The Andalucia 2022 World Para Table Tennis Championships started in style on Sunday 6 November in the southern Spanish city of Granada. A total of 39 World titles are at stake in 11 classes for men and women. For the first time ever titles will be awarded for women in class 1 and mixed doubles further improving gender equality in Para table tennis. Until 12 November 326 players from 51 teams will compete in the world-class Palacio de los Deportes a record number of participating teams since the first edition of the World Para Championships in 1990. All continental federations are represented. ITTF President Petra SÖRLING commented “The excitement for the event is palpable; the World Para Championships are held every four years which just adds to the importance of this event for our top athletes. I would like to commend the Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation and its delivery partners particularly the Government of Andalusia region and the Municipality of Granada. Our hosts have been outstanding and have prepared an event worthy of its stature. I have personally witnessed the evolution of Para table tennis for a decade. This World Para Championships is the next level and is providing the players with the splendid stage their performances deserve.” Miguel Angel MACHADO President of the Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation said “it has been so many years working in collaboration with our athletes so that today our dream and yours has come true. This dream is to participate and organise a World Championships in our country a World Championships that surely all of you will always remember.”
Novi Sad kick off next week’s action in Champions Legue
In Champions league Women the action commenced in Group B where two matches already has been played. Whilst other clubs awaits the start of the Stage two French Metz already recorded two win in their Group. Serbian champions Novi Sad suffered against Metz in the opening match of the Round before French club beat Czech Republic’s SKST Plus Hodonin. Next week the action in this Group will be concentrated in Novi Sad. On Tuesday Novi Sad will host SKST Plus Hodonin and two days later Metz is coming to Serbia. For this season’s Champions League Novi Sad brought the reinforcement. For a first time in Serbia’s women’s clubs history one Asian player will wear club’s jersey. LAM Yee Lok from Hong Kong will join Anamarija ERDELJI Aneta MAKSUTI and Tijana JOKIC. “ So far we were the only club in Champions League that relied solely on domestic players. We had to strengthen our lines to took the best of club’s recent success. Playing in Round two of the Champions League is our best result so far” explained coach Slobodan STOJANOV. Czech Republic’s SKST Plus Hodonin on their side has former Top 10 player Japan’s Sakura MORI. “ She makes sure that the club record two pints in each match we are looking for the chance to stop her ” said STOJANOV. Last week Adina DIACONU beat MORI to launch Metz to victory. “After the defeat in the first game in Metz we know that it is with Novi Sad that we will probably fight for the second place in the group. We will play without Natalia PARTYKA who is participating in the PARA World Championship. We want to get the best possible result every point will be important. We will be complete in the rematch at home. Novi Sad has a balanced team it will be very important if LAM Yee Lok who is apparently the team’s number one plays ” said Jaroslav MIKESKA coach of SKST Plus Hodonín.
Borussia Düsseldorf’s big starts already more than ready
Big guns enters the competition at the Champions Legue Men next week. Last year’s champions Borussia Düsseldorf commenced this season’s journey from Stage two in Group A with the match against Czech Republic’s HB Ostrov Havlíčkův Brod on Tuesday. „In the past three years it was a really unlucky situation – 2020 season was quitted due to covid before semis 2021 we won and 2022 season was quitted again before final. We played three good years but to be stopped not by a stronger opponent but due other issues it´s always unlucky for the players and the clubs. So we are glad that the new TTCLM season starts right now said Coach Danny HEISTER. Player with record number of European titles Timo BOLL recently came from Asia and the whole team had a very busy October. “My team is in a good shape. Timo played very well in China last events after a period with some problems Dang QIU and Anton KALLBERG are practicing after China trip already and Kay STUMPER played good at WTT Contender in Slovenia. I think the group is not easy and if all is running well it will be a duel between Bogoria and us to reach the semis. So both clubs should win against Ostrov and so it´s our goal to have a good start in the new TTCLM season with a victory against Czech team ” explained HEISTER. Like every year club faces challenges on few horizons. Dang QIU spoke of it: „It was hard to stay in China for several weeks with a special quarantine situation. For me it was awesome to win silver medal at World Championships with the team. I am happy to be back home now and that we are back with Borussia in German Bundesliga German Cup and TTCLM. Until Christmas we will have 12 matches and we have to find our track to handle it the best way. Therefore it would be helpful to start these weeks with a win. The new system only the group winner will go into knockout stage doesn´t allow any defeats. Of course we are favorite against Ostrov and we need to finish this match as winner.” HB Ostrov looking forward their duel with German club. “We have two very strong opponents in the group and we are happy to play against the legendary club Borussia Düsseldorf. The team consisting of Tomáš TREGLER Pavel ŠIRUČEK Dmitrij PROKOPCOV and Tomáš MARTINKO will be ready for the first match. Every point in this match will be a success for us and an invitation to a home match. 50 of our fans will come to cheer us on so the atmosphere in the hall will be great ” said HB Ostrov Manager Miroslav JINEK. So far only one match was played in second stage. In Group C Poland’s K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo beat Sporting Clube de Portugal 3:0.
Acting president Pedro MOURA visited Germany for ETTU Suppliers Pool talks
With existing events with long lasting tradition and forthcoming new projects in sights ETTU preparations for next year are in full swing. Strong support from the ETTU Suppliers Pool is the backbone of success behind all ETTU events and projects and to ensure further cooperation and future development during this week Acting president Pedro MOURA visited some of the members of ETTU Suppliers Pool and also table tennis brands that could possible join our family. Accompanied by the ETTU Project Manager Galia DVORAK Acting President visited Butterfly in Dusseldorf Victas in Bremen and Contra/Gewo in Hamburg. “This was the beginning of several visits we will do to all the table tennis brands that have been and fortunately will be working close with ETTU for the European table tennis. Although some of them are not yet ETTU Suppliers Pool members our wish is that all of them are part of the ETTU family in the near future being our partners in our new projects and future events. With all of them we wish to work and we all of them we wish to grow. We were presenting our projects for the future and I bring a very positive feedback as I feel they all want to be part of the development of our sport in Europe. I will be back in Germany next week to continue the visits ” said Acting President MOURA. In Dusseldorf ETTU representatives met with SFO of Butterfly Europe Hajo NOLTEN Hiroshi KIMURA and FANG Wei. In Bremen Victas General Manager Peter FRANZ welcomed the guests whilst in Hamburg Contra/Gewo company were represented in talks by Wolfgang SOHNS Olaf BAUER Pedro DE SOUSA and Wiebke SOHNS. Beside long running events like European Championships Champions League Europe Top 16 Cup Europe Under 21 Championships Europe Cup for clubs European Youth Championships Europe Youth Top 10 ETTU launched Europe Trophy for clubs two years ago and added two more events for young players next year. This year we will have European Under 13 Championships and European Youth Series. The latest came as a huge success of the Europe Under 13 Challenge this year at Podgorica. Talks also included projects of ETTU Development Program as one of the ETTU current top priorities. The Eurotalents Pre-Selection Camps and the Eurotalents U13 Program 2023 are essential part of the ETTU Development plan alongside Coaching Seminars and Women Coaching Seminars Para camps and creation of a Network of European Training Centers.
ETTU launches the Europe Youth Series next year
European Table Tennis Union proudly launches the new series of events for the young players next year. The Europe Youth Series shall be open for entry to all Member Associations of the ETTU for the players Under 15 and Under 13 categories. We are building on the success of the Europe Under 13 Challenge this year at Podgorica in Montenegro and the decision of the Munich Congress to launch a European Under 13 Championships next year. “ETTU is very proud of launching the Europe Youth Series already in 2023 after the huge success reached with the Europe Under 13 Challenge held in Podgorica in 2022. With this decision we are answering to our member Associations appeal providing more opportunities to our European youngsters to compete internationally. In this series we are also promoting our goal on the gender equality as we are encouraging competitions with mix teams a system that was the big responsible for the unanimous applause our Europe Under 13 Challenge received last June. Together with the EYS ETTU will also be presenting the ETTU Ranking System allowing players and coaches to follow their development. I want to personally thank all ETTU staff and ETTU committees involved in the implementation of the Europe Youth Series as well as the Europe Ranking System which I am absolutely sure will have an very positive impact on all our Member Associations coaches and players ” said ETTU Acting President Pedrom MOURA. ETTU Acting Deputy President Heike AHLERT added: “I am very thankful that we can give our European associations this new opportunity to have more competitions for the age categories U 13 and U 15 – and I really hope that we will have bids for launching competitions especially with team events. As we have seen at the U 13 challenge the mixed team event was very much appreciated. Team events are very important for the developement and the social aspect of sport is particularly important here. Thank you to all involved in this project!” The Europe Youth Series will consist of the following age categories: U15 girls (born 1st January 2008 and younger) U15 boys (born 1st January 2008 and younger) U13 girls (born 1st January 2010 and younger) U13 boys (born 1st January 2010 and younger) Mandatory events for the organisers are Boys and Girls Singles events for Under 13 and Under 15 categories. Organisers can decide to have Mixed Teams or Boys Teams and Girls Teams Events for both age categories. Optional events are Mixed Doubles and Doubles Events. Whether there will be or not Doubles events it will be four or five days events. In Mixed Teams in each match two boys and two girls can be nominated by the team captain. A third or fourth player from the team can’t play in that specific match. In exceptional circumstances Competition Manager of the event can allow players from the different associations playing in the same team with condition that in the same team can’t be players from more than two Associations. The ETTU ranking for U15 and U13 will be available in 2023 as an experimental ranking system. The seeding for European Youth Series events will be according to European U13 and U15 ranking. The ETTU ranking system for U13 and U15 will be introduced no later than 15th of December 2022. The deadline for the bidding process for the Associations interested in organising the event is 30th November 2022. Please submit this document to ETTU Competition Manager (competition@ettu.org) and to Secretariat (registration@ettu.org) no later than Wednesday 30.11.2022. You can find relevant documents here.
Annual Coaching Conference in Vila Nova de Gaia
ETTU is inviting all the coaches to attend the Annual Coaching Conference to be held in Vila Nova de Gaia (POR) from the 19th – 21st November 2022. The lecturers are ITTF high-performance elite coach Massimo COSTANTINI Buterfly Sponsoring Coach and former Japan national team player Aya UMEMURA and Portugal’s head coach Ricardo OLIVEIRA. Entries shall be sent to Miguel Moura (FPTM dt@fptm.pt) with cc: Ana Ivošević (ETTU ana.antic.ettu@gmail.com) not later than Friday 4th November 2022. Please note that the attendees are encouraged to send their questions to the lecturers in advance during the time of registration. More information please find in attached Prospectus. All relevant documents you can find here.
8 Europeans candidates for the ITTF Athletes’ Commission
The list of the 25 candidates for the International Table Tennis Federation’s Athletes’ Commission is unveiled. At the list there are 10 Europeans. There are 6 athletes from Europe who are candidates for the 8 positions of Athletes two Europeans in group of four for two positions of Para-Athletes Standings and two candidates in Wheelchair Para-Athletes. Melissa TAPPER AUS Oceania Stefan FEGERL AUT Europe VEGA MAGAÑA Maria Paulina CHI Americas LIU Shiwen CHN Asia HANFFOU Sarah CMR Africa PRIMORAC Zoran CRO Europe ASSAR Omar EGY Africa DVORAK Galia ESP Europe LOEUILLETTE Stephanie FRA Europe ACHANTA Sharath Kamal IND Asia ALAMIYAN DARONKOLAEI Noshad IRI Asia ABO YAMAN Zaid JOR Asia ISHIKAWA Kasumi JPN Asia JANG Woo Jin KOR Asia MADRID MANTILLA Marcos MEX Americas RIOS Daniely PUR Americas SAMARA Elizabeta ROU Europe PERSSON Jon SWE Europe LAWSON-GAIZER Fessou TOG Africa ZHAO Shuai CHN Asia SEOANE ALCARAZ Alberto ESP Europe MOHAMMADI Fatemeh IRI Asia VAN ZON Kelly NED Europe TAPOLA Aino FIN Europe LUNDBACK Ingela SWE Europe According to regulations campaigning is now open and voting takes place from Monday 7 to Sunday 13 November. The successful candidates will be announced on Monday 14th November. A total of 10 places are open for the commission serving a term of four years the criteria is as follows: Eight athletes who have competed in at least one World Championships or World Team Championships since 2014; each continent – Africa Asia Americas Europe Oceania – is eligible for at least one representative. Both genders must be represented. Two Para athletes one standing and one wheelchair who have competed in at least one Para World Championships since 2014. The registration period for wheelchair para-athletes candidates will be extended by one week. All members of the Athletes’ Commission will be invited to the forthcoming ITTF Summit in December in Amman Jordan. At the summit the commission along with IOC Athletes’ Commission member RYU Seung-Min will elect two chairs to sit on the ITTF Executive Committee. For the first time the two chairs will be one man and one woman to ensure gender parity. Voting shall be exercised on-line through the means facilitated to each of the electors directly by the independent voting company LUMI. In case of a tie the candidate from the continent with the lower number of elected candidates will be declared winner. In case of a further tie the candidate from the gender with the lower number of elected candidates will be declared winner. If ties cannot be resolved the election committee will open a second round of voting which will last 3 (three) days for the purpose of resolving the tie and declare the winner/s. Full information about the Athletes’ Commission election can be found here.
Early bird extended for EVC2023 in Sandefjord
EVC2023 will be held from 25. June to 1. July 2023 at Oslofjord Convention Center in Sandefjord Norway. Numbers are rising day by day and the limit is set to 4000 participants. Now the organisers have decided to extend the early bird discount with one month. “We are satisfied with the entries eight months before the event ” event director Karl Borre REITE says. “We initially needed to extend the early bird scheme with a few days for technical reasons. However it seems that “some early birds hasn’t woken up yet” and we want more participants to benefit from the discount. The solution is to give everyone some extra weeks to secure their place in the event.” EVC2023 is a “One Village-One Venue”-event held on the resort Oslofjord Convention Center. Accomodation with breakfast lunch and dinner is offered at the resort as well as activities and entertainment on site. Accomodation and food is fully refundable until a week before the event making it safe to book now. All details entry system booking of accomodation and food sightseeing and airport transfers can be found on www.evc2023.com
The action in October concluded in the CREPS of Pays de la Loire
The third Eurotalents u-13 camp of the year 2023 was held last week from October 22nd until 29th at the CREPS of Pays de la Loire a high-Performance centre part of the ETTU’s Network of Training Centres. On this occasion 16 u-13 players from 10 different countries met in Nantes where they trained under the direction of Guillaume SIMONIN Stephane HUCLIEZ Clémence BOUTEFEU and Christian DANCIU as a physical training coach. Galia DVORAK the ETTU Special Project Manager visited the centre and delivered the certificate of adherence to the network to Aude REYGADE the director of the CREPS. “The CREPS of Pays de la Loire is a high-performance centre of a very high standard and for the ETTU it is a huge asset to have them as part of our network and as organisers of this Eurotalents u-13 Camp. The level and intensity of the training have been very high and from my side I want to congratulate and thank the professionalism of the FFTT technical staff ” stated Galia DVORAK. This training camp closes a very busy month for the ETTU development program in which a Eurotalents Under 15 / Under 17 camp was held in Havirov (CZE) the final Selection Camp took place in Otocec (SLO) and there were several activities part of the ETTU National Assistance Program organised in Montenegro Jersey and Denmark.
HARIMOTO halted OVTCHAROV in semis of the WTT Cup Finals Xinxiang 2022
Japanese in outstanding form Tomokazu HARIMOTO defeated Olympic bronze medalists Dimitrij OVTCHAROV in the semi-finals of the WTT Cup Finals Xinxiang 2022. It is the third German ace in a row after HARIMOTO had already beaten record European champion Timo BOLL in the quarter-finals the day before and in the round of 16 on Thursday the World’s no. 13 Patrick FRANZISKA OVTCHAROV had consolation in 37 500 dollars prize money and 525 world ranking points but much more importantly with yesterday’s quarter-final triumph over World’s number one FAN Zhendong (China). In the final on Sunday HARIMOTO meets either China’s Olympic champion MA Long or his compatriot WANG Chuqin. In the women’s final two players from China will face each other: World number one SUN Yingsha will face either Olympic champion CHEN Meng or World champion WANG Manyu. Former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov ungrudgingly acknowledged his opponent’s performance: “My respect: HARIMOTO played flawlessly and built up a lot of pressure with his strong shots. I’m actually someone who is very strong in the longer rallies but I have them today almost all of them lost. That also has an effect on my self-confidence in my serve and return game.” The outcome of the more than three-week trip to Asia by the Olympic bronze medalist from Tokyo and London to the WTT tournaments in Macao and Xinxiang is extremely positive: “The Champions and the Cup Finals were two great tournaments in terms of the cast there is a world-class opponent after the others it’s amazing training. It’s great for me to have played so many matches against such good players. I’ll learn a lot from both wins and losses. Above all yesterday’s win over FAN Zhendong showed me that after as before anything is possible and gives me a lot of confidence. If I keep working hard on myself I can keep improving my level and then keep it in the tournament for a longer period of time. Then I can win against Harimoto again in the future even if I did today didn’t stand a chance.”
