Romania’s Bernadette SZOCS eliminated Olympic champion CHEN Meng at WTT Champions Macao to reach the quarterfinal of the event. She needed full five games to overcame World No.2 (8-11 11-9 11-8 7-11 13-11). Winner of the Europe Top 16 in 2018 and two times team’s European champion in 2017 and 2019 as well as European doubles champion this year in Munich confirmed her status as one of the biggest European stars. “It’s unbelievable I don’t have any words for this. I am just so happy and proud to win against Olympic champion. Hard work pays off. This match gave me much more confidence in my game and in myself. One of my dreams come true to beat one Olympic champion! My other dreams are Olympic medal and to be in top ten or maybe even five in the World. A miracle happened in my life ” said Bernadette SZOCS. “I was relaxed; I had nothing to lose. I just felt I have the control over her game.” After such important victory Bernadette is hungry for more. “If I could beat an Olympic champion I have confidence and I believe I can beat anyone! I am in my best shape ever and I proved it with this win. However now when I proved it to myself I will not stop I can achieve much more in the future ” stated Bernadette. In the quarters Bernadette will meet Japan’s Mima ITO World No. 6. Their head-to-head stands at 1:1. The Romanian won their first encounter way back at the 2012 World Junior Championships in India. SZOCS remains in contention to qualify for WTT Cup Finals Xinxiang 2022. At least a semifinal berth will be required to qualify but even then will depend on the outcome of other matches. In upper part of the draw French representative Yuan Jia NAN will meet Kasumi ISHIKAWA of Japan in their match for semifinal. In men’s quarterfinal Darko JORGIC of Slovenia beat Germany’s Patric FRANZISKA on his way to the quarterfinal. Tomorrow will meet FAN Zhendong of China. French Teen Alexis LEBRUN eliminated World No.3 LIANG Jingkun in a five game thriller and in Round of 8 will meet LIN Yun Ju of Taipei. We will also see the all-Sweden quarters – Truls MOREGARD vs. Mattias FALCK.
KS Dekorglass Dzialdowo faces Sporting Clube de Portugal
The opening match of the Champions League Men in the Stage two is the one in the Group C. In Polish Działdowo KS Dekorglass Dzialdowo will face Portugal’s Sporting Clube de Portugal. This season for Polish club will play Jakub DYJAS Jonathan GROTH Yuto KIZUKURI Kamil KUROWSKI XU Wenliang and Patryk LEWANDOWSKI. We are very excited to start another Champions Legue season. We have never play against Sporting but we know that they have very good team with a lot of quality and experience on their side. We expect a big fight and we hope that we can manage the victory in front of our spectators. In my opinion we are really solid team and we are able to make a great performance against everyone. For the moment we are on 1st place in the league. The goal of the Polish League is to win the title ” said Jakub DYJAS. For Sporting are listed: Bode ABIODUN Diogo CARVALHO Diogo CHEN Eduardo GOMES Andre CARREIRAS Guilherme PAULO Diogo SILVA and Vasco VELOSO. At the beginning of the Champions Legue we are very excited and we are always motivated for this competition. Dekorglass Dzialdowo it’s a very good team and It’s going to be a very good match. It will be the first time that we play against each other but Sporting always plays to win ” said Sporting’s PR Manager Miguel J. ALMEIDA.” It’s a very difficult group and it will be hard. Our goal it’s to be qualified.” So far Portugal’s club is unbeaten at home and the aim is to defend the title.
Panathinaikos A.C. won the Group by narrow margin
In both D Groups in Men’s and Women’s Stage 2 Europe Cup we already have the winners. In women’s Group D at the top of the standings is Greek Panathinaikos A.C. whilst in Men’s it is Belgium’s TTC Sokah Hoboken. The Group C winner in the Women’s event is French ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly. Panathinaikos A.C. overcame A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello in four matches but in the next round Aikaterini TOLIOU Ana TOFANT and Konstantina PARIDI lost to Leka Enea Irun GEWO. The circle closed when A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello overcame Spanish side. Leka Enea Irun GEWO lost their position for the next round and Panathinaikos A.C. and A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello moved further from the positions no. one and two. In Group C ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly with Anais SALPIN Isa COK and Samson LI overcame the hosts Italian ASV TT Südtirol and Austrian SCO Ossiachersee Bodensdorf. Italian side is second. The Belgium’s Sokah Hoboken is also unbeaten in Europe Cup. Like in the three matches in previous stage they are yet to lose the individual match. Mathieu SAINTILIAN Benjamin BROSSIER and Quentin ROBINOT prevailed against Hungarian PTE PEAC Kalo-Meh Portugal’s GDCS Juncal and host representative Czech’s SKST Tesla Batteries Havirov with Zokhid KENJAEV Ondrej BAJGER and Jan VALENTA .Hosts finished at the position no. two at the standings.
French TT Metz awaits Novi Sad in the re-run of the last season
The second phase of the Champions League Women commences tomorrow in France. Europe Cup winners in 2018 and semifinalists of the Champions Legue in 2021 2022 French Metz will welcome Serbia’s Novi Sad. The top 12 phase will be played by home-away matches with the groups of three clubs. “We have the same group as last year with Novi Sad and Hodonin. Last year we manage to beat both teams and we hope to make the same this year also. It will be a close group . Hodonin have a top player Sakura MORI and a very experienced player Natalia PARTYKA. However we are very happy to play the first matches home so we will try our best. We are ready for the big fight said club Manager Belguise LOIC. For Metz in this season are listed: Pauline CHASSELIN Julia KOCH Charlene LESTIENNE Alexia NGUYEN with international stars Taipei’s CHENG Hsien-Tzu Romania’s Adina DIACONU Russia’s Mariia TAILAKOVA and Germany’s WU Jiaduo. On the other side Novi Sad will put 18 years old Serbia’s Reka BEZEG into the fire in this match. They expects Hong Kong’s Yi Liam for the next match. “We expect that Liam will join us in November and then we will also have Anamaria ERDELYI in our lineup. Until then we will lean on our youngsters. It was our policy before and it proved as right politics when we see progress that Aneta MAKSUTI Tijana JOKIC and Sabina SURJAN had in the past ” said coach Slobodan STOJANOV.
Czech Republic overcame Italy in Havlickuv Brod
Czech Republic overcame Italy in the Group A 5 in the 2023 European Teams Championships Stage 1. In Havlickuv Brod hosts showed no mercy and recorded straight matches victory. Lubomir JANCARIK gave his team a dream start with the victory over John OYEBODE (11:5 11:6 11:7). Tomas POLANSKY overcame Jordy PICCOLIN in long distance duel (11:4 6:11 8:11 13:11 11:5) and Pavel SIRUCEK beat Tommaso GIOVANNETTI (5:11 11:6 11:9 11:5). “Tomas POLANSKY managed to save the match points and in the end he narrowly won. Pavel SIRUCEK did not start well and also had to turn the match around. I am very happy that we won. The season is at the beginning but there are already many events and it is necessary to find the good timing for the right shape. I believe that we will continue with a similar performance in the next stage of qualification ” said the coach of the Czech team Josef PLACHY. Italian coach Lorenzo NANNONI said: “We arrived with a young team that is just gaining experience. But it was our intention. We knew we will have a strong adversary and we didn’t play badly overall. I do not know yet if we will play with this young team in the next qualification matches or the more experienced players will join as .”
Sokah Hoboken in good run in Men’s Europe Cup
The Belgium’s Sokah Hoboken so far showed most impressive performance in the Stage 2 of the Europe Cup. Like in the three matches in previous stage they are yet to lose the individual match. Today they recorded two 3:0 wins in Group D in Men’s Event. Mathieu SAINTILIAN Benjamin BROSSIER and Quentin ROBINOT prevailed against Hungarian PTE PEAC Kalo-Meh and Portugal’s GDCS Juncal. Host representative Czech’s SKST Tesla Batteries Havirov with Zokhid KENJAEV Ondrej BAJGER and Jan VALENTA also beat both Junical 3:1 and PTE PEAC Kalo-Meh 3:2 In Group B TTC Neu-Ulm Team Euro with Vladimir SIDORENKO Maksim GREBNEV and Lev KATSMAN is equal strong with one match less. Today they overcame TTC Ostrava 2016 from Czech Republic. ASISA Borges VALL beat another Spanish representative Leka Enea Marpex. In Women’s Event Italian hosts ASV TT Südtirol beat Austria’s SCO Ossiachersee Bodensdorf. Szandra PERGEL Deborah VIVARELLI and LE Ti Hong Loan prevailed in straight matches. In Group D Panathinaikos A.C. overcame A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello in four matches. Aikaterini TOLIOU and Ana TOFANT scored for Greek club whilst Alina ZAHARIA won one point for the Italian side.
Bucharest will host 2023 Europe Youth Top 10
Bucharest will host 2023 Europe Youth Top 10 ETTU is pleased to announce the ETTU Executive Board has awarded the 2023 Europe Youth Top 10 to the Romanian Table Tennis Federation (FRTM) to be played On September 29th to October 1st 2023 at the Polyvalent Hall in the capital city of Bucharest. “The Romanian Table Tennis Federation has proven themselves as one outstanding organiser of international table tennis events. During recent years ETTU Executive Board has been awarding FRTM its most important European events a decision that has proven correct as all European table tennis community has been given the chance to experience state-of-the-art events ” said Acting President Pedro MOURA.”After three great events in Cluj-Napojca we’ll now experience Bucharest capital of Romania in what we are absolutely sure 2023 Europe Youth Top 10 will be another great table tennis event.” Romania hosted Youth Top 10 already in Buzau in 2015. However more recently they set an example of good organisation of the European Youth Championships in 2018 European Team Championships in 2021 and the European Under 21 Championships in 2022 all held at Cluj-Napoca. “We are happy and honored to be hosting in Bucharest the 2023 Europe Youth Top 10. The Romanian Table Tennis Federation will make its best as always to organize a high standard event for all European young athletes who will be joining us for the first time in Bucharest. Looking forward to seeing you in 2023!” said RTTF President Cristinel ROMANESCU.
The action in Europe switches to Europe Cup
There is no break in European competitions this autumn. Last week was dedicated to the matches in the Stage 1 of 2023 European Teams Championships with matches in Groups A and Groups B whilst this week we are switching focus to the club competitions. The stage 2 of the Europe Cup Group phase is ahead of us with Men’s and Women’s tournaments in four groups each commences tomorrow all over Continent. After the opening Stage of the Europe Cup Men the winners of the Groups were Austria’s Panaceo Stockerau Germany’s TTC Neu Ulm Team Euro Poland’s LOTTO Polski Cukier Gwiazda Bydgoszcz and Belgium’s TTC Sokah Hoboken. In Group A in Italy hosted by TOP SPIN Messina EUCI will also play top seeded club Panaceo Stockerau from Austria ARTEAL – SD Compostela and another Italian representative USD Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo. Group A will open the Stage A with matches tomorrow. At the top of the Group B is Germany’s TTC Neu Ulm Team Euro. The host is TTC Club Ostrava 2016 from Czech Republic and there will also play Spanish LEKA ENEA TDM and ASISA Borges VALL. In Group C Romania’s CSS-SZAK Odorheiu Secuiesc is the hosts and there will also play SF SKK El Nino Praha from Czech Republic Austria’s Solex-Consult TT Wiener Neustadt (AUT) and Polish LOTTO Polski Cukier Gwiazda Bydgoszcz. The Group D will be played in Czech Republic and the host is SKST TESLA BATTERIES Havirov. Portugal’s GDCS Do Juncal Hungary’s PTE PEAC Kalo-Meh and Belgium’s TTC Sokah Hoboken are also listed. In Previous Stage in the Women’s Europe Cup A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello ASV TT Südtirol Asd Tennistavolo Castel Goffredo and Austria’s LZ Linz Froschberg emerged successfully at the top of their respective Groups. In this phase unlike Men’s competition where we have four groups of four we will have four groups of three clubs in women’s Event. The host in Group A is Spanish Girbau-Vic TT. There will also play Italian ASD Tennistavolo Castel Goffredo and Austria’s TTC “NanoTech” Villach. In Group B also in Spain host Reus Ganxets MIRÓ will meet Austria’s LZ Linz Froschberg and Hungarian SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club. In Group C hosted by Italian ASV TT Südtirol will play Austria’s SCO Ossiachersee Bodensdorf and French ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly. In Group D will play Greek Panathinaikos A.C Spanish Leka Enea Irun GEWO and Italian A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello. In Bolzano ASV TT Südtirol will also host the Group D.
Finland booked two tickets from the home tournament
Finland’s men’s and women’s teams advanced to the next stage in the European Team Championships Stage 1 – B Groups Qualification Tournament played in Helsinki during the past weekend. Finland’s men’s first place was secured with Saturday’s 3-2 win over Latvia and 3-1 win over Montenegro. The second place was taken by Montenegro who beat Latvia 3-1 on Sunday. The overwhelming number one in the women’s pool was Croatia who beat both Finland and Norway clearly 3-0. In the fight for second place Finland was barely 3-2 stronger than Norway. The best player of the tournament was the host country’s Benedek OLÁH who won all his four matches. Croatia’s victorious trio Hana ARAPOVIC Ivana MALOBABIC Mateja Jeger MAJSTOROVIC and Finland’s Marina DONNER achieved two victories each.
Double celebration for Greece in Piraeus
At the Athens Riviera in Piraeus Greece celebrated double success. Both Men’s and Women’s teams secured the passage to the Stage 2 of the 2023 European Teams Championships by winning their respective B Groups. The winners in each Group moved to Stage 2 followed by teams finishing on the second position. In Group B1 Greek team composed of Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS Georgios STAMATOUROS and Giorgos KONSTANTINOPOULOS recorded two wins; all in straight matches and straight games. In front of home crowd they overcame Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lithuania. In the last match in the Group Lithuania overcame Bosnia and Herzegovina to pass the group. In the last match for Lithuania on duty were Valdas MARTINKUS Matas VILKAS and Kestutis ZEIMYS. In B2 in Sarajevo with two wins Netherlands is at the top. Kas VAN OOST Gabrelius CAMARA and Barry BERBEN overcame Norway in straight matches and with Milo DE BOER in the line up they also beat Ireland in five matches. Norway’s Haug BORGAR Alexander FRANSSON and Lars RONNEBERG were in line up for the victory over Ireland. Also in Bosnia and Herzegovina since Armenia withdrew only Turkiye and Estonia played to decide the positions in the Group B3. Turkiye’s Abdullah YIGENLER Batuhan ULUCAK and Ibrahim GÜNDÜZ overcame Estonia’s Maksim VUKHA Toomas LIBENE and Stanislav STROGOV in the match for the leading position. In Group B4 in Helsinki Finland led by Benedict OLAH beat Montenegro and Latvia. OLAH recorded all four wins in two team‘s matches although Daniels KOGANS of Latvia put him on severe pressure. Latvia forced Finland into the five matches with Daniels KOGANS and Olegs KARTUZOVS winning two points. Alongside OLAH Alex NAUMI was also in good shape to help Finalnd secure top spot at the standings. Montenegro’s Filip RADOVIC Filip RADULOVIc and iRfan CEKIC beat Latvia to move to the spot no. 2. At home soil in Budapest Hungary recorded two wins for the top spot at the standings. Against Cyprus Adam SZUDI Tamas LAKATOS and Nandor ECSEKI recorded straight three matches win whilst against Hungary they needed four since Elias HARDMEIR scored against LAKATOS. The duel between Switzerland and Cyprus concluded in favour of Swiss team. Loic STOLL Barish MOULLET and Pedro OSSIRO played for the winning side. In Strassen Luxembourg also took the advantage of the home soil. Eric GLOD Luka MLADENOVIC and Mael VAN DESSEL showed no mercy against Israel and Bulgaria. Israel’s team composed of Tal ISRAELI Michael TAUBER and Itay AVIVIV secured second position. In women’s Teams event in Helsinki Croatia concluded phase one at the top of the standings in Group B1. Ivana MALOBABIC Hana ARAPOVIC and Mateja JEGER MAJSTOROVIC recorded two straight matches wins against Norway and Finland. In all -Scandinavian duel Finland’s Marina DONNER Ramon BETZ Anna KIRICHENKO and Aleksandra TITIEVSKAJA beat Norway in five matches. In Group B2 was seen the biggest drama. All three duel went full distance. Belgium prevailed in both thrillers with Margo DEGRAEF Lilou MASSART and Juli VAN HAUWAERT all three scored against Switzerland and Israel. Israel’s Elinor DAVIDOV Karmit DOR and Sinai ITZHAKI lead the tam to the next phase. In Sarajevo in Group B3 England secured the place in the phase two. In two matches against Estonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina Emily BOLTON Tin Tin HO and are unbeaten whils Denise PAYET struggled against Ema LOVRIC and Vitalia REINOL. Estonia’s Reelca HANSON Airi AVAMRI and Vitalia REINOL overcame Bosnia and Herzegovina to book second position. In Pireaus host nation celebrated double success of their team since the women’s team also recorded two wins. Aikaterini TOLIOU Konstantina PARIDI and Malamatenia PAPADIMITROU beat both Wales and Montenegro in straight matches. Wales with Anna HURSEY Charlotte CAREY and Lara WHITTON beat Montenegro to secure next phase. In Saldus Bulgaria overcame the hosts Latvia and Lithuania. Polina DOBREVA Maria YOVKOVA and Tsvetlana GEORGIEVA recorded two striagt matches wins. Lithuania’s Emilija and Kornelija RILISKYTE and Egle JANAKAUSKIENE are second.
