000 fans flocked to the sold out ratiopharm arena Ulm/Neu-Ulm cheered on the teams loudly and gave the organizing table tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) a new audience record. 4 600 spectators came in 2020 followed by two Final Four without fans present due to the pandemic. It was “an absolutely deserved victory for the Neu-Ulm team” which Düsseldorf’s superstar Timo BOLL then had to acknowledge and as usual showed himself to be a fair sportsman: “Neu-Ulm has a super strong team ” said BOLL. “Of course we would have liked to have made it closer and we were actually in a good mood. But Neu-Ulm showed us the limits this time.” Boll was only beaten in the second individual match of the final. With Truls MOREGARDH he delivered a table tennis festival which the spectators rewarded with enthusiastic applause. In the end World vice-champion MOREGARDH had the moment of joy 3: 2 – just as close as in the 2021 World Championships semi-finals in Houston (4: 3). The other two singles were clearer: LIN Yun-Ju beat Anton KÄLLBERG 3-0 and with the same result OVTCHAROV prevailed in the duel between the German national team and European champion Dang QIU. Both teams had shown their world class in the semi-finals on Sunday. Düsseldorf got revenge for the 1:3 defeat in last year’s final against 1. FC Saarbrücken TT and this time beat their long-term rival 3:0. BOLL scored 3:1 against his national team colleague and good friend Patrick FRANZISKA. At the next table Neu-Ulm beat Ochsenhausen with OVTCHAROV working hard and knocking out Can AKKUZU in the fifth game. “I didn’t find my game but I tried to take the positives into the final ” said OVTCHAROV. “Fortunately I managed to do that.” The first title of the year in Germany went to ttc Berlin eastside. In the final four of the cup championships they prevailed in front of their home crowd in the final against TSV Langstadt. SV Böblingen and TSV Schwabhausen missed out on making the final. For the capital city it is the eighth cup victory in the tenth edition of the cup competition which was reintroduced in 2014. As in the semi-finals they were able to win against the Hessians in the final without defeat. Last but not least thanks to a confident opening win by Serbian Sabina SURJAN who didn’t give Tanja KRÄMER a chance. In the second match between Nina MITTELHAM and Franziska SCHREINER it initially looked like a clear affair for the Berliner. But SCHREINER recovered to level. However she didn’t make it against the World number 14 in the fifth game. The confidence of the players from Langstadt seemed a bit broken afterwards so that SHAN Xiaona scored the final point in Berlin’s victory against Chantal MANTZ 3-1. “We deservedly won the Cup I am very satisfied and happy ” said coach Irina PALINA. “The performance of the team not only in the final but throughout the tournament was very good. But it wasn’t just the performance of to those who played the whole bench went along well and everyone played their part in our success.” Like last year TSV Langstadt lost the cup final but can still be satisfied: “Without Peti (Petrissa SOLJA end of career) and Minnie (Minni Soo Wai Yam) we didn’t really know where we were. We finished second in such a strong field we can be absolutely satisfied with that. In the final we took a full risk with the line-up and put Tanja in first place who had won against SURJAN in the Bundesliga game. But today she couldn’t do it again ” analyzes TSV coach Thomas HAUKE. Final Borussia Düsseldorf – TTC Neu-Ulm 0:3 Anton KÄLLBERG – LIN Yun-Ju 0:3 (6:11 5:11 3:11) Timo BOLL – Truls MOREGARDH 2:3 (9:11 11:8 7:11 12:10 8:11) Dang QIU – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 0:3 (5:11 7:11 3:11) Semifinals Borussia Düsseldorf – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 3:0 Anton KÄLLBERG – Cedric NUYTINCK 3:0 (11:8 11:9 11:7) Dang QIU – Darko JORGIC 3:1 (11:8 5:11 11:7 11:5) Timo BOLL – Patrick FRANZISKA 3:1 (11:5 7:11 15:13 12:10) TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC Neu-Ulm 0:3 Simon GAUZY – Truls MOREGARDH 0:3 (6:11 6:11 9:11) Alvaro ROBLES – LIN Yun-Ju 1:3 (9:11 11:13 11:9 9:11) Can AKKUZU – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 2:3 (15:13 9:11 19:17 7:11 11:13) Final ttc berlin eastside – TSV Langstadt 3:0 Sabina SURJAN – Tanja KRÄMER 3:0 Nina MITTELHAM – Franziska SCHREINER 3:2 SHAN Xiaona – Chantal MANTZ 3:1 Semifinals ttc berlin eastside – SV Böblingen 3:0 Nina MITTELHAM – Mitsuki YOSHIDA 3:0 DING Yaping – Annett KAUFMANN 3:2 SHAN Xiaona – Qianhong GOTSCH 3:0 TSV Schwabhausen – TSV Langstadt 2:3 Mercedesz NAGYVARADI – Chantal MANTZ 1:3 Sabine WINTER – Tanja KRÄMER 2:3 YIANGZI Liu – Franziska SCHREINER 3:1 Sabine WINTER – Chantal MANTZ 3:1 NAGYVARADI/LIU – KRÄMER/SCHREINER 1:3
Portugal opened 2023 with the win over Poland
Portugal kick off the 2023 with the win over Poland in Hala Gier Sportowych Poznań in the Stage one of the European Championships Teams. In Poland winners needed four matches. Marcos FREITAS opened the duel with the victory over Samuel KULCZYCKI (11:8 11:7 11:4) before Milosz REDZIMSKI leveled with the almost equally fast victory over Joao GERALDO (11:8 11:8 11:9). After that there were no more fast finishes but neither the wins for the hosts . Artur GRELA stretched Diago CARVALHO to full distance (11:13 11:9 7:11 4:12 3:11) and KULCZYCKI also pushed GERALDO to the limits (8:11 6:11 11:5 12:10 7:11). “It was the best way for our team to start this year. We did the job and the most important was to get the victory today. We showed a good team spirit and we will keep this attitude for the next match on 9th against Denmark ” said GERALDO. On Monday Portugal will meet Denmark in Roskilde and on Thursday Denmark is coming to Gdansk to play against Poland. “We are very happy with this victory. It was very tough match but the atmosphere in the fully packed venue in Poland was very good. It was interesting to play in Poznan. This is our start in the European Championships and it is very important that we won the away match. The next one in Denmark will be also close and we will play again as
ETTU launched European Ranking platform
https://www.ettu.org ETTU proudly announces that the January European Rankings are launched. It is the fruit of the hard work that has been done in past two years. ETTU implements the new European Ranking Platform totally independent and autonomous. The platform contains an experimental European Ranking system and experimental European Rankings. In 2023 the European Ranking system will be an experimental system. “With the launch of the European Ranking Platform ETTU is directly answering to our Member Association’s requests adding value to our all ETTU competitions. I would emphasize the fact that results of our European clubs competitions and Team events can now be monotonized automatically increasing the number of European players included in the raking system and of course bringing additional value to our traditional team events mainly supported by the European clubs the real basis of our European table tennis chain ” said ETTU Acting President Pedro MOURA.”While we are proudly moving forward with ETTU 2023-2028 Strategic Plan recently presented to our Member Associations I wish to congratulate my Executive Board colleagues specially Miguel VINCEN in charge of this area the ETTU Ranking Committee the ETTU Coaches Committee and all ETTU professional staff involved in the building of our European Platform for the hard work put in place during last months.” The goals of the European Ranking Platform are to: give higher importance to Top European Events; offer more options for mid and lower-level European players to show their level in Europe; stimulate Team events in Europe; reward club competitions the basic income for most European players; offer players and clubs more options to present themselves to the press and media in their country and be more visible to these media; for the Under 15 and Under 13 players represents the results of the new Europe Youth Series. “As it had been wished and mentioned here we are in this first stage of the establishment of the European Ranking. This achievement was made possible with the collaboration of all the the EB members the Ranking committee and the Competition manager. Thanks also to the Coach committee for their participation. By responding to this request from our member associations we are restoring value to European competitions players and clubs. With your feedback we will finalize a quality Ranking for the ETTU ” said Vice President In Charge of the Ranking Miguel VICENS. During 2023 the European Ranking will be used in the following way: There will be a monthly published European Ranking for Men’s Singles Women’s Singles Under 15 Boys Under 15 Girls Under 13 Boys and Under 13 Girls. As there will be no Europe Youth Series for Under 17 and Under 19 no European Ranking will be made for these age categories In 2023 the European Ranking for MS and WS will not be used for the seeding list and invitations. For the Europe TOP-16 Cup the European Games and the European Teams Championships the World Rankings will be used for invitations (if needed) and seeding lists. The European Ranking for Under 21 Men’s Singles and Under 21 Women’s Singles will be used for the Invitations and Seeding List for European Championships Under 21 in Sarajevo (January 2023 Ranking) The European Ranking will be used for the European Ranking Sanctioned events in 2023 (international and regional) if any. The European Ranking for Under 15/Under 13 will not be used for Seeding List for European Championships U13 and U15. World ranking will be used for that Championship. The European ranking will be used for seeding at Europe Youth Series Events. The European ranking will be used for Invitations for the Under 15 Europe Youth Top 10. In Malmo during the 2023 European Team Championships (September 2023) ETTU will decide how to proceed with the European Ranking platform and adopt the final text of the Rulebook on the ETTU Ranking System. For 2024 and 2025 the plan for the European Ranking is as follows: Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles European Ranking: To use the European ranking as official Ranking for seeding lists for the following events: European Individual Championships Europe TOP 16 Cup European U21 Championships Europe Tour Events European Ranking Sanctioned Events (International and Regional) And to use the European ranking for the Invitation List for the following events: Europe TOP 16 Cup European U21 Championships European Youth Ranking for U13/UNDER 15/U17/U19 To use the European ranking as official Ranking for seeding lists for the following events: European Youth Championships (Teams and Individual) Europe Youth Series in all age categories European Ranking Sanctioned Events (International and Regional) And to use the European ranking for the Invitation List for the following events: Europe Youth Top 10 You can find the Rankings here Other relevant documents The platform contains an experimental European Ranking system and experimental European Rankings. (https://www.ettu.org/en/n/news/2022/december/ettu-implements-the-new-european-ranking- platform/ ). The working of the ranking system in 2023 is explained in the European Ranking Rulebook https://www.ettu.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Rankings/2023/ETTU_Ranking_Platform_Rulebook.pdf Starting January 2023 ETTU will publish monthly rankings on https://www.ettu.org/en/players- ranking/ranking/current-ranking/ on every first Friday of a month after ITTF has published the World Rankings (first Tuesday of that month). All previous rankings will be visible on https://www.ettu.org/en/players-ranking/ranking/previous- ranking/ These January rankings are made by using the results from the most recent edition of the events that counting for these Rankings. Each individual event counts as one result. The results of the team events each player has played are combined and count as 1 result. In each ranking all individual events are presented in a separate column. For the team events one column shows the total number of points followed by columns showing the points for each team event. Points for individual events are based on the final position in an event combined with the Tournament Weight of the event according to the points table in Annex 1 https://www.ettu.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Rankings/2023/ETTU_Ranking_Platform_FinalPositionTable Points.pdf In addition Victory Points are awarded for each win against a player. The number of Victory Points depends on the position of the player on the European Ranking at the time of the
Truls MOREGARD and HAN Ying topping the CCB Europe Top 16 Cup list
ETTU announced the list of invited players for the CCB Europe Top 16 Cup to be held in Montreux Switzerland from 25 to 26 February 2023. Leading names in both Men’s and Women’s lists are Truls MOREGARD of Sweden and HAN Ying of Germany. The best European players will play for the prestigious title at the tournament (100.000 Euros in total prize money). The winner will receive a check for €10 000 runners up will get €6 000 semifinalists will receive €4 000 quarterfinalists will receive €2 500 and those in the Round of 16 will get €2 000. Players are selected by World Ranking Week #1 2023. In Men’s Singles Event Swede MOREGARD played in the final last year. The 2021 World Championships finalist was a substitute player last year. Truls was one of the youngest finalists ever. Truls concluded the tournament as a runner up beaten by the hands of no. two seed this year Darko JORGIC of Slovenia. JORGIC was the first Slovenian to win this event. He won the youngest final in the history of the Top12/Top16 since the two players being together were only 43 years old. MOREGARD will play at CCB Europe Top 16 Cup for a second time whilst for JORGIC it will be his 4th appearance. No. three seed Dang QIU of Germany is invited for a first time whilst his compatriot Dimitrij OVTCHAROV no 4 seed won the tournament five times last time it was in Montreux in 2019 (after titles in 2017 2016 2015 and 2012). The list goes on with another Swede Kristian KARLSSON Liam PITCHFORD of England Andrej GACINA of Croatia Alexis LEBRUN and Simon GAUZY of France the winner from the 2015 edition in Lausanne Marcos FREITAS of Portugal WANG Yang of Slovakia Robert GARDOS of Austria Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia Jonathan GROTH of Denmark Joao GERALDO of Portugal and Swiss player who will be selected in following days. No. one seed and the title holder Germany’s HAN Ying will play for a third time at the tournament. HAN Ying is the oldest winner of a Top 12/Top 16 in the history of the event. Last year HAN won at 38 years and 10 months breaking LI Jiao’s record (38 and 1 month at her last victory in 2011). Next in the list is Austria’s Sofia POLANCOVA; she recorded her best results in 2020 and in 2019 when she finished third. The winner of the 2021 edition held in Thessaloniki Nina MITTELHAM of Germany is no. three seed followed by Jia Nan YUAN of France and YU Fu of Portugal. The winner from 2018 Bernadette SZOCS of Romania is seeded at the position no. six. Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia Linda BERGSTROM of Sweden SHAO JIeni of Portugal Britt EERLAND of Netherlands and Georgina POTA of Hungary completed the list of top 15 players. Last name of the list is reserved from the host nation representative. The 2023 CCB Europe Top 16 may be qualification for the 2023 ITTF World Cup pending confirmation from ITTF. More info you can find here
Registration opens for European Universities Championships 2023
The registrations for the European Universities Championships 2023 are officially open. Between the months of June and September student athletes engaged in their higher education studies at European universities will be able to attend the events and compete in their chosen sports. In December the registration for international volunteers opened offering them a chance to actively contribute to the organisation of the events. Following last year’s very successful European Universities Games in Lodz and European Universities Rowing Championship in Istanbul EUSA look forward to welcoming university teams from all over Europe taking part in the 20+2 sports events next year: 3×3 Basketball Badminton Basketball Beach Sports (Beach Handball and Beach Volleyball) Combat Sports (Judo Karate Kickboxing Taekwondo) Football Futsal Golf Handball Orienteering Rowing Rugby 7s Table Tennis Tennis Volleyball and Water Polo. In December Winter Sports (Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding) will be held for the first time! The European Universities Championships are licensed by the European University Sports Association (EUSA) and are organised in cooperation with the local organising committees in different cities around Europe offering great competitions and ever-lasting memories. EUSA is proud of the fact that all events are open for men and women. Current students and recent graduates from European universities aged between 17 and 30 are legible to take part. National university sports bodies in 47 countries in Europe are invited to submit the initial registrations – general entry forms as soon as possible. The deadline to register is February 15 for sports which start in June and July and March 15 for sports which start in August and September. Registrations for Winter Sports will open in April. Please see the EUSA Championships page for general overview and specific event pages for details. Contact the national university sports body in your country to check additional legibility criteria and entry procedure. At the same time EUSA also invites volunteers to register their interest to take part in the sports events and contribute to the organisation of the championships. Here you can get more information and register; with the same deadlines to apply – February 15 for sports which start in June and July and March 15 for sports which start in August and September. More information…
ETTU Strategic Plan 2023-2028
https://www.ettu.org The European Table Tennis Union Executive Board considers that having a Strategic Plan has become an essential tool in what concerns the future of our Continental Federation. With all the challenges Europe is facing now a clear pathway must be defined so all European Table Tennis family has a clear idea of what will be the main objectives of ETTU until the end of the next Olympic cycle in 2028. ETTU Strategic Plan will also help our professional staff to understand our objectives and coordinate their delivery efforts. To protect our club system to grow our team competitions to develop our youngsters to market and promote our sport are ETTU priorities! Being the result of many internal discussions and respective conclusions this document intends to define a Continental goal and motivate all our stakeholders to work together in one direction having Europe at the top of our beloved sports pyramid with regard to sports results and competition participation. Of course this is an evolving plan that will be updated every time the Executive Board feels it is necessary. A Strategic Implementation Plan will follow defining key performance indicators (KPIs) timetables and setting the tone for the next years of ETTU activity. The European Table Tennis Union has recently reached its 65th anniversary. While we are projecting the future our history traditions and values must and will be respected bringing us to a common vision the passion for our beloved sport … Table Tennis First! So on below link you’ll find a video presentation of ETTU 2023-2028 Strategic Plan. On it you will understand the model used to prepare Strategic Plan and also the steps that will follow including of course a timeline to receive feedback from you. YouTube And here you can find the presentation document here. The ETTU Executive Board would also like to take this opportunity to send you Season’s Greetings hoping that in 2023 you can all fulfil your dreams.
European Table Tennis is sending our very best wishes for Christmas and the new year
ETTU is sending our very best wishes for Christmas and the new year
