The top seeded player in the Women’s Singles Event at the European Championships in Munich HAN Ying booked her place in the Round of 16 without due alarm. In straight games HAN beat Cristina KALLBERG of Sweden (11:9 11:6 11:4 11:4). HAN Ying has the bronze from European Championships in Austria 2013. “I have never played against Cristina but I was aware how dangerous she could be. That is why the opening game was the most difficult to me. I needed the time to feel her game to use the right tactics. She is good with the players with defensive style of play ” said HAN. In the Round of 16 HAN will meet her teammate Sabine WINTER who survived epic seven games thriller against Irina CIOBANU of Romania (7:11 10:12 11:7 7:11 11:6 12:10 12:10). “I wanted so much to record the win here in front of my people. I already had unsatisfied result in mixed doubles and doubles that I put myself under great pressure. Nothing worked in my favor but I kept on fighting and trying ” said WINTER. Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic faced earlier exit than her rankings predict. Italy’s Giorgia PICOLIN seed no. 23 was in charge for the morning upset and departure of no. 5 seed MATELOVA 4:2 (9:11 11;9 11:8 11:6 8:11 11:8). “We met maybe once in 2014 but it was so long ago that was not very helpful today. Since then I improve my game a lot. However I had an opportunity to see a lot of her games especially in the French League ” said PICOLIN.”The biggest challenge today was to prevent myself of rushing into the points. I needed to calm down and to play point by point and that was not an easy task. When I fell I could win I go for direct points usually I am trying to finish it quick. Today at 3:1 it almost cost me a lot but even when I lost the fifth game I did not want to let her set into the game comfortable. I was fighting very strong and in next I managed to finish the match. Few balls in sixth game after 7:3 were dangerous but I stayed on the winning track.” After yesterday’s win over YU Fu of Portugal Sabina SURJAN of Serbia cleared her way in the Round of 32. Win over Karoline MISCHEK of Austria was very effective and quick 4:0 (11:8 11:7 11:9 11:6). “Usually when I am the favorite in the match I am not relaxed at all. I feel the great pressure. However today it was different. The win over FU Yu gave me great dose of confidence and I played relaxed ” said SURJAN. Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia overcame Tetyana BILENKO of Ukraine 4:1 (11:4 11:8 11:4 5:11 11:7). SHAN Xiaona of Germany beat Poland’s Katarzyna WEGRZYN 4:0 (11:9 11:4 11:3 11:7). “I played much better that yesterday against Tania PLAIAN. After so long time of not having the spectators in the venue I was overwhelmed with noice I was listening and found hard to focus on the play. Today it was much better I was little nervous but not to much. In addition we never played against each other before and that always work in my favor. For my adversaries is hard to read my style of play ” said SHAN. SHAN will meet Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania who beat Dora MADARASZ of Hungary 4:3 (11:8 6:11 11:5 17:19 7:11 13:11 11:8). At 3:2 SAMARA saved three match balls before she recovered to win the match. “Dora is my “nightmare” adversary. I told her that. We are good friends off the field but in the arena I do not like to play against her. In previous occasions in Minsk and Singapore she beat me 3:0 I was left without the chance in those duels. That is why she had advantage today but it was open game.In the moments when I faced the match balls I managed to calm down I got the support from the tribunes and it all worked well. I was calm and focused on each point ” said SAMARA. Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA overcame Tin Tin HO of England in five games (11:9 11:9 1:9 9:11 11:8) whilst Prithika PAVADE of France lost thrilling seven games match against NI Xia Lian 3:4 (11:2 11:8 9:11 7:11 11:9 2:11 5:11). NI will meet Bernadette SZOCS of Romania. Romania’s player overcame Georgina POTA of Hungary in straight games (11:7 11:7 11:8 11:3). Natalia PARTYKA faced the match point in the decisive seventh game but she managed to recover to win her duel (11:2 11:6 7:11 11:6 9:11 5:11 12:10). Partyka was leading 3:1 in games and 9:7 in fifth game when Hana changed the course of the match. “Well that is the beauty of the table tennis. I was watching CIOBANU in my room of coming back from 1:3 and 3:8 I saw Timo also recovering from being behind in the match against our Samuel…that is it you have to play all 11 points ” said Natalia.” It should of been 4:1 for me but Hana proved it wrong.” At 3:3 ARAPOVIC had match balls at 10:6 but PARTYKA maintained her patience to win. “She was under big stress and I was calm. Hana needed just one ball but sometimes it is so far ” said PARTYKA. Nina MITTELHAM overcame WAN Yuan her teammate from the German team 4:1 (11:2 11:6 11:3 9:11 12:10) YUAN Jianan of France beat Natalia BAJOR of Poland 4:1 (11:9 11:6 11:6 9:11 11:6). Andreea DRAGOMAN progressed to the next round after victory over Linda BERGSTROM of Sweden 4:1 (11:9 4:11 16:14 11:9 11:7). The very last to book her place in top 16 were Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine. She beat Maria XIAO of Spain (11:8 3:11 11:8 11:7 8:11 11:6).  

In the opening round of the Men’s singles event top favorites justified their status but it was not easy round for most of them. Top seeded Truls MOREGARDH of Sweden overcame Tamas LAKATOS of Hungary in six games whilst defending champion Timo BOLL needed full seven games to overcame spirited game of Samuel KULCZYCKI of Poland. In real drama that kept the spectators at the edge of their seats German record holder in number of titles in Europe prevailed. “I studied his game and I was warned. He is very good with the left handed players; already had beat KARLSSON DUDA…He played very good in the opening game. He put me under severe pressure but as it is case with young players in the finish he hesitated to win. I know that feeling from my early ages. I have been there too ” said BOLL. For the last moment it was not clear should be Timo capable to play at the Championships in Munich. “Twice in had broken ribs and I missed few weeks of training. I did not start well but it happened before it was not something that scared me. I just keep on playing ” said BOLL. On Friday Patrick FRANZISKA become father of little Tyler. Today he entered the venue for a first time. “I was not sleeping at all. It is amazing feeling ” said Patrick. He beat Pavel SIRUCEK if Czech Republic in straight games. “We were at the training together two weeks ago. It was not easy to play against him at all no meter what the result predicts ” said Patrick. Alexis LEBRUN of France continued with good games. He beat Belgium’s Martin ALLEGRO in five games. “I am little bit tired now. It has been long day with a lot of difficult matches. However I won them all so I am happy now. Match against Martin was very difficult in a way that I had to think a lot. Only after third game I managed to get into the rhythm and to control the match ” said LEBRUN.  

In the semi final of the Women’s Doubles Event at the European Championships Munich 2022 top seeds Sarah DE NUTTE and NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg will meet Andreea DRAGOMAN and Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania. Romania secured more two medals in doubles since in other semi final Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania will meet Maria XIAO of Spain and Adina DIACONU of Romania. Andreea DRAGOMAN and Elizabeta SAMARA overcame Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia in their quarterfinal duel. SAMARA recovered from the surgery and despite here previous successes she was more than thrilled to reach the medal rostrum again. “The opening game was important. It could went either ways but since it went on our account it gave us advantage ” said SAMARA.”When I saw the draw I thought we could win. I just had that feeling.” The Romanian pairings did not have the medal together at the European Championships. At the World Championships they lost in the quarterfinal. “I am so honored to play with Liza here ” said DRAGOMAN. Luxembourg’s NI Xia Lian and Sarah DE NUTTE beat Linda BERGSTROM and Christina KALLBERG of Sweden in the quarterfinal. “It’s wonderful. It’s always a challenge. Everybody is very strong and we are very satisfied until now. Of course we want the best but we also respect that everybody has got the chance and we can only show our best.” On what made her and Sarah DE NUTTE beat Linda BERGSTROM and Christina KALLBERG: “Because we are clever. Of course everybody is clever and sometimes it shows and sometimes you’re not able to show it. If you have a good day and you can show it it is a fantastic feeling. And this is what we are fighting for.” On her motivation to keep chasing medals aged 59: “I’m always motivated. If you have no motivation you better stay home. You have a responsibility. In your life you must keep your promise or keep doing what you do best. This is in my personality and if I agree I want to give it 100 per cent minimum – 120 even. We have a good team I have a good partner a good coach everything is fantastic. And we try – maybe we succeed maybe not. It’s very interesting.” Speaking on De NUTTE:”She is a very good partner a very good player a very smart girl. We are very happy together that’s why you see we’ve got such a good harmony. It’s fun to play and even more fun to win.It is not every day you have this chance so we have to cherish it.” Maria XIAO and Adina DIACONU teamed up for a first time here in Munich. In the quarters they overcame Nina MITTELHAM and Sabine WINTER. “They were favorites but our game was very difficult for them. We felt it and it gave us confidence. We halted their spin ” explain Maria XIAO. Luxembourg’s pairings lost only one game in their second round match. Serbia’s Dragana VIGNJEVIC and Izabela LUPULESKU were on the other side of the table. It was sad end for the young German duo Annett KAUFMANN and Franziska SCHREINER in the Round two. They faced their teammates and Warsaw runners’ up Sabine WINTER and Nina MITTELHAM. More experienced duo concluded the match in straight games. “I think we both wished to play someone else. At international competitions it’s nicer not to play against the German players especially in the home country because you normally have the crowds supporting you but now you don’t have that “ said WINTER. “”Nina and I played a lot better than yesterday. We were thinking a lot about this match and had some good tactics that worked. Now we are happy that we are in the quarterfinals.” Franziska SCHREINER said:”We could play better but our adversaries today played in a way that was very uncomfortable for us so we didn’t have a chance to play our best balls. In the end it is difficult to win against former European champions when we don’t play our best.” Another nation’s players in the Round of 16 had to decide who will go into the quarters among themselves. Filippa BERGAND and Christina KÄLLBERG beat Reabecca MUSKANTOR and Filippa BERGAND. “I think both Linda and I were a little nervous in the beginning so we didn’t get a nice and comfortable feeling but then we immediately got a good start of the second set and then we got into it. After that it felt like we started to control the game again and I think that is why we won the match ” said KALLBERG. Romania’s Bernadette SZOSC and Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA overcame SHAO Jieni and YU Fu of Portugal in the match for the medal. “Bernie and I had a break we did not play together for a while because I had a surgery. I am very happy that Bernie waited for me although she had other propositions ” said POLCANOVA. Bernadette confirmed and explained:”I knew Sofia will come back ready and that we will make it together. We are not only good pairings we are also good friends.” In the quarters they did not give a lot of space to Portugal’s pairings. “We were well prepared. We had few tactics a lot of variations to play atacking and in defending style ” explained Bernadette.”We did not lost the game here and we are not planing to do so.”

On their first appearance at the senior European Championships 18 years Alexis and 15 years old Felix LEBRUN clinched the medal in the Men’s Doubles Event at the European Championships 2022 in Munich. In the semi final they will play against two times champions Robert GARDOS and Daniel HABESOHN of Austria. In other semi final the title holders at the last World Championships and top seeds Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON will meet teammates Jon PERSSON and Anton KALLBERG of Sweden. Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON overcame Martin ALLEGRO and Florian LAMBIET of Belgium in the quarterfinal in straight games. They were down 6:1 and 8:4 in second game but recovered to win. “It didn’t feel like we were that far away and we thought ’OK then we can make them use their time out’ then there’s only three balls left and then you do two good things and then you’re even. It goes fast in table tennis it goes very very fast. They are a skillful doubles pair you’ve got to have respect for that. We’ve seen them play evenly against Chinese players. Especially Allegro is a very good doubles player ” said KARLSSON. On having two silver medals and two bronze medals from European championships doubles: “We can take two gold medals now so that we’ve got two of everything then we can quit this.” They will meet their teammates PERSSON and KALLBERG in the semifinal: “That would’ve been fun then we are sure to have one pair in the final so we would happily take that. We know Jon and Anton very well but they also know us very well. .” Mattias FALCK added: “The second game was definitely important. I think we play really good doubles throughout the whole match. Perhaps we miss some return and make some easy opening mistakes in the beginning of the second set that gives them a small lead. But if you take away those balls we almost play a completely perfect doubles match. The more games you get in a European championships in the main hall the better you feel. But I think we’ve done three good doubles games. We’ve got a good feeling and look forward to tomorrow .” In the Round of 16 Swedes beat Danish pairings Tobias RASMUSEN and Martin ANDERSEN on their way to the quarterfinal. “It is very strong Danish duo and they created a lot of good chances for the. It was not easy match ” said KARLSSON.   LEBRUN brothers Alexis and Felix are moving forward in big steps. In the quarterfinal they overcame Milosz REDZIMSKI and Vladimir URSU the Polish-Moldavian combination to win the medal on their first European senior Championships. “I feel amazing. It is amazing for us to get a medal. It’s unbelievable ” said Felix.” We had advantage 2-0 and play very good in the first two games then it become more difficult for us they play better and better game by game so at the end we won 11-9 in the fourth game and it was a very difficult set.” Alexis LEBRUN added:”We expected a good result because we have played good all year but it is our first European championships so it’s always hard to get medals. We are so happy to win this match and to have this medal. We have played better and better throughout the year and we will just have to continue to improve and we hope that is good enough for getting the gold medal.” Against REDZIMSKI and URSU they lost only third game: “We tried to forget about the last game because it was not the same composition so we tried to think about the game before that. We played like we played in that set and it went OK.” Asked if the age difference makes the difference in this doubles Alexis said: “Not at all. You could see it today I took the control in opening two games but when I lost the rhythm Felix was the one who took the lead. He is mature enough to stood the pressure and it only depends on moment who will be in charge ” explained Alexis. Alexis and Felix showed very powerful performance in the Round of 16 against Dimitrije LEVAJAC and Andrei PUTUNTICA. “We were down two times 5:7 but with little adaptation of the tactics and better spin on first ball we managed to recover and to win the match ” said Felix. To win the medal Jon PERSSON and Anton KALLBERG overcame Polish pairings Maciej KUBIK and Samuel KULCZYTCKI. Once again they needed full five games for that. “This time it was a little bit the opposite; we were ahead and they caught up. But we managed to close it in the end which was nice. We are insanely happy to be in the semifinal we weren’t ranked to be there and we’ve almost been knocked out two matches in a row. But we are there and it’s amazing. We’ve fought us through three doubles matches and won all three of them in a deciding game. But it’s an insanely nice feeling when you walk away with that kind of victory even though it’s been a battle. We’ve really got to fight for it but it’s incredibly nice ” said PERSSON. PERSSON has one bronze medal from 2008: “Then I have been in some quarterfinals so it is nice to take it (the medal) again. It’s not been that many years .” On playing teammates Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson in the semifinal: “It will be a lot of fun an all-Swedish game. We will tease them a little bit tonight. It is a very good doubles pair – they won the world championships recently. It’ll be nice to go in to play them in the semifinal. It’ll just be a nice game and we will focus everything we can to win the game but it will be tough.” KALLBERG added on winning at least a bronze medal

Placed at the position no. 37 at the seedings of the Women’s Singles Event at the European Championships in Munich 2022 Sabina SURJAN of Serbia caused a major upset in the Round of 64. Sabina beat no. 7 seed YU Fu of Portugal runner up at the European Championships 2016 in Budapest. Sabina won after six games (9:11 13:11 14:16 11:9 11:9). “I really had a tough journey towards main draw and best of 64. I was only second in the group stage had to play two matches in the preliminary round; beat Romania’s BALLINT in the decisive game by narrow margin…It was hard journey but it paid off. On the other side YU had her first match in Singles here and that was the detail I took the full advantage ” said Sabina. Sabina was 1:2 in reverse then she won fourth game but she was struggling until the end of that part of match. ‘From that moment I saw I got her. I realized she does not have the answer when I attack her on her backhand and I seized my opportunity. At the begining I did not have any illusions I could beat her but during the game I felt it.” In the Round of 64 Irina CIOBANU of Romania no. 59 seed created the upset by beating Izabela LUPULESKU of Serbia no. 28 seed after remarkable recovery from 1:3 in reverse (11:5 19:21 11:7 14:12 7:11 11:13 3:11). “LUPULESKU played very well. Her game was very difficult for me to the last point but my mental strength prevailed. I managed to recover and to win thanks to my calmness. I was focused and I kept my mind on the ball all the time ” said CIOBANU. Adina DIACONU of Romania no. 26 seed suffered by the hands of Katarzyna WEGRZYN of Poland no. 76 seed. Tin Tin HO of England no.43 beat Sarah DE NUTTE of Luxembourg nno. 19. She needed full seven games (9:11 11:6 9:11 11:6 11:6 5:11 12:10). Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA needed only four games to overcame Dutch representative MEN Shuohan. “For me the first round is always tough because I don’t know my opponent. This time I was really well-prepared against her and I can’t wait to play the next match. My shape is quite OK. I like everything at the European Championships Munich 202); the venue the ball everything is as it should be “said SAMARA. SAMARA is coming from a surgery. “Two months ago I did a surgery on the disc in my back so right now I’m just enjoying being able to play without no pain.I talked to my doctors and they said ‘if you do it in May then you’re able to be in Munich’. Munich was my main reason for the surgery.” On what motivates her: “I’ve won the gold medal in all four disciplines; teams mixed doubles doubles and singles and what I can achieve above that will be like a bonus for me.”    

Acting President Pedro MOURA chaired a meeting of the ETTU Executive Board on Tuesday 16th August at Munich. Mr MOURA praised the arrangements for the European Table Tennis Championships at the Rudi Sedlmayer Halle and updated Board members on forthcoming international activities scheduled from September to December. The Board received financial updates and considered preparations for the Congress to be held on 20th August. It was agreed to create a working group that will actively work on the preparation to launch Europe Youth Series during 2023. It was agreed that the system of play for team events at the 2023 European Games shall be the Paris 2024 Olympic team system. It was agreed to go ahead with European Table Tennis awards at the 2023 European Championships at Malmo.

The competition in the main draw of the Men’s and Women’s Event commenced today with the matches in the Round of 32 at the European Championships in Munich. Bronze medalists from World Championships in Huston top seeded pairings from Luxembourg NI Xia Lian and Sarah DE NUTTE successfully concluded their match of the Round of 32. They overcame Bernadett BALINT and Leone HARTBRICH of Hungary 3:1.In the bottom half of the draw last year’s silver medalists from Warsaw Sabine WINTER and Nina MITTELHAM also progressed to the next round but they were stretched to full distance. Anna and Katarzyna WEGRZYN put Germany’s duo under severe pressure 3:2. Germany has another reason for joy. Youngsters Annett KAUFMANN and Franziska SCHREINER beat Ukraine’s Tetiana BILENKO and Ganna GAPONOVA in straight games. Nikoleta PUCHOVANOVA of Slovakia and Ozge YILMAZ of Turkey overcame Slovenia’s Ana TOFANT and Katarina STRAZAR in five games. Two Swedish pairs are also in 16; Christina KALLBERG and Linda BERGSTROM after win over Andrea TODOROVIC and Sabina SURJAN of Serbia as well as Rebecca MUSKANTOR and Fillipa BERGAND who beat Amelie SOLJA of Austria and Marketa SEVCIKOVA of Czech Republic. Title holders at the last World Championships Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON beat CHEN Alexander and David SERDAROGLU of Austria in their opening match in Men’s Doubles Event. In the lower half of the draw QIU Dang and Duda BENEDIKT gave home nation crowd reason to cheer with 3:1 win over Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS and Giorgos KONSTANTINOPOULOS of Greece. Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC of Serbia and Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia needed five games to overcame Liam PITCHFORD of England and Jonathan GROTH of Denmark. Also Alvaro ROBLES of Spain and Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania were put on severe test against Luka MLADENOVIC and Eric GLOD of Luxembourg. Jon PERSSON and Anton KALLBERG of Sweden beat Emmanuel LEBESSON and Simon GAZY of France.

“We watched yesterday few amazing recovering they made. We were aware that even the 2:0 advantage is not enough. We were prepared to fight until the last ball. Of course at the end when you have few match balls the pressure was very high but to be honest even the early stages of the match were not easy ” said LEBESSON. BALAZOVA and PISTEJ had their consolation in bronze. “Today they were a better pair. We have played a few times already and it was always similar. So far in Europe they are the toughest opponents for us. Despite this we really went down with a fight but from the first point they were really pressuring us a lot. We started to find the rhythm a little bit in the third set so it was a pity we couldn’t win one more set and make it more open. But it was well-deserved for them. We are very satisfied with this competition. It was a tough road and if someone would have told us before the tournament that we would get a medal I would not have believed it so much. Right now of course I am a little bit sad that we can’t play the final like last year but I am really happy with our performance in this tournament.” After top seeds the Romanian parings Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS booked their place in the ultimate stage but in match with much more drama. They overcame Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria 3:2. “I did not manage to catch the right rhythm in two opening games but Bernie was the hero of the game. She kept me going until the point I managed to settle into the game. At 2:0 for Austria’s parings and 4:4 the momentum changed. They missed the service and I felt the change. Mentally the advantage went on our side ” explained IONESCU. SZOCS explained what caused the “late” response from her doubles partner. “I had the opportunity to train on this table for Ovidiu it was first time but I knew he will eventually feel the game ” said SZOCS. POLCANOVA had her view on what happened in the third game: “The first two game we won pretty easily and I think we thought it was a little bit too easy. Maybe we felt that ‘oh it can be final’ and then we stopped playing and being active we stopped to move. They played better in the end and we didn’t push each other to really come back to win.” Robert on whether the Romanians got a mental advantage after the third game: “Of course. If you’re 2-0 4-0 down and have a time out and it directly changes everything of course this pushed them up. Our reaction was quite bad.We were 2-0 4-0 up and then you have the pressure to win. We were also quite confident that we would win and this was maybe our biggest error. We should’ve gone a bit more motivated than normally and not just continued the line and this was our biggest mistake. We also didn’t take a time out when they came back from 4-0 to 4-0 in the third game. At the end of the day we want to win and this is the worst way to play a match. You have to learn from it and next time make it better.” On winning bronze: “We are happy about the bronze medal this is no question. Not only because of this bronze medal but because we beat the two pairs – we beat the champions we beat (Simon) Gauzy (FRA) who is one of the best in Europe and (Prithika) Pavade (FRA) is I think the biggest future (star) from Europe. She played amazing table tennis. They’re a very good mixed doubles they had very good results already we are just a new pair and we can be happy and proud of the tournament. If we could get our higher level a bit more stabile then maybe it could be quite quite good results in the future.”   Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jianan of France clinched the title tonight in the Mixed Doubles Event at the European Championships in Munich. Last time at the Europeans in Warsaw they lost in semis and they were fourth at the Japan Olympics but tonight finally they listened the La Marseillaise in the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle. In the final they overcame Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania whilst the bronze medal was awarded to Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia and Robert GARDOS and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria. “This is an amazing feeling now. OK we start as No.1 but you cannot expect to catch the title. I don’t believe that we won. Maybe I will need some days. Tomorrow I will start my competition but tonight I don’t believe that I won this tournament said LEBESSON. Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS were worthy adversary. “They had a really good start and I made more mistakes than usually but the ball from Bernadette was really having a lot of spin a lot of quality. So it was hard for me to adapt to this ball. Jianan made really good games but I made too many mistakes to think that we could win this game. So it was normal that we were 1-0 down and then we tried to play better and better especially me. At the end it’s 11-9 (in the final game) it can be 11-9 the other way too ”admitted Emmanuel. At the medals ceremony European champions from Budapest 2016 was emotional. “It was the first big title for us. We caught a WTT and finished fourth in the Olympic Games last year but to catch one European title it’s amazing. It’s a big emotion. Also in the semifinal at the beginning of the afternoon we had a big big match and tonight we also needed to play an amazing performance to win this game because