Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany has reached the semifinals of the $1 million WTT Cup Finals in Xinxiang (October 27th to 30th) with a 3:2 triumph over World number one and World champion FAN Zhendong. In the duel for entry into the final OVTCHAROV is now waiting for the Japanese Tomokazu HARIMOTO on Saturday who had previously prevailed in his quarter-final match against Timo BOLL of Germany. With his entry into the semi-finals OVTCHAROV has at least 37 500 dollars in prize money and 525 world ranking points on his credit side Timo BOLL has 30 000 dollars and 265 valuable points for the ITTF listing as a consolation. A good year after his injury which after a foot operation and intermittent setbacks when re-entering the training process could only be shelved eight months later in June 2022 with the start at the WTT Lima Contender Dimitrij OVTCHAROV has his last in an impressive way today provided evidence of his return to the top of the World. The Olympic bronze medalist from Tokyo and London celebrated table tennis at the very highest level with 4:11 11:6 11:8 7:11 11:6 over world champion FAN Zhendong. For the 11th player in the World rankings it was the third win in his ninth duel with the number one in the world but the first success over the Chinese in his home country. For Dimitrij OVTCHAROV after months of patiently working towards an outstanding result the victory was a source of satisfaction: “It was a very good game for me today. I have a very strong dominant backhand and I think I managed to block it a few times but above all I am happy that after recovering from my injury I was able to show that I am finally back among the best in the world.” In the semifinals on Saturday OVTCHAROV meets Tomokazu HARIMOTO who is in excellent shape and against whom the statistics show a 4:4 record. The last two duels in 2021 in the semi-finals of the team competition at the Olympic Games and in the semi-finals of the WTT Star Contender in Doha in the same year ended narrowly for the Japanese. Before that Timo BOLL was eliminated in the quarter-finals. With 11:8 11:4 12:10 Tomokazu HARIMOTO like yesterday in his Round of 16 match against Patrick FRANZISKA rarely gave Timo BOLL who started in brilliant form the chance to take the initiative and control the game. Japan’s fifth in the world rankings who defeated both world champion FAN Zhendong and Olympic champion MA Long in the team World Cup semi-final against China three weeks ago often scored directly against the record European champion with his extremely aggressive return and the first ball after his serve or put Timo Boll at least immediately under immense pressure. “He played very aggressively. He was particularly strong with the forehand and he did what he wanted with my serve. His serves were also difficult for me as a left-hander see. He’s already very strong in form ” said BOLL. World No.3 Truls MOREGARD lost in the quarterfinals against China’s WANG Chuqin (8:11 3:11 13:15). He had a chance in the game three by winning six of the first eight points but before long finds himself up against the ropes. The World No.3 saves three match points and has two game points of his own but the day would belong to WANG Chuqin.
Away wins for Czech Republic and Luxembourg
The matches in A Groups at the 2023 European Teams Championships Stage one continued tonight with the duels in Women’s Event. In Novi Sad Serbia lost to Luxembourg. As it was expected NI Xia Lian was at the top of her game and she recorded wins against Izabela LUPULESKU and Sabina SURJAN. However there were no lack of upsets in that match. In the opening match Sabina SURJAN ranked at the World rankings at the position no. 110 overcame Sarah DE NUTTE who is placed at the position no. 68. Serbia had a dream start with that victory but they faced rude awakening with the Andrea TODOROVIC’S defeat against Tessy GONDERINGER. Andrea is no. 121 in the World whilst Tessi is no. 302. “At the beginning I had some troubles getting into the match. I was down 0-1 and 5-9 but somehow I managed to turn the set around and win it. I think that was an important moment that gave me more confidence and helped me to find my game. From the third set on I started to play more focused and with the clear strategy. This worked out quite well so that at the end I managed to win 3:1. All in all I‘m very happy with my performance today and I‘m glad that I could help the team to win ” explained Tessy GONDERINGER. Italy also suffered four matches defeat at home soil. Czech Republic had a good start after Zdena BLASKOVA World’s no. 244 beat Debora VIVARELLI ranked at the position no. 161. Hana MATELOVA World’s no. 27 prevailed against World’s no. 70 Giorgia PICCOLIN. Nikoleta STEFANOVA was the only player to score for Italy. She beat Marketa SEVCIKOVA before MATELOVA finished the match with the victory over Nicole ARILA. “We started very with BLASKOVA’s win. The following match was very important for us. Hana MATELOVA lost to Giorgia PICCOLIN at the European Championships. Today she showed a very good performance. Hana received very well. In the third match Nikoleta STEFANOVA overcame in straight games Marketa SEVCIKOVA to open the challenge again. In the fourth singles Italy changed Vivarelli with Nicole ARLIA. Hana began very quickly in the first set and in the second she was leading 7-3 and lost. In the next two sets however she was very confident and won 3-1. This was our first match in the group with Italy and Portugal and we are very happy of the result here in Bolzano” said Coach Petr NEDOMA. Italy’s coach Elena TIMINA said: “I said before that the result would depend on the form of the day and a little bit of luck. Both of them were in favor of Czech Republic because their number 1 MATELOVA was in the best possible shape today and on the other side we did not guess the line-up in the way I would prefer. PICCOLIN and ARLIA made a good fight against MATELOVA even if she played very well. I believe we can beat her as well and against n. 2 we can do better. I am very happy that Nikoleta STEFANOVA gave us the first point winning for the national team after many years on the Italian ground. She showed her class and her level. She is very important for the team. It was a pity that we did not reach 2-2 because I would have liked to see Giorgia against BLASKOVA. Today Czech Republic was better but it does not mean that the next time will be the same”. Slovakia scored at home soil in Bratislava. They beat Netherlands 3:1. Barbora BALAZOVA overcame Tanja HELLE but world’s no 48 did it much harder than the rankings of her adversary predicts. World’s no. 330 forced Barbora to go full distance. Ema LABOSOVA lost five games match against Shuohan MEN but Tatiana KUKULKOVA gave Slovakia the lead once again. She beat Sanne DE HOOP. BALAZOVA overcame MEN in the last duel. Turkiye overcame Hungary 3:1 in Istanbul. The back-bone of the team’s success was Sibel ALTINKAYA World’s no. 92. She beat Georgina POTA ranked at the position no. 63 and Dora MADARASZ placed at the position no. 76 at World Rankings. World’s no. 215 Ozge YILMAZ beat Dora as well. Mercedes NAGYVARADI was the only player to score for Hungary. She overcame Simay KULAKCEKEN.
Slovakia had a good start in Italy
Slovakia beat Italy in the second match in the Group A5 in the Stage 1 of the 2023 European Teams Championships. It was straight matches victory for the guests but it came much harder than the result predicts. In two matches hosts were stretched to full distance. Matteo MUTTI faced Lubomir PISTEJ and lost 2:3 (11:9 11:5 5:11 14:16 9:11).Matteo had four match-points in the fourth game against Lubomir but failed to convert them. John OYEBODE lost to WANG Yang (5:11 2:11 3:11) whilst in another long distance match Andrea PUPPO lost to Jakub ZELINKA (14:12 11:6 7:11 14:16 9:11). Like MUTTI Andrea also had an opportunity to win the match since he had match point in the fourth game. It is Italy’s second defeat in the group. Czech Republic and Slovakia has one win each.
Italy awaits Czech Republic in Bolzano
Tomorrow evening at the Table Tennis Centre “Maso della Pieve” in Bolzano the women’s team of Italy will host Czech Republic in the match of Group 2 of the qualifications to the European Championships of 2023. Coach Elena TIMINA has called Nicole ARLIA Giorgia PICCOLIN Debora VIVARELLI and Nikoleta STEFANOVA. On the other side Petr NEDOMA has chosen Hana MATELOVA Zdena BLASKOVA and Marketa SEVCIKOVA. “It will be a difficult match ” coach TIMINA comments “with a 50% chance for both teams to win. The opponents have a strong leader in Hana MATELOVA but the other players have also achieved good results this year. For example the defender SEVCIKOVA beat Gaia MONFARDINI at the European Championships. The Czech Republic has a higher world ranking than ours but I think we are in good shape and we have already shown that we can beat teams that have better positions than ours. I believe that the result will depend on the form and the spirit of the two teams on the day of the match and also on a bit of luck”.
12 players joined Eurotalents Program for 2023
Eurotalents Final Selection Camp took place in Slovenia’s town of Otocec October 16th– 23rd 2022. During the camp new players joined 2023 ETTU Eurotalents program. The following players have been selected to be part of the Eurotalents Program for 2023. Girls _____________________________________________________________________________ Name Points Renata SHYPSA (ESP) 144 Guo JIAQI (ESP) 138 Patricia STOICA (ROU) 132 Deimante ADLYTE (LTU) 129 Yaghmur MAMMADLI (AZE) 129 Boys _________________________________________________________________________________ Name Points Francesco TREVISAN (ITA) 150 Danilo FASO (ITA) 147 Nolan JOHNSTON (FRA) 138 Onur GULUZADE (AZE) 132 Volodymyr NEVIZHYN (UKR) 132 Filip RACAK (CZE) 132 Roger QUESADA (ESP) 126 As a part of the 2023 ETTU Eurotalents program 12 players will join the ones that have been chosen directly in Havirov in March – Mariia LYTVYN of Austria Laurynne CABARDO of Sweden Tatiana PUKALO of Ukraine Matt CLOSSET of Belgium and Miroslav SCHMID of Bulgaria with addition of the players who already have Eurotalents status and are still Under 13 category next year.
Italy awaits Slovakia in Milan with rejuvenated lineup
Tonight Italy will play second match in the Group A 5 in the 2023 European Teams Championships Stage 1. They will host Slovakia. “For this second match against Slovakia which we will play in Milan I have called Jordy PICCOLIN John OYEBODE Andrea PUPPO and Matteo MUTTI. I will therefore confirm a young team. In Italy we have several good young players and I want to test them. The goal will be to show as we did in Czech Republic that our young guys not only have excellent technical skills but can do well at a medium-high level in the international field ” announced coach Lorenzo NANNONI. Earlier this week they lost to Czech Republic in Havlickuv Brod. “In Havlickuv Brod two out of three singles were close especially that of PICCOLIN who also had a match-point against Tomas POLANSKY. Tommaso GIOVANNETTI who was making his debut in the senior national team forced an experienced athlete like Pavel SIRUCEK to fight. Even OYEBODE who lost more clearly because Lubomir JANCARIK is probably out reach for a young player like him still had moments of good game. Also in Milan I want to have positive feedbacks from all the boys”. On Thursday the Women’s teams will also be in action. In Women’s A Groups Turkey will meet Hungary Italy will meet Czech Republic Slovakia will meet Netherlands and Serbia will host Luxembourg.
The draw for the final stages of the Europe Cup Men and Women
The draw for the Europe Cup men and women knock out stage was held today in Luxembourg. The draw included Europe Cup Round 3 and also the positions at the quarter finals for Champions League relegation teams.
LOTTO Polski Cukier Gwiazda Bydgoszcz secured the top position in Group C
The Stage 2 of the Men’s and Women’s Europe Cup concluded today. The top two teams from each Group will proceed to the Stage 3 whilst lower ranked clubs will relegate to the Europe Trophy. In Group A USD Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo recorded two victories to reach the top of the standings. Another Italian club Top Spin Mesina EUCI also has two wins and they are at the position no. 2 followed by Spanish Arteal SD Compostela and Austria’s Panaceo Stockerau. In group B TTC Neu-Ulm Team Euro from Germany booked top position with three wins. ASISA Borges Vall of Spain is placed at the position no. 2 TTC Ostrava 2016 is third and leka Enea Marpex is fourth. With three wins LOTTO Polski Cukier Gwiazda Bydgoszcz is at the top of the Group C. Austria’s Solex-Consult Wiener Neustadt is second whilst SF SKK El Nino Praha from Czech Republic is third and Romania’s CSS-SZAK ODORHEIU SECUIESC is fourth. The final standings in the Group D is Belgium’s TTC Sokah Hoboken Czech Republic’s SKST Tesla Batteries Havirov Portugal’s GDS Junical and Hungarian PTE PEAC Kalo-Meh. In Women’s Europe Cup Group A Austria’s TTC NanoTech Villach beat both teams to reach the top position. ASD Tennistavolo Castel Goffredo is second and Gibrau-Vic TT is third. In Group B Hungarian HUNSH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club is at the top and Austria’s LZ Linz Froschberg is second. Spanish Reus Ganxets MIRÓ is third. French FRAALCL TT Grand-Quevilly is unbeaten in Group C. Italian ASV TT Südtirol is second and Austria’s SCO Ossiachersee Bodensdorf is third. In D Group the winner is Greek Panathinaikos A.C followed by Italian A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello and Spanish Leka Enea Irun GEWO. The draw for the Europe Cup men and women KO stage will be made tomorrow Monday 24th October start 1330 CET and you can join via Zoom. The draw will include Europe Cup Round 3 and also the positions at the quarter finals for Champions League relegation teams (here we draw for each CL group a position at Europe Cup quarter finals). The draw for the final rounds (starting with Round 3) will be made after completion of group stage 2. The group stage 2 winners will be drawn against the runners-up so that a group winner and group runner-up from the same group cannot meet in the third round. A group winner and group runner-up from the same group may meet in the semifinal or final. There will be no separation by Association for the final stage. For the quarter finals the 4 relegated Champions League teams (CL Round 2 2nds for men and CL Round 3rds for women) will be freely drawn on the 4 positions to compete against the Europe Cup Round 3 winners. Zoom Access: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84913940608?pwd=R25CdnIxRUFjMG4xRDgydXhzZm1IZz09 Meeting ID: 849 1394 0608 Passcode: 207517
Metz TT won the thrilling duel against SKST Plus Hodonin
French club Metz TT recorded second win in the Stage 2 of the Champions Legue Women. Two days after win over Serbia’s Novi Sad they recorded the victory over Czech Republic’s SKST Plus Hodonin. Both victories Metz recorded at home soil. Unlike the match against Novi Sad tonight Metz was under severe pressure. They were forced to go full distance. Adina DIACONU was the back-bone of the club’s success with two wins. Romania’s player beat Sakura MORI (8-11 11-7 11-9 11-8) and Karin GROFOVA (11-8 11-7 6-11 12-10). Pauline CHASSELIN lost to MORI (13-11 7-11 5-11 11-9 2-6) in the second individual duel and in the decisive match CHASSELIN beat GROFOVA (11-9 6-11 11-8 11-6). On position 3 Mariia TAILAKOVA lost to Natalia PARTYKA (11-1 11-9 10-12 11-13 4-6). “I am really happy that I could manage to win two matches today for my team and very proud of my teammates that we won 3-2 tonight .I knew my first encounter was very important for the beginning of the match and also to give confidence to my team “said Adina about her match against Karin GROFOVA. In fourth match Adina beat MORI. “I felt great deal of pressure by playing ad 1-2. However I tried not to think about it and to be focused on my game. The beginning of the match against Sakura MORI was not how I wanted with 1-0 and 3-0 for her; and at 3-0 I took time out than everything changed. I start to be more and more aggressive and confident in my game and I am really happy that I managed to win because last time I lost against her at WTT Star Contender Doha ” stated DIACONU. “So at the end I am very happy that we managed to win today we had a perfect week with Metz TT. On Monday we won in French Championships and on Friday and today in Champions League.”
China’s Next-Gen Takes Lead in WTT Champions Macao
WTT Champions Macao 2022 presented by Galaxy Entertainment Group has concluded with WANG Chuqin (CHN) and SUN Yingsha (CHN) as crowned champions. The finals marked the end of an exciting week in the Infinity Arena which were bolstered by the support of the local fans. WANG Chuqin won the Men’s Singles title defeating World No.1 FAN Zhendong (CHN) 4-3 (11-5 12-14 12-10 8-11 11-1 9-11 11-8) to stand top of the podium on the final day of play. The upset win provides Wang with his first Champions win and his second WTT Series title of the year. In the semifinal WANG halted the progress of Swede Truls MOREGARD. Previously in the quarterfinal Truls overcame his compatriot Mattias FALCK. In the same round FAN beat Slovenia’s Darko JORGIC to meet Lin Yun Ju. In the quarters LIN beat Alexis LEBRUIN of France. In the Women’s Singles final World No.1 SUN Yingsha beat CHEN Xingtong 4-1 (12-10 11-8 5-11 11-6 12-10) to grab her first ever WTT Champions trophy. SUN Yingsha overcame Jia Nan YUAN of France in the semifinal whilst Romania’s Bernadette SZOCS was halted in the quarters by the hands of Japan’s Mima ITO.
