Sofia POLCANOVA is the first player since 2010 and the 16th in total (13 women and 3 men) who won 3 individual medals in one European Championships (gold in singles and doubles and bronze in mixed). In 2010 this was done by Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (LTU) and Viktoria PAVLOVICH (BLR). PASKAUSKIENE did the same in 2009. Record holder on this is Zoya RUDNOVA who won 3 medals in 1968 1970 and 1974. PASKAUSKIENE and RUDNOVA are the only ones who won 3 individual medals in more than one EC. Germany won 3 medals in Women’s singles. The last time this happened in Women’s singles was in 1960 when the Hungarians Eva KOCZIAN Ilona KEREKES and Saroltha MALTHE stood on the podium together. In the men’s singles this happened 4 times: Hungary in 1978 (GERGELY JONYER and KREISZ) Sweden in 1996 (WALDNER PERSSON and Peter KARLSSON) and Germany in 2003 (BOLL WOSIK ROSSKOPF) and 2010 (BOLL BAUM SÜSS). All time leader in the medal standings of the European Championship individual 1958-2022 is Timo BOLL with 13 gold and 4 bronze (he never lost a final). Second is the best women in European Individual history: Ruta PASKAUSKIENE with 7 gold 2 silver and 9 bronze. Elisabeta SAMARA is now the one with the highest number of medals of all participants in this European Championships with 5 gold 3 silver and 6 bronze medals. Sofia POLCANOVA is only the 6th woman to win singles and doubles in 1 year. Petrissa SOLJA did this in 2021 and before this was don by Valentina POPOVA (1980 and 1984) Nicole STRUSE (1996) Jill HAMMERSLEY (1976) and Judit MAGOS (1974). Seven men were able to win these two titles in one year: Timo BOLL being by far the best he did this no less than 4 times (2002 2007 2008 and 2010). Zoltan BERCZIK (1960) Kjell JOHANSSON (1966) Gabor GERGELY (1978) Mikael APPELGREN (1988) and Vladimir SAMSONOV (1998) are the othes ones.  

Sofia POLCANOVA is the first player since 2010 and the 16th in total (13 women and 3 men) who won 3 individual medals in one European Championships (gold in singles and doubles and bronze in mixed). In 2010 this was done by Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (LTU) and Viktoria PAVLOVICH (BLR). PASKAUSKIENE did the same in 2009. Record holder on this is Zoya RUDNOVA who won 3 medals in 1968 1970 and 1974. PASKAUSKIENE and RUDNOVA are the only ones who won 3 individual medals in more than one EC. Germany won 3 medals in Women’s singles. The last time this happened in Women’s singles was in 1960 when the Hungarians Eva KOCZIAN Ilona KEREKES and Saroltha MALTHE stood on the podium together. In the men’s singles this happened 4 times: Hungary in 1978 (GERGELY JONYER and KREISZ) Sweden in 1996 (WALDNER PERSSON and Peter KARLSSON) and Germany in 2003 (BOLL WOSIK ROSSKOPF) and 2010 (BOLL BAUM SÜSS). All time leader in the medal standings of the European Championship individual 1958-2022 is Timo BOLL with 13 gold and 4 bronze (he never lost a final). Second is the best women in European Individual history: Ruta PASKAUSKIENE with 7 gold 2 silver and 9 bronze. Elisabeta SAMARA is now the one with the highest number of medals of all participants in this European Championships with 5 gold 3 silver and 6 bronze medals. Sofia POLCANOVA is only the 6th woman to win singles and doubles in 1 year. Petrissa SOLJA did this in 2021 and before this was don by Valentina POPOVA (1980 and 1984) Nicole STRUSE (1996) Jill HAMMERSLEY (1976) and Judit MAGOS (1974). Seven men were able to win these two titles in one year: Timo BOLL being by far the best he did this no less than 4 times (2002 2007 2008 and 2010). Zoltan BERCZIK (1960) Kjell JOHANSSON (1966) Gabor GERGELY (1978) Mikael APPELGREN (1988) and Vladimir SAMSONOV (1998) are the othes ones.  

he ETTU Executive Board has awarded the 2024 European Championships to the Olympic city of Innsbruck the capital of the Tyrol region in Austria. The Championships will be played from 15 to 20 October 2024. “ETTU is very happy to have the Championships in the Olympic city of Innsbruck. We recognised the Austrian Table Tennis Association as a reliable organiser and we all remember the 2013 European Championships as a great event. ETTU is proud to return to Austria with our most important Championships “ said ETTU Acting President Pedro MOURA. “We would like to thank the Executive Board for the trust they have placed in us to organise this prestigious event. We are very proud that we can host the next Individual European Championships after this successful Championships in Munich. We invite all member associations and spectators from all over Europe to Austria for the 2024 European Individual Championships from 15 to 20 October 2024 ” said President of the Austrian Federation Wolfgang GOTSCHKE. With his experience as two times European champion in Team’s and Doubles Stefan FEGERL will be on duty as sport director in Innsbruck. “As former table tennis world class player I am happy that we have secured the European Table Tennis Championships for Austria. I will give my best to ensure best conditions for the participating players.” said Vice President for Sport FEGERL After one of the best presentations shown recently General Secretary Mathias NEUWIRTH was pleased with the outcome of the meeting with the ETTU Executive Board. “It is a great honor for Austria to be the host for the European Championships 2024. Using the experience of the European Championships 2013 in Schwechat and of two ITTF World Tour Platinum Events we will do our best to organise excellent Championships for players spectators match officials and all involved people. We are looking forward seeing you in Austria 2024.”

he ETTU Executive Board has awarded the 2024 European Championships to the Olympic city of Innsbruck the capital of the Tyrol region in Austria. The Championships will be played from 15 to 20 October 2024. “ETTU is very happy to have the Championships in the Olympic city of Innsbruck. We recognised the Austrian Table Tennis Association as a reliable organiser and we all remember the 2013 European Championships as a great event. ETTU is proud to return to Austria with our most important Championships “ said ETTU Acting President Pedro MOURA. “We would like to thank the Executive Board for the trust they have placed in us to organise this prestigious event. We are very proud that we can host the next Individual European Championships after this successful Championships in Munich. We invite all member associations and spectators from all over Europe to Austria for the 2024 European Individual Championships from 15 to 20 October 2024 ” said President of the Austrian Federation Wolfgang GOTSCHKE. With his experience as two times European champion in Team’s and Doubles Stefan FEGERL will be on duty as sport director in Innsbruck. “As former table tennis world class player I am happy that we have secured the European Table Tennis Championships for Austria. I will give my best to ensure best conditions for the participating players.” said Vice President for Sport FEGERL After one of the best presentations shown recently General Secretary Mathias NEUWIRTH was pleased with the outcome of the meeting with the ETTU Executive Board. “It is a great honor for Austria to be the host for the European Championships 2024. Using the experience of the European Championships 2013 in Schwechat and of two ITTF World Tour Platinum Events we will do our best to organise excellent Championships for players spectators match officials and all involved people. We are looking forward seeing you in Austria 2024.”

  Association Gold Silver Bronze Total   1 Austria 2 1 1 4   2 Romania 1 2 1 4   3 Germany 1 1 2 4   4 Sweden 1   3 4   5 France 1   1 2   6 Slovenia   1   1   7 Spain     1 1   7 Slovakia     1 1   7 Luxembourg     1 1   The full Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle erupted today after the last point in the Men’s Singles final. After fantastic performance Germany’s DANG Qui become the Europan champion in Munich 2022. He clinched the title in big style after victory over no. two seed Darko JORGIC of Slovenia. Two Swedes were together again at the same step of the medal rostrum. Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON clinched bronze medals. Three days earlier they won gold in Doubles. “I feel like I am the happiest man alive right now. It is unbelievable I do not know how I achieved it but right now I just feel relieved and so happy. I think I need some time to think over all of these emotions I have right now ” said Qui. In the opening game DANG Qiu had a better start but from the 4:5 JORGIC changed the course of the game. DANG saved two game balls to level but Darko used third to win the opening game. In next game JORGIC took the control created advantage 8:4 but DANG leveled. At 10:9 JORGIC had game point; DANG responded and created the chance to level and won the game. DANG kept the momentum in the next game to secure the 2:1 lead. The fierce fight continued but DANG was always one step forward and more precise in the finishes. He kept going in the same pace and recorded the victory without due alarm. “The atmosphere was great. When I turned over the second game I knew I had the momentum and the crowd was always on my side. They just pushed me further and further and then I just kept rolling. Luckily I played really well after that and somehow managed to win all the games. This is the biggest achievement I ever had. I knew it was the biggest match I’d ever had today in the final.” On what’s his next goal and what this gold medal means for his confidence looking forward to future competitions: “It boosts the confidence. It is an amazing feeling to win this prestigious tournament in such a strong continent as Europe with such legends of this game who have won this tournament before and now I’m one of them. What is next? I feel that when I am European champion I have to focus my goals on the World Championships and the Olympics which will come up soon. Therefore I need to keep my results consistent otherwise this title means nothing.” So far Dang has outstanding season. “I think that my level was already good a few years ago. It was a bit unlucky for me that Corona came and I had to stop. I won the Portugal Open 2020 and then the virus came and stopped everything. When the tournaments kept rolling again and I started to get the rhythm and feeling I just play well. To be honest I don’t have secrets. I just try to do what I have to do every day; I go to the gym I go to the practice as a normal player and try to improve myself and that’s the receipt for the success; you need to be consistent and patient ” said Qiu. Darko JORGIC won his first ever silver in singles at the European championships. “I’m sad after the tough loss against Dang in the final. I am sad but overall I’m happy that I reached this final. I played an amazing tournament and I just want to congratulate Dang for an amazing performance these couple of weeks. I had some chances in the final as well. I was leading 1-0 8-4 but in the end I lost this match. Life goes on I have to train more to keep going and I hope next year is my year. DANG was playing really good tactically. He was fighting from the beginning until the end. I was leading in the second set 1-0 8-4 he reached me and won this set. I think this was the crucial moment for how the match would go. We both showed an amazing performance we both played amazingly and I’m really happy with how high I reached in the end ” stated JORGIC.

  Association Gold Silver Bronze Total   1 Austria 2 1 1 4   2 Romania 1 2 1 4   3 Germany 1 1 2 4   4 Sweden 1   3 4   5 France 1   1 2   6 Slovenia   1   1   7 Spain     1 1   7 Slovakia     1 1   7 Luxembourg     1 1   The full Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle erupted today after the last point in the Men’s Singles final. After fantastic performance Germany’s DANG Qui become the Europan champion in Munich 2022. He clinched the title in big style after victory over no. two seed Darko JORGIC of Slovenia. Two Swedes were together again at the same step of the medal rostrum. Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON clinched bronze medals. Three days earlier they won gold in Doubles. “I feel like I am the happiest man alive right now. It is unbelievable I do not know how I achieved it but right now I just feel relieved and so happy. I think I need some time to think over all of these emotions I have right now ” said Qui. In the opening game DANG Qiu had a better start but from the 4:5 JORGIC changed the course of the game. DANG saved two game balls to level but Darko used third to win the opening game. In next game JORGIC took the control created advantage 8:4 but DANG leveled. At 10:9 JORGIC had game point; DANG responded and created the chance to level and won the game. DANG kept the momentum in the next game to secure the 2:1 lead. The fierce fight continued but DANG was always one step forward and more precise in the finishes. He kept going in the same pace and recorded the victory without due alarm. “The atmosphere was great. When I turned over the second game I knew I had the momentum and the crowd was always on my side. They just pushed me further and further and then I just kept rolling. Luckily I played really well after that and somehow managed to win all the games. This is the biggest achievement I ever had. I knew it was the biggest match I’d ever had today in the final.” On what’s his next goal and what this gold medal means for his confidence looking forward to future competitions: “It boosts the confidence. It is an amazing feeling to win this prestigious tournament in such a strong continent as Europe with such legends of this game who have won this tournament before and now I’m one of them. What is next? I feel that when I am European champion I have to focus my goals on the World Championships and the Olympics which will come up soon. Therefore I need to keep my results consistent otherwise this title means nothing.” So far Dang has outstanding season. “I think that my level was already good a few years ago. It was a bit unlucky for me that Corona came and I had to stop. I won the Portugal Open 2020 and then the virus came and stopped everything. When the tournaments kept rolling again and I started to get the rhythm and feeling I just play well. To be honest I don’t have secrets. I just try to do what I have to do every day; I go to the gym I go to the practice as a normal player and try to improve myself and that’s the receipt for the success; you need to be consistent and patient ” said Qiu. Darko JORGIC won his first ever silver in singles at the European championships. “I’m sad after the tough loss against Dang in the final. I am sad but overall I’m happy that I reached this final. I played an amazing tournament and I just want to congratulate Dang for an amazing performance these couple of weeks. I had some chances in the final as well. I was leading 1-0 8-4 but in the end I lost this match. Life goes on I have to train more to keep going and I hope next year is my year. DANG was playing really good tactically. He was fighting from the beginning until the end. I was leading in the second set 1-0 8-4 he reached me and won this set. I think this was the crucial moment for how the match would go. We both showed an amazing performance we both played amazingly and I’m really happy with how high I reached in the end ” stated JORGIC.

Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA is newly crowned champion in Women’s Singles Event at the European Championships Munich 2022. After very close opening game in the final Nina MITTELHAM of Germany sustained the shoulder injury in the second game and after the medical break she was forced to withdrew. Bronze medalists are SHAN Xiaona of Germany and Sabine WINTER also of Germany. After the final POLCANOVA also bursted into tears. “It’s a very sad situation. I don’t have words for Nina. This is unbelievable. To give up in the final I would be so broken. Of course I did not want to win like this. I think that I deserves to win but this win is not as beautiful as I had imagined. I told myself yesterday that I would cry today either if I lose or if I win because this week was such a crazy week where I played 15 matches in total and every match was on the edge and I am super empty. My emotions are running so high I don’t know what to think ” said POLCANOVA. On her way to the final POLCANOVA beat Sabine WINTER of Germany Bernadette SZOCS of Romania Natalia PARTYKA of Poland Tin Tin HO of England and Ozge YILMAZ of Turkiye. “I have been fighting for and dreaming about this so much. In 2018 I was bronze medallist and thought to myself ‘OK next time I want to get a gold medal’ but two years later I was injured so I didn’t play at my best. Now four years later I am just so happy.” Nina recorded fantastic wins over SHAN Xiaona of Germany YUAN Jia Nan of France Andrea DRAGOMAN of Romania WAN Yuan of Germany and Charlotte LUTZ of France. POLCANOVA clinched gold medal at the Championships few days ago in Women’s Doubles Event with Bernadette SZOCS. Previously in 2018 POLCANOVA won bronze in singles at the European Championships. She has silver from 2018 in Doubles with Jana NOSKOVA; silver in Team’s Event 2014 and in Mixed Doubles she also won silver 2018. Germany’s National coach Tamara BOROS explained that Nina felt the pain in the triceps area yesterday on warming up but it worsened today. MITTELHAM put her brave face and started the match today but after the opening game the pain become to strong to continue. Nina MITTELHAM was very sad after the final. “I don’t know what I should say. You’re in the final and you want to go for the gold medal and from the beginning you feel that it’s not possible. I feel sad I could also have lost the match but to end it like this is not nice.” On whether she can appreciate the silver medal: “Right now it feels really hard to be happy about my silver but in a tournament like this it is a long way to the final and if you then make it to the final and have a chance to win gold but can’t compete anymore it feels much worse. Right now it’s really difficult but I think that maybe in the future I can be proud of it. To play this competition at home with so much pressure from the crowd from yourself and win silver. Maybe in one two or three weeks I will smile when I think about this. On the injury: “It just hit into my arm and then I felt that I couldn’t really play and strike the ball hard. At the end I just had very little feeling in my arm because of the injury. I couldn’t get enough power into my game. It’s just annoying that it happened to me.”  

Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA is newly crowned champion in Women’s Singles Event at the European Championships Munich 2022. After very close opening game in the final Nina MITTELHAM of Germany sustained the shoulder injury in the second game and after the medical break she was forced to withdrew. Bronze medalists are SHAN Xiaona of Germany and Sabine WINTER also of Germany. After the final POLCANOVA also bursted into tears. “It’s a very sad situation. I don’t have words for Nina. This is unbelievable. To give up in the final I would be so broken. Of course I did not want to win like this. I think that I deserves to win but this win is not as beautiful as I had imagined. I told myself yesterday that I would cry today either if I lose or if I win because this week was such a crazy week where I played 15 matches in total and every match was on the edge and I am super empty. My emotions are running so high I don’t know what to think ” said POLCANOVA. On her way to the final POLCANOVA beat Sabine WINTER of Germany Bernadette SZOCS of Romania Natalia PARTYKA of Poland Tin Tin HO of England and Ozge YILMAZ of Turkiye. “I have been fighting for and dreaming about this so much. In 2018 I was bronze medallist and thought to myself ‘OK next time I want to get a gold medal’ but two years later I was injured so I didn’t play at my best. Now four years later I am just so happy.” Nina recorded fantastic wins over SHAN Xiaona of Germany YUAN Jia Nan of France Andrea DRAGOMAN of Romania WAN Yuan of Germany and Charlotte LUTZ of France. POLCANOVA clinched gold medal at the Championships few days ago in Women’s Doubles Event with Bernadette SZOCS. Previously in 2018 POLCANOVA won bronze in singles at the European Championships. She has silver from 2018 in Doubles with Jana NOSKOVA; silver in Team’s Event 2014 and in Mixed Doubles she also won silver 2018. Germany’s National coach Tamara BOROS explained that Nina felt the pain in the triceps area yesterday on warming up but it worsened today. MITTELHAM put her brave face and started the match today but after the opening game the pain become to strong to continue. Nina MITTELHAM was very sad after the final. “I don’t know what I should say. You’re in the final and you want to go for the gold medal and from the beginning you feel that it’s not possible. I feel sad I could also have lost the match but to end it like this is not nice.” On whether she can appreciate the silver medal: “Right now it feels really hard to be happy about my silver but in a tournament like this it is a long way to the final and if you then make it to the final and have a chance to win gold but can’t compete anymore it feels much worse. Right now it’s really difficult but I think that maybe in the future I can be proud of it. To play this competition at home with so much pressure from the crowd from yourself and win silver. Maybe in one two or three weeks I will smile when I think about this. On the injury: “It just hit into my arm and then I felt that I couldn’t really play and strike the ball hard. At the end I just had very little feeling in my arm because of the injury. I couldn’t get enough power into my game. It’s just annoying that it happened to me.”  

The 2022 ETTU Congress was held today in Holiday Inn Westpark Hotel Munich on the occasion of the 2022 European Championships. The meeting was chaired by Acting President Pedro MOURA in the presence of 45 Delegates including four online and ITTF President Petra SORLING and Secretary General Raul CALIN. In his opening speech ETTU Acting President Pedro MOURA addressed the participants: “I do so in my capacity as Acting ETTU President. but I stand here representing the whole ETTU Executive Board. We are one team and we have been working hard together over the last five months to ensure we continued to take our sport forward in difficult circumstances.” He reminded the delegates that the Executive Board decision to not allow Russian and Belarusian players and officials within competitions was in line with the International Olympic Committee and the ITTF and in solidarity with Ukraine and the Olympic Movement. “These were not easy decisions. Any decision that stops an athlete from being able to compete cannot be taken lightly. But we agreed that it was the best course to take in order to protect the athletes and ensure the integrity of our ETTU competitions. It also showed our support for Ukraine athletes something we have maintained to this day and that we have committed to for the rest of this year and next year.” “I wish to give a special warm welcome to Ukraine Table Tennis Federation President Alexander ZATS. Thank you for being here with us. As you know we have set up a Crowdfunding Campaign to raise much needed funds which will allow Ukrainian athletes to continue to compete at events this year and in 2023. I hope you will all be able to make a donation to this worthy cause and doing so help our beloved sport to survive in this important European table tennis country – Ukraine.” ETTU have faced challenges and difficult decisions and we have continued to work hard to operate as close to normal as possible. “Following the significant disruption in 2020 caused by COVID-19 ETTU was able to deliver all the competitions scheduled for that year with the exception of the European Youth Championships. We continued that momentum in 2021 and 2022 and delivered the complete package of our ETTU events in a remarkable and eminently successful fashion.” ETTU was able to deliver all the Development Program activities during 2021 and now 2022. As well as being proud of what we have done we have a huge amount to look forward to.” First of course is the remainder of the fantastic table tennis competition here at the European Championships. “As the first time our sport has been included in this prestigious event it is further evidence of table tennis as one of the most popular sports in Europe. “Looking ahead to 2023 we are already working on our budget and plans for next year as we aim to tackle the challenges head on and turn them into opportunities.We are developing a balanced but ambitious budget which will match our ambitions for our sport.” ETTU is planning to organise new events to fulfill the needs of the members including the Under-13 European Championships and potentially a new Europe Youth series. Mr MOURA concluded his speech by congratulating Mrs. Petra SORLING for her election as ITTF President being the first woman to be elected for the job and showing how the table tennis community is really engaging the gender equality issue. ITTF President Petra SORLING underlined very challenging times: “We have the war in Europe and the Pandemic is still present in the World. These challenging moments reflects on all segments of our sport but one of the ITTF Pillars the Unity is very strong.” President SORLING was following on four pillars of ITTF Manifesto. “Nr. 1 is to Unify the ITTF family. I am extremely proud of our cooperation with ETTU and very importantly with German Table Tennis Association. We made a very good agreement with DTTB to move on and we will have future events in Germany. In addition we agreed with Croatia to have World Para and Parkinson’s Championships.” Munich was highlited once again as a good example for another ITTF pillar – sustainability. “This is the city of no waste. We are trying to make our sport the same. We will encourage players in the future to use recycled equipment for example. And speaking of Governance we are constantly moving forward. This is a job done by Raul CALIN and also by ETTU but we can not do it without the help of the table tennis community and our members.” Speaking of business growth President SORLING said: “It is table tennis growth. It is not only about business and investors coming; we still own 100 percent of table tennis but we are looking for the investors come to bring the external money.” ITTF President also pointed how much European Championships in Munich the Islamic Solidarity Games and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games are important for table tennis growth by giving the visibility among other sports. “We are organising the World Championships and we are looking forward to Chengdu but we are also aware that there are lots of questions and doubts. An FAQ platform will trbe launched to answer all the questions.” President SORLING congratulated ETTU and Germany to a very well organised Championship at the end. The German Table Tennis Association Claudia HERWEG welcomed all the guests in Munich and praised a very good cooperation between ETTU and LOC Munich. Congress accepted the EB Proposal for Team Events at the European Championships. The Round of 16 will be added so the winners and runners up in 8 Groups will proceed to the round of 16 and the Championships will be played seven days. New European Under 13 Championships will be launched in 2023. Badges of Honour were awarded to Belgium’s Jacques DENYS Serbia’s Aleksandar MATKOVIC Norway’s Sven-Erik NORDBY England’s Alan RANSOME Germany’s Jie SCHÖPP Hungary’s Krisztina TOTH Switzerland’s Nicolas