Sweden will have three aces tomorrow in the run for gold in two events at the Worlds Championships final in Huston. Truls MOREGARD at age of 19 will play in the final of the Men’s Singles whilst Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON will play in Men’s Doubles. In the semi final MOREGARD overcame Timo BOLL of Germany (8:11 8:11 11:6 11:8 10:12 11:8 11:5). MOREGARD is no 77 in the World whilst Timo BOLL is ranked at the position no. 11 and he followed FALC’s steps.At the 2019 ITTF World Championships Mattias became the first Swede to reach the men’s singles final since 1997. In addition today FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON become the first Swedish pair to reach the Men’s Doubles final since 1997 – again. They overcame China’s LIN Gaoyuan and LIANG Jingkun (12-10 11-8. 11-8) to end China’s hopes of a fourth consecutive Men’s Doubles title on the World Championships stage. “Directly after the match we felt really happy. This is an amazing venue to play at and we want to thank the crowd as it has been amazing to play here. We had our style of play we wanted to lock it down in the short game and I think we managed to do that well. It was tactically a very successful match from us ” said Kristian KARLSSON. “I just want to say a big thank you to everyone supporting us here in the crowd and back home as well. We really appreciate-it ” said Mattias FALCK. After incredible journey Sarah DE NUTTE and NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg clinched the bronze medal in Women’s Doubles Event. They lost in the semi final against the Chinese pairings WANG Manyu and SUN Yingsha (4:11 3:11 12:14). “ It is fantastic result to reach the medal rostrum at the World Championships. We are so happy even though we lost today. China is so strong. We needed time to adjust to their level and we played a great 3rd set it’s a pity we couldn’t win that one. But we are very proud to have reached the semifinal we never thought we would go home with a medal ” said DE NUTTE.    

We have another incredible night behind us at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston where 9 players from Europe Reached the Round of 16 in the Men’s and Women’s Singles. There are 7 men and 2 women who will fight for their place in the quarterfinal tonight. One of two remaining European players in Women’s Singles Event is Bernadette SZOCS of Romania who eliminated no. 11 seed JEON Jihee of Korea 2:4 (11:13 9:11 11:3 9:11 11:5 9:11). “JEON is one of the best player in the World and to beat her at World Championships is something of dream come true. I am so happy that I won this match. I spent so many effort time and dedication to this. I was well prepared and I had various tactics in my head to be sure I will succeed. I still can not believe I am among the top 16 players in the World I am speechless. One thing is for sure hard work pays off ” said SZOCS. In the next round she will play against no. 6 see Kasumi ISHIKAWA of Japan. ‘We met before and I lost in very close duel. I think I can make very good match against her and if I manage to rise my game to level I reached in Round of 32 I can certainly win ” said SZOCZ who also play for the place in the quarterfinal with Ionescu OVIDIU.”We are both in perfect shape I am positive that we can reach best of 8.” French player Jia Nan YUAN will also play in the Round of 16 after success against Taipei’s LIU Hsing-Yin after success in straight games (11:7 11:8 13:11 11:4). In Round of 16 she will meet WANG Manyu of China. In men’s Singles event Liam PITCHFORD reached the last 16 of the World Championships after seeing off Jonathan GROTH in six pulsating games (11:13 13:11 11:7 11:7 7:11 11:9). PITCHFORD and the Dane are good friends having shared a training base in Copenhagen and even if that were not the case the Englishman would have been well aware of the threat posed by the left-handed world No 33. In the next round he will meet China’s LIANG Jingkun the sixth seed who overcame Benedikt DUDA of Germany last night. Liam PITCHFORD and Paul DRINKHALL beat Nikhil KUMAR and KAI Zhang of USA 3:1 (11:4 8:11 19:17 11:5) in the round of 32 in Doubles. Germany’s Timo BOLL progressed to the Round of 16 after victory over 19-years old PANG Yew En Koen of Singapore in four express games (11:4 11:7 11:5 11:5). “I haven’t often started a game at eleven o’clock in the evening ” said BOLL about his late night schedule. “I got in well and played a in a various rhythm than he is perhaps used to against younger players a little more delayed better placed – on the other hand he had massive problems.” In the round of the best 16 Timo Boll will meet the Slovak defense specialist WANG Yang who had previously eliminated France’s top man Simon Gauzy 4:2 (7:11 11:13 11:9 11:7 11:9 11:9). Ruwen FILUS will join his teammate after third 4:0 win in Houston. This time it was Jakub DYJAS of Poland who suffered by his hands. “ It’s been 4-0 for me three times at this World Cup but it’s still a long tournament and the tension and the heat is there all the time. You notice that ”said the 33-year-old who has been one of the best modern defenders in the world for years who will meet American hope Kanak Jha. It is possible that two Germans meets in the quarters. “I could live very well with a Hessian quarter-final ” said Timo Boll. “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Ruwen. He’s played very well so far. Besides it would be a nice thing to definitely have a German in the semifinals.” Swede Kristian KARLSSON overcame Alexandre CASSIN of France. He could also face his temmate Truls MOREGARD in the quarterfinal. MOREGARD beat Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany in seven gruelling games and now he will meet LIM Jonghoon of Korea. KARLSSON will play against Quadri ARUNA of Nigeria in the next round. Darko JORGIC prevailed against Kirill SKACHKOV of Russia.

On the third day of play at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston European pairings showed good performance in all three Doubles Events. Russia will have two doubles in Women’s Event– Jana NOSKOVA and Olga VOROBEVA overcame Camila ARGUELLES and Ana CODINA of Argentina whilst Elizabet ABRAAMIAN and Natalia MALININA ranked only at the position no. 183 progressed to Round of 16 instead of top seeded Korean’s combination of SHIN Yubin and JEON Jihee. Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia and Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic overcame Joanna SUNG and Rachel SUNG of USA 3:1. Romania’s pairings Andreea DRAGOMAN and Elizabeta SAMARA are also safely through the Round of 16 after win over Yousra HELMY and Farah ABDEL-AZIZ of Egypt. Luxembourg’s Sarah DE NUTTE and NI Xia Lian overcame Taipei’s LIU Hsing-Yin and CHENG Hsien-Tzu. “What a crazy match. We were down 2:9 and 8:10 in the decisive game ” said DE NUTTE. In Men’s Doubles Sweden’s Truls MOREGARD and Anton KALLBERG upset the odds by beating Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN and Sharath Kamal ACHANTA of India 3:1 and the same stands for Emmanuel LEBESSON and Alexandre CASSIN of France who reached the Reound of 16 after victory over Noshad ALAMIYAN and Nima ALAMIAN of Iran. Five Europen Mixed Doubles rached the Round of 16. Patrick FRANZISKA and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany overcame Juan LAMADRID and Paulina VEGA of Chile in superb fashion -3:0. In next Round they will play against HO Kwan Kit and LEE Ho Ching of Korea. Bernadette SZOCS and Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania proved also to strong for Korean combination of CHO Daeseong and SHIN Yubin – 3:0. In next round they will meet Spains’ Maria XIAO and Alvaro ROBLES. Spanish duo overcame Belgium’s Florent LAMBIET and Natalie MARCHETI without losin the game. Kirill SKACHKOV and Olga VOROBEVA of Russia showed no mercy against Aleksandr KHANIN and Daria TRIGOLOS. In next round they will play against Chinese – American combination of LIN Gaoyuan and Lily ZHANG. In another European duel Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jia Nan of France overcame Poland’s Jakub DYJAS and Natalia PARTYKA – 3:0.  

On a second day of play at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston we already saw few choking victories created by Europeans. In the Round of 64 Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania Daniel HABESOHN of Austria Jakub DYJAS of Poland Alexandre CASSIN of France upset the orders and moved to the next stage in fantastic fashion. In George R. Brown Convention Center ranked only at the position no. 252 at the rankings in Women’s Singles Event Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania halted the progress of World’s no. 19 Petrissa SOLJA of Germany (7:11 11:9 9:11 11:9 13:11 6:11 11:7). No. 2 seed and big favorite Tomokazu HARIMOTO of Japan suffered by the hands of Jakub DYJAS of Poland. No. 65 succeeded after seven grueling games 4:3 (7:11 11:5 7:11 11:6 6:11 11:8 11:9).HARIMOTO took an early lead but DYJAS fought back to level the score 1-1 after winning the second game. The advantage then swung between Harimoto and Dyjas in the next four games before Dyjas outplayed Harimoto in the decider 11-9 to win the match “I took my chances well against HARIMOTO. Mentally and tactically it worked for me. So I’m really happy to have beaten one of the top seeds at this tournament. It’s a nice victory and I know I have to play even better in the next round to continue to do even better ” said DYAS. Japan’s Koki NIWA is out following a shock defeat for the number 15 seed. A quarter-finalist at the 2019 World Championships in Budapest NIWA was anticipated to go far at the George R. Brown Convention Center. However Daniel HABESOHN had other ideas with the Austrian outpunching NIWA across six dramatic games (11:8 9:11 5:11 17:15 11:9 11:4). Silver medalist from last World Championships Mattias FALCK of Sweden also lost his place in the Round of 32. World’s no. 10 suffered by the hands of Alexandre CASSIN of France ranked only at the position no. 145 (7:11 6:11 11:5 17:15 12:10 8:11 11:7). Another Swede was involved in seven games thriller and once again lower ranked player prevailed but this time it was Truld MOREGARD no. 77 at the rankings who bear Taipei’s CHUANG Chih-Yuan no. 25 (12:10 10:12 5:11 7:11 11:3 11:3 8:11).  

The city of Busan has been elected host of the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships Finals after the event had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I would like to congratulate Busan and I am already looking forward to the 2024 World Championships Finals ” said Petra Sörling. “Congratulations to all the members of the Korean delegation. I am certain they will host a spectacular World Championships that will inspire millions across the world to play and enjoy table tennis.” Despite having a long tradition of table tennis and iconic athletes this is the first time the Republic of Korea will host the marquee event. It will be a fitting year as 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the introduction of table tennis in Korea.Busan was supposed to host the 2020 World Championships before they were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seung-min Ryu IOC Member and President of the Korea Table Tennis Association commented “I wish to thank all associations of the ITTF for their tremendous support for Busan. We will make it a competition centered on players and spectators. We also intend to create a knowledge transfer program during the competition to share our experiences and knowledge with other member associations. By doing so we are intended to raise the bar of our sport.” The ITTF started the bidding process for the 2024 World Table Tennis Championships Finals from March this year and Busan was elected today by the Member Associations during the 2021 ITTF Annual General Meeting taking place in Houston Texas. The Korean bid was facing a bid from Buenos Aires. Originally five countries Argentina India Korea Portugal and Sweden had submitted bids.

The first part of the second day of play at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston was reserved for the Men’s and Women’s Doubles Event. In the Round of 64 Emmanuel LEBESSON and Alexandre CASSIN of France beat Austria’s pairings Alexander CHEN and David SERDAROGLU in four games. By same margin Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany overcame Slovakia’s Lubomir PISTEJ and Serbia’s Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC. Sweden’s Truls MOREGARD and Anton KALLBERG joined the winners after victory over Brazil’s Eric JOUTI and Vitor ISHIY 3:1. The list of Europeans goes with Slovenia’s Darko JORGIC and Deni KOZUL who overcame Kanate ALI and Oba Kizito OBA of Nigeria as well as Kristian KARLSSON and Mattias FALCK of Sweden who succeeded against Gustavo TSUBOI and Thiago MONTEIRO of Brazil. Robin DEVOS of Belgium and Benedek OLAH of Finland as well as Austria’s pairings Robert GARDOS and Daniel HABESOHN are safely through the Round of 32. Luxembourg’s Sarah DE NUTTE with NI Xia Lian proved too strong for Canada’s pairings Mo ZHANG and Joyce XU 3:1. Elizabet ABRAAMIAN and Natalia MALININA of Russia was forced to go full distance before they prevailed against Croatia’s pairings Ida JAZBEC and Ivana MALOBABIC. Hungary’s Dora MADARASZ and Georgina POTA halted Serbia’s young combination of Sabina SURJAN and Izabela LUPULESKU. YUAN Jia Nan and Pauline CHASSELIN of France moved to the Round of 32 alongside Nathalie MARCHETTI and Margo DEGRAEF of Belgium.

Petra SÖRLING of Sweden was elected today as the eighth President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). As the first-ever woman in this position and one of only four women currently presiding an Olympic International Federation she will bring the governing body into a new era. Her main goal is to create value through membership centred governance while strengthening the commercial growth of table tennis relies on four pillars: ITTF family governance growth and sustainability.  “I am deeply honoured to have been chosen for this position ” said Sörling following her election. “I would like to thank all my dear friends and colleagues from the entire table tennis family. I want to be a President for all of you. I will work for and with you in the coming years. And I will keep my promise to you – to listen – as achieving my mission of leading the ITTF will not be possible without your valuable thoughts and commitments. ETTU President Igor LEVITIN congratulates new ITTF President Petra SÖRLING. “On behalf of the European Table Tennis Union it is my great pleasure to congratulate you on your election as President of the International Table Tennis Federation. As you know very well we have strongly supported you from the beginning and have no doubt you will do a fantastic job in leading our global sport. The fact that no other candidates came forward to run against you is also a reflection of how highly you are regarded throughout our table tennis family”. In the letter addressed to Petra SORLING President LEVITIN also stated: “We are proud that a European will continue to lead the ITTF and you can count on our full cooperation throughout your Presidency.”   The strategic pillars United ITTF family: Unite the membership by bringing back peace improve inclusion and engage in discussions with the continental bodies and its leadership. Strengthen governance: Clarify organisation promote equity and further strengthen the ties to the Olympic and Paralympic movement. Commercial growth: Innovate event structure drive a strategic digital transformation and initiate new revenue streams. A sustainable future: Make ITTF a role model with the aim to inspire in the future IOC/IPC. In-line with UN development goals focus on increasing diversity and inclusion decrease inequities improve health and aim for a more responsible manufacturing value process. “I want to secure table tennis’ position as one of the world’s leading sports and aim even higher among the leading sports and reach for the top at the forefront of the sport community as a modern diverse and unified world-class sport federation ” she added. “We are in a fast-transforming era when it comes to business and sport. It’s not only table tennis. We have to move on but without losing our tradition or our core values.” Sörling also wants to reinforce the focus on sustainability within the table tennis community and will launch programmes to increase diversity and inclusion to raise awareness of the positive health effects of the sport and to explore new opportunities for responsible consumption and production. “At the heart of the ITTF group´s vision is to make table tennis accessible to all for life and for future generations. To achieve this the sport must make it its mission to focus its efforts towards three key areas: people planet and prosperity.” The ITTF President is elected by the assembled representatives of the member associations for a term of four years with the possibility to stand for re-election not more than twice in the same role. The new President replaces Thomas WEIKERT. Sörling has been active in the governance of table tennis for 20 years. She was elected to the ITTF Executive Committee in 2009 and quickly advanced to take charge of several key areas for the 226-member strong federation such as the Para division sustainability and most importantly accepting the role as the ITTF Executive Vice President of Finance in 2013. Sörling has also led a successful career in real estate in the vibrant city of Malmö Sweden. “I am now looking forward to starting to work with the Executive Committee and to serving our 226 Member Associations. Let’s all work towards our common goal ‘Table Tennis. For All. For Life. Forever”.

The opening day of the fights at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston continued with the great performance of the Germany’s players. After Nina MITTELHAM suffered by the hands of host nation’s pride Amy WANG (11:8 11:9 11:5 11:9) remaining eight players recorded impressive wins and they will join Timo BOLL in today’s Round of 64. HAN Ying moved to the next round after win over Swiss Rachel MORET who was overwhelmed by the defensive and attacking qualities of her opponent. Germany’s number one European singles champion Petrissa SOLJA also reached the round of the best 64 with an equally sparkling clean performance. She defeated the Serbian Izabela LUPULESKU (11:6 11:4 11:6 11:8). Sabine WINTER proved too strong for Welsh Charlotte CAREY (5 2 -4 2 13): “In the next match I have to improve if I want to leave the table as the winner.” The Bavarian meets Hong Kong’s world number 13. Doo Hoi Kem on her next step. To the next Round also progressed Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia who overcame Italy’s Debora VIVARELLI (7 7 9 8) Pauline CHASSELIN of France who beat Margo DEGRAEF of Belgium (10 5 2 8) Daria TRIGOLOS of Belarus who beat Galia DVORAK of Spain (8 -8 10 -8 8 4) Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia beat Katia KESSACI (9 3 4 9) Andrea TODOROVIC of Serbia overcame Ana CODINA of Argentina (9 4 10 9) Swede Linda BERGSTROM beat another Argentina’s player Camila ARGUELLES (5 3 7 1). In all European duel Sarah DE NUTTE of Luxembourg prevailed against Dora MADARASZ of Hungary (7 1 5 -4 3) Turkey’s Sibel ALTINKAYA needed only four games to overcame Mabelyn ENRIQUEZ in Houston. “I want to say that I am happy with my participation in the World Championship in USA. Physically i am feeling okay my goal was to have a good receive and to attack throughout the whole match. I am happy that I finished with a victory and I am ready for tomorrow’s match.” Bernadette SZOCS beat Pauline VEGA: “I played very well. I am so happy that i was in good shape and that i won my match. Always the first match is hard. But I prepared well and I concentrate 100% from the first point. I know that she is a good player so i had to prepare very well.” Another Romania’s player joined her. Adina DIACONU of Romania overcame Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria 4:3. “Today’s match was a really hard and taught one as I expected Sofia is a top and very experienced player . We played this year in European Championships and I lost 4-3 so i knew what i have to expect. I’m looking forward tomorrow and match against Jia Nan YUAN. We never played against each other at International level but we played in French League 2 weeks ago and I won 3-0 but was not as easy as it looks However I am confident for tomorrow I enjoy so much here and i m in a good shape ” said Adina. Also to round of 64 progressed Andreea DRAGOMAN who beat Anastassiya LAVROVA of Kazakhstan in seven thrilling games as well as experienced NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg after victory over Jamila LAURENTI of Italy. Amon the winners are Ivana MALOBABIC of Croatia and Tin Tin HO of England. In Men’s singles three players from Germany concluded their encounters in straight games. Top 16 Europe Cup winner Patrick FRANZISKA overcame Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia (7 5 6 6) Benedikt DUDA beat Harmeet DESAI of India (9 7 7 4) whilst Ruwen FILUS prevailed against Hunor SZOCS of Romania (12 4 6 2). Only DANG Qiu needed five games to overcame Yukiya UDA of Japan (6 9 1 -5 9) Benedikt DUDA defeated the Indian Harmeet Desai with whom he had mostly played close games in the past and now meets the current number 24 in the World rankings Portuguese Marcos FREITAS. In the past Duda has always conceded narrow defeats against the Europe Top 16 finalists. That should be different this time: “I’m in a good mood and it is finally time that I win against FREITAS for the first time.” For FRANZISKA the Olympic bronze medalist it was “a perfect start to the tournament”. In his first encounter with Lubomir PISTEJ he kept the Slovak’s game under control. In order to really only think from round to round and concentrate only on the next game Patrick has not even looked at his individual draw. “I didn’t even know who I was going to play against in the next round ” he said after his first individual with a view to Wednesday’s match against Canadian Jeremy HAZIN. “So far nobody has tweeted what my half looks like. I hope it stays that way.” Timo Boll seeded eighth at the World Championships was the only German with a bye in the singles. The record European champion will meet Chinese ZHOU Qihao whom he defeated 4-2 at the German Open in 2019. “He’s obviously a very strong opponent for the second round ” said BOLL. Russia’s Kirill SKACHKOV was stretched to full distance in the match against JANG Woojin of Korea (-8 7 -15 8 5 -9 10). He moved to next round together with Vladimir SIDORENKO who received walk over. Sweden will be represented also by Jon PERSSON who beat Ibrahima DIAW of Senegal in six games and Kristian KARLSSON who overcame HO Kwan Kit of Hong Kong in seven games. WANG Yang of Slovakia prevailed against Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania in straight games but his teammate Cristian PLETEA is still in game after victory over Thai Padasak TANVIRIYAVECHAKUL by same margin. Darko JORGIC of Slovenia overcame Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC of Serbia whilst Andrej GACINA of Croatia prevailed against FENG Yi-Hsin of Chinese Taipei. Adam SZUDI of Hungary overcame Khalid ASSAR. “I started very well in the beginning of the game I could be aggressive and i was more active in the game.