Fantastic run in team’s events continued throughout the individual part of the Championships for the Europeans – three more medals are added to the overall record. Tomorrow will be the last day of the 2021 World Youth Championships in Vila Nova De Gaia but already the Mixed Doubles medals were distributed among players from Poland France Romania and Germany. In Under 19 Mixed Doubles Event Samuel KULCZYCKI and Prithika PAVADE clinched bronze they lost their semifinal match against the gold medal winners XIANG Peng and KUAI Man of China . Chinese pairings overcame Hiroto SHINOZUKA and Miyuu KIHARA of Japan in the final. At the final hurdle in the Under 15 Mixed Doubles Event Iulian CHIRITA and Bianca MEI ROSU of Romania halted by the Japan’s duo of Sora MATSUSHIMA and Miwa HARIMOTO 3:1. In the semifinal Japan’s pairings overcame Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland and Mia GRIESEL of Germany. The best part is that is not all. In Under 19 Boyes Doubles Maksim GREBNEV and Vladimir SIDORENKO will play for gold tonight against Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary and Ivor BAN of Croatia. Darius MOVILEANU and Eduard IONESCU of Romania suffered by the hands of Hungarian and Croatian combination and they clinched bronze. In Under 15 Boys Doubles Ilia KONIUKHOV and Roman VINOGRADOV will clash against Sora MATSUSHIMA of Japan and Felix LEBRUN of France in the final. Russia’s duo beat Romania’s Iulian CHIRITA and Dragos Alexandru BUJUR in the semifinal. Final in Under 15 Girls Doubles Event brings the duel between Germany’s Mia GRIESEL and Annett KAUFMANN and Egypt’s Hana GODA and Japan’s Miwa HARIMORO. Bronze medals are won by Veronika MATIUNINA of Ukraine who teamed up with Suhana SAINI of India and combination of Wales Anna HURSEY and Portugal’s Matilde PINTO. In the Team’s event in two categories of Boys and Girls Europe clinched seven medals. Russia’s Under 15 team clinched gold whilst their compatriots in Under 19 Boys and Under 15 Girls Event added two more silver medals. Portugal and France clinched bronze in Under 15 Boys Event Germany in Under 19 Boys Event and Romania in Under 19 Girls Event.
Europeans showed brave face in Vila Nova De Gaia
European players proved their worth at the 2021 World Youth Championships in Vila Nova De Gaia. In singles tomorrow we will follow matches for medals in each categories. Same as two years ago at the World Championships in Karat Samuel KULCZYCKI of Poland progressed to the quarterfinal of the Under 19 Boys Singles Event. He overcame Russia’s Maksim GREBNEV in straight games. KULCZYCKI will meet Darius MOVILEANU of Romania in next round. MOVILEANU beat Andrea PUPPO of Italy 4:2 today. Ivor BAN of Croatia inflicted the pain in the heart of the host nation supporters by overcoming LI Tiago in six games. His next adversary is ZENG Beixun of China. Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia who won silver in Karat in Doubles two years ago will also play against China’s representative in the quarters. In Round of 16 he beat Adrien RASSENFOSSE of Belgium 4:1. In the opening match of the Round of 16 in Under 19 Girls Singles Event Russia’s Elizabet ABRAAMIAN beat Markhabo MAGDIEVA of Uzbekistan in straight games. In quarters European Under 19 champion will meet WU Yangchen of China. Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania also reached quarters where she will meet Miyuu KIHARA of Japan. Previously Romania’s player overcame India’s Diya Parag CHITALE 4:2. Sophia KLEE of Germany will meet another Japan’s representative – Haruna OJIO after she overcame Ece HARAC of Turkey in seven games match. Felix LEBRUN of France justified his status and reached the quarterfinals. He beat Taipei’s CHANG Yu-An 4:1 and in next round he will meet Turkey’s Ugurcan DURSUN. DURSUN beat Stepan BRHEL of Czech Republic in Round of 16 in straight games. Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland overcame Dragos Alexandru BUJOR of Romania in the Round of 16 4:2 whilst his next adversary Lleyton ULLMANN of Germany overcame David SZANTOSI of Hungary in five games. Tom CLOSSET of Belgum halted progress of Roman VINOGRADOV 4:1 and for the medal he will play against Singapore’s QUEK Yong Izac. Spain’s Daniel BERSOZA beat Nigeria’s Usman Ishola OKANLAWON 4:2. In four quarterfinals of the Under 15 Girls Singles Event will play four European representative. After straight games win over Clea DE STOPPELEIRE of France Mia GRIESEL of Germany progressed to the Round of 8. Her compatriot Annett KAUFMANN beat Russia’s Zlata TEREKHOVA in another straight games duel to reach quarterfinals. GRIESEL will meet Hana GODA of Egypt whilst KAUFMANN will play against Singapore’s SER Lin Qian. Bianca MEI ROSU of Romania followed their path. ROSU overcame Dominika WILTCHKOVA of Slovakia in six games and for the medal she will play against Suhana SAINI of India. Sophie EARLEY of Ireland accounted for Anna HURSEY of Wales after close seven games duel. Sophie will play against Japan’s Miwa HARIMOTO in next round.
Enzo ANGLES and MEN Shuohan crowned Finlandia Open champions
During the four days 153 players from 28 different countries took part in the Finlandia Open. Kisakallio Sports Institute located in Lohja offered excellent facilities for an international table tennis tournament. Everything is possible in table tennis – this was once again seen in the men’s singles final match. Portuguese second seeded Joao GERALDO led the decisive seventh game 10-3. French third seeded Enzo ANGLES had already shown good nerve control against Finnish top seeded Benedek OLÁH in the semi-finals. ANGLES grabbed as many as nine points in a row and won the set 12-10 and the match 4-3. Men’s bronze match was a battle between Finnish players OLÁH and young talent Alex NAUMI. Rio 2016 Olympian Oláh showed to the home crowd who is the Master in the house and won the match 3-1. In the women’s final Dutch MEN Shuohan defeated Russia’s Valeria KOTCYUR 4-1. Ukrainian Solomiya BRATEYKO took the bronze by beating top seeded Russian Yana NOSKOVA 3-1. Junior champions in the U21 age group singles were Iranian Amin AHMADIAN and French Leili MOSTAFAVI. Results (men’s and women’s singles) https://eventresults.ittf.com/eventInfo?selectedTab=Results&eventId=2479 Videos on the FTTA Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pingisliitto/
In Vila Nova De Gaia Europeans medal collection getting bigger
Europeans continued with good performance in the individual part of the 2021 World Youth Championships in Vila Nova De Gaia. In the semifinal of the Under 19 Doubles event Maksim GREBNEV and Vladimir SIDORENKO reached the penultimate stage after victory over top seeds Kay STUMPER of Germany and Hiroto SHINOZUKA of Japan 3:1. Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary and Ivor BAN of Croatia also moved to the semis where they will meet Darius MOVILEANU and Eduardo IONESCU of Romania. In Under 15 Boys event Sora MATSUSHIMA of Japan and Felix LEBRUN of France will meet India’s Preyesh SURESH RAJ and Poland’s Milosz REDZIMSKI. Golden boys from team’s event Ilia KONIUKHOV and Roman VINOGRADOV will clash with Iulian CHIRITA and Alexandru BUJOR of Romania in the match for final. In Under 15 Doubles Egypt’s Han GODA and Japan’s Miwa HARIMOTO will play against India’s Suhana SAINI and Ukraine’s Veronika MATIUNINA whilst Anna HURSEY of Wales and Matilde PINTO of Portugal will meet Mia GRIESEL and Annett KAUFMANN of Germany in the penultimate stage.
Gold medal for Russia’s Under 15 team at the World Youth Championships
Russia’s Under 15 team clinched gold medal whilst their compatriots in Under 19 Boys and Under 15 Girls Event added two more silver medals at the 2021 World Youth Championships in Vila Nova De Gaia. At the end of the team’s event Portugal and France clinched bronze in Under 15 Boys Event Germany in Under 19 Boys Event and Romania in Under 19 Girls Event. In the final of the Under 15 Boys’ Teams Event Russia overcame United States – 3:1. USA had a better start but Russia responded fiercely. Nandan NARESH overcame Aleksei SAMOKHIN before Ilia KONIUKHOV leveled with the victory over Daniel TRAN. Roman VINOGRADOV overcame Jensen FENG to widen the gap and SAMOKHIN sealed the overall victory with the win over TRAN. In the penultimate stage Russia overcame Portugal in straight matches. Aleksei SAMOKHIN Ilia KONIUKHOV and Roman VINOGRADOV succeeded against Bernardo PINTO Tiago ABIODUN and Rafael SILVA. In other match France was halted after five matches thriller against United States. Flavien COTON won both points whilst Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT and Nathan LAM could not stop Daniel TRAN Jensen FENG and Nandan NARESH. In the semifinal of the Under 19 Boys’ Teams Russia secured their place in the ultimate stage after straight matches win over Germany. Vladimir SIDORENKO and Maksim GREBNEV are still in perfect swing they did not lose the game against Hannes HOERMANN and Kay STUMPER. Vladislav MAKAROV was under severe pressure against Daniel RINDERER but Russia’s record maintained clean. In the final they faced China and lost 3:0 by the hands of XIANG Peng LIN Shidong and CHEN Yuanyu. To reach the final China beat Japan 3:0. Romania won bronze in the Under 19 Girls event. Ioana SINEGEORZAN Elena ZAHARIA and Luciana MITROFAN suffered by the hands of players of the team USA after five matches close battle. China beat Japan in the semis 3:1. In the final China beat USA 3:0. In youngest category Russia secured another final after 3:2 win over India. Anastasiia IVANOVA Zlata TEREKHOVA and Kristina KURILKINA overcame team composed of Priya VARTIKAR Suhana SAINI and Rajesh Soyali WANI. Japan prevailed against USA 3:1. Against Japan Russia failed to repeat success and lost in straight matches.
Panagiotis GIONIS elected new Secretary General of the Greek Table Tennis Federation
Still very present on the international scene Panagiotis GIONIS has accepted a new additional role in the Greek Table Tennis Federation as one of the world’s best players becomes Secretary General of the HTTF. The Board of Directors of the Federation voted in favor of GIONIS who will succeed Socrates PAPASAVOGLOU as Secretary General. PAPASAVOGLOU resigned from his position after he took increased responsibilities as the new chairman of the Technical Committee of HTTF. Panagiotis GIONIS expressed the wish to take over the position of Secretary General knowing that he will have enough time to deal with the position as he is out of action due to a serious injury to his Achilles tendon. He presented his idea to the chairman of the board Kostas PAPAGEORGIOU who proposed to the administration the name of his long-time teammate from the national team. The Board of Directors enthusiastically welcomed the new perspective and at the meeting the change was officially made. Panagiotis GIONIS stated: “I am very happy that the Board of Directors showed confidence in me to take the position of Secretary General. I have enough time at this time due to my leg injury and I will have time in the future because my obligations will not be so many. It’s a new motivation for me. I always felt that I wanted to help the association I will do that now with whatever I can. I definitely have a lot to learn I am not knowledgeable about management what I have done for so many years is to be an athlete but I am definitely a very good connoisseur of the sport. I have a lot of shows from abroad and maybe I can add a little stone too. I really want our federation and our sport to go as high as possible ” said GIONIS. GIONIS added: “I look forward to doing my homework. This does not mean that I will neglect the sport part. I am suffering from an injury but slowly I want to return to trainings. My goals do not stop. And Paris 2024 is one of the goals. I want to play now for my club and the national team. I’m sure I can combine both duties.”
Portugal’s under 15 team reached World Championships semi final at he home soil
The 2021 World Youth Championships commenced today in Portugal’s Vila Nova De Gaia. The venue for the Championships is Pavilhão Desportivo Municipal de Gaia. In the first part of the today’s program in the Under 19 Boys’ Teams Event Poland inflicted the pain in host nation supportres by overcaming Portugal in straight matches. Maciej KUBIK overcame Tiago LI 3:1 Samuel KULCZYCKI prevailed against David BESSA in straight games whilst Milosz REDZIMSKI was forced to go full distance but eventualy beat Silas MONTEIRO. They were close to repeat the success against the top seeds Germany represented by Kay STUMPER Daniel RINDERER and Hannes HOERMANN but after five matches favorites prevailed. After fantastic performance at the European Team’s Championships for seniors in Cluj erlier this year Vladimir SIDORENKO and Maksim GREBNEV looked untachable in the opening match at the World Championships against Slovakia. SIDORENKO overcame Adam KLAJBER 3:0 whilst GREBNEV prevailed against Filip DELINCAK by same margin. Vladislav MAKAROV overcame Kristian UHERIK in four games. In next stage Russia prevailed against Belgium to reach the penultimate stage. SIDORENKO GREBNEV and Damir AKHMETSAFIN overcame Louis LAFFINEUR Olav KOSOLOSKY and Nicolas DEGROS In the quarterfinal of the Under 19 Girls Event Romania prevailed against Hong Kong in straight matches. Elena ZAHARIA Ioana SINGEORZAN and Luciana MITROFAN showed no mercy against CHAN Shiu Lam Chelsea. NG Wing Lam and WONG Hoi Tung. In the quarterfinal of the Under 15 Boys’ Event France overcame Romania after five matches. Both points for Romania came by Iulian CHIRITA who overcame Antoine Jean Christian NOIRAULT and Flavien COTON. On the other side COTON and NOIRAULT overcame Dragos Alexandru BUJOR. Third point for France was gained by Nathan LAM in the match against Horia Stefan URSUT. Portugal joined them with the 3:1 victory over Czech Republic. Martin SIP gave Czech Republic good start with the victory over Rafael SILVA 3:0 but Tiago ABIODUN had a different oppinion where the match should go. He beat Jandrich MORAVEK and Martin SIP. Bernardo PINTO added third point to the score line. In five games he overcame David SOCHOR. Russia needed full five matches to overcame India tp reach the semi final. Ilia KONIUKHOV Aleksei SAMOKHIN and Roman VINOGRADOV all three scored point and managed to recover after Russia being 2:0 in reverse. In Under 15 Girls’ Event Russia beat Mauritius 3:0. Anastasiia IVANOVA Zlata TEREKHOVA and Kristina KURILKINA overcame Maena ANDRE Ashfani HOSENALLY and Rachel CHADY. Semifinals U19 Girls’ Teams China – Japan USA – Romania U19 Boys’ Teams Russia – Germany Japan – China U15 Boys’ Teams Russia – Portugal France – USA U15 Girls’ Teams Russia – India Japan – USA
Germany and Russia topping the list in U19 Events in Vila Nova De Gaia
The 2021 World Youth Championships hosted and organized by the Portuguese Table Tennis Association and under the auspices and authority of the International Table Tennis Federation commences tomorrow in Portugal’s Vila Nova De Gaia. The venue for the Championships is Pavilhão Desportivo Municipal de Gaia. The competitions commences with the Team’s event in both Under 15 and Under 19 categories for boys and girls. Team’s event will last two days and from 4th to 8th December the individual events are scheduled. Top seeds in Under 19 Boys Teams Evet is Germany represented by Kay STUMPER Tom SCHWEIGER Daniel RINDERER and Hannes HOERMANN. Seeded one position below is Romania with Darius MOVILEANU Eduard IONESCU Andrei Teodor ISTRATE and Andrei TOMICA. France will play with Felix and Alexis LEBRUN Thibault PORET and Alexis KOURAICHI; in Belgium’s team are Adrien RASSENFOSSE Louis LAFFINEUR Nicolas DEGROS and Olav KOSOLOSKY. No. five seed is Russia with Vladimir SIDORENKO Damir AKHMETSAFIN Maksim GREBNEV and Vladislav MAKAROV. Top seeds in Under 19 Girls Teams Event is Russia represented by Vlada VORONINA Elizabet ABRAAMIAN Natalia MALININA and Liubov TENTSER. Romania is second on the list with Elena ZAHARIA Ioana SINGEORZAN Luciana MITROFAN and Bianca MEI ROSU. India is seeded at the position no. three followed by France with Camille LUTZ Isa COK Charlotte LUTZ and Prithika PAVADE. Top three seeds in Under 15 Boys Teams are Romania Czech Republic and Hungary whilst in the girls list Germany India and Russia holding the top.
Lithuania and Estonia best teams at the MARENCE 2021 Baltic States Championships
MARENCE 2021 Baltic States Table Tennis Championships took place 27-28 November at the Saldus Sports Hall in Saldus Latvia. Lithuania won the title in the Men’s Team Event whilst Estonia succeeded in the Women’s Team’s Event. Both players from Estonia Vallot VAINULA clinched gold in Men’s Singles and Airi AVAMERI is the crowned champion in women’s Singles Event. The link to all Competition Results is here. Competition Video Reviews watch here. Competition Photos. Teams Events award winning places: Men’s Teams 1st place Lithuania 2nd place – Latvia 1 3rd place – Estonia 4th place- Latvia 2 Women’s Teams 1st place Estonia 2nd place – Lithuania 3rd place – Latvia 1 4th place- Latvia 2 Singles Events award winning places: Men’s Singles 1st place Vallot VAINULA (EST) 2nd place – Stanislav STROGOV (EST) 3rd place- Andrius PREIDŽIUS (LTU) 3rd place – Rokas KISIELIUS (LTU) Women’s Singles 1st place Airi AVAMERI (EST) 2nd place – Reelica HANSON (EST) 3rd place – Emilija RILIŠKYTĖ (LTU) 3rd place – Sabina MUSAJEVA (LAT)
Kristian KARLSSON and Mattias FALCK newly crowned World Champions
Thirty years after Peter KARLSSON and Thomas von SCHEELE won the gold in the Men’s Doubles Event in Chiba Sweden’s Kristian KARLSSON and Mattias FALCK are the crowned World Champions. In 1991 pattnering Erik LINDH Jorgen PERSSON clinched bronze whilst tonight he was at the coach seat beahind new champions at the World Championships finals in Houston. In breathteaking final KARLSSON and FALCK overcame JANG Woojin and LIM Jonghoon who carry the honour of being the first-ever pair to represent the Republic of Korea in the title decider (11:8 15:13 11:13 12:10). “It feels pretty euphoric. The whole tournament has been amazing. We played our absolute best and it’s been amazing to play here in front of everyone ” said Kristian KARLSSON. “We had a fantastic tournament. It’s been great to play in front of all these fantastic spectators so a big thanks to everyone here and to everyone supporting us ” said Mattias FALCK. The fantastic run of 19-years old Swede is over. World’s no. 77 Truls MOREGARD clinched silver medal in Men’s Singles. In the final it was World’s no. one FAN Zhendog of China who reached the top spot at the medal rostrum 4:0 (11:6 11:9 11:7 11:8). “It’s disappointing to lose but I’m happy to have reached the final. But Fan’s the world’s number one for a reason and it’s a tough match. I’m just looking forward to going home and celebrating my silver medal with my friends and family. I don’t think I lost the gold medal but I won the silver medal ” said MOREGARD. WANG Chuqin and SUN Yingsha of China outplayed their Japanese rivals Hina HAYATA and Tomokazu HARIMOTO 3-0 (11-2 11-5 11-8) to win the Mixed Doubles final.
