In September French club Hennebont will open the “Hennebont Ping Center” a multifunctional complex of 3 500 m2 fully dedicated to table tennis. Rich on 20 years of experience the 4-time French and 2019 European Champion will benefit from an unique infrastructure in Europe to host an Academy training camps and international events. Beside the sport complex an accommodation center with 32 multiple rooms will be delivered in April 2023 offering to “GVHTT” the full mastering of the hosting process. The 5-time Olympian Adi CRISAN has been recruited as Head of Performance to design the pathway from the Academy to the professional team who will be based onsite next year. ETTU development Manager Neven CEGNAR visited last week the venue and was impressed by the professionalism of the club and the commitment of the team managing it composed by Bruno ABRAHAM (President) Boris ABRAHAM (Manager) and Nicolas PETIT (International Development). They discussed all together the opportunity starting from next season to host ETTU development activities and have young athletes from the Eurotalents Program joining the Academy. “I’m really impressed with everything I’ve seen here in Hennebont. The whole project is the result of almost 20 years of vision and hard work of Bruno and Boris ABRAHAM and their entire team. I would like to emphasize the valuable work of my colleague Nicolas PETIT who is giving this project a special international promotion. I sincerely hope that many of our young players from the Eurotalents project in this center will get a new opportunity for their table tennis upgrade ” said Neven CEGNAR. Two webinars will be organized on this last subject to present to the athletes/families on Thursday 12th May at 6.30 pm and Saturday 14th May at 4 pm both at CET time.
Winners of European Club Cup of Champions 1972 Ormesby hosts Europe Trophy groups
Half a century ago in 1972 the Ormesby Club founded by Alan RANSOME won the trophy in European Club Cup of Champions (which is now the Champions League). This weekend the club is the host of the Region A Group B of the Europe Trophy. In the same Group are: Somerset Sabres Draycott & Long Eaton and Joola Plymouth. Fifty years ago Playing FALKENBERG (Sweden) Ormesby had won the away leg 6-3; in the second leg at home they went ahead 4-0. Trevor TAYLOR beat Stellan BENGTSSON at the time the World and European champion (21-14 21-19) in the first match of the fixture. It was the crucial blow. Ormesby won the second leg 5-1 and thus won 11-4 overall. Nicky Jarvis beat Tommy ANDERSSON 21-16 21-9; lost to Stellan BENGTSSON 9-21 11-21 Denis Neale beat Lars NILSSON 21-17 21-9; beat Tommy ANDERSSON 21-12 21-15 Trevor Taylor beat BENGTSSON 21-14 21-19; beat Lars NILSSON 21-16 21-17 At the photo are : (left to right): Nicky JARVIS Trevor TAYLOR Nancy EVANS Alan RANSOME Denis NEALE and the date was Thursday 11th May 1972. This weekend will also play Group A in same Region A. Fusion TTC is the host for Murrayfield TTC Batts and Grantham Academy. In Region B the action will be in Estonia. TalTech Sports Club is the host for PT Espoo Pöytätennis 75 and TTC Hercogs. In Women’s Trophy in Region A also hosted by Ormesby Table Tennis Club will play Joola Plymouth TTC Fusion TTC St. Neots Table Tennis Club Draycott & Long Eaton TTC and Murrayfield TTC.
First winners in Europe Trophy Regions crowned last weekend
Last weekend the first matches in Europe Trophy were played. Both men and women were on duty. In Men’s Europe Trophy in Region D in Belgium Metz secured both wins against TT Vedrinamur 3:2 and Netherlands’ TTV Red Stars Venray 3:0 to secure the wining position. Hosts are second after victory over TTV Red Stars Venray 3:0. In Region C played in Andora Arteal Tenis De Mesa finished on top position in front of Portugal’s Clube Desportivo 1º de Maio and hosts Club Tennis Taula Valls Del Nord. In Group E and F in Czech Republic hosts SKST Tesla Batteries Havirov recorded all wins. They are above Slovakia’s TJ Geolog Roznava SK Přerov 1908 from Czech Republic Austria’s UTTC Raiffeisen Kennelbach and STK Aladza. In Women’s Region E-F Group A in Czech Republic TT Moravský Krumlov clinched top position. They overcame all three clubs: Austria’s SCO Ossiachersee Bodensdorf Germany’s SG Motor Wilsdruff and Italy’s A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello “Guilcer”. Austria’s SCO Ossiachersee Bodensdorf is second with one defeat followed by Germany’s SG Motor Wilsdruff with one victory and Italy’s A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello “Guilcer” without wins. In Women’s Region E-F Group B in Slovakia the hosts are the winners again. Stolnotenisove Centrum SKST Bratislava beat Austria’s SU Sparkasse Kufstein. Austria’s club finished second. Bratislava’s club suffered only one defeat against Italy’s AD Muravera TT “B”. Italian finished third with another win over ASD Quattro Mori Cagliari “B”. Fourth is ASD Quattro Mori Cagliari “B” and AD Muravera TT “A” is fifth.
Bernadette SZOCS and Rares SIPOS crowned champions in Romania
Romania’s capitol Bucharest was the host of the Romstal National Championships. Newly crowned champions are Bernadette SZOCS and Rares SIPOS. Women’s Singles Bernadette Szocs (CSA Steaua București) Adina Diaconu (CSM Slatina) Elizabeta Samara (CSA Steaua București) Andreea Dragoman (CSA Steaua București) Men’s Singles Rareș Șipoș (SCM Gloria Buzău) Hunor Szocs (CSA Steaua București) Ovidiu Ionescu (SCM Gloria Buzău) Cristian Pletea (CS TT Top Star Constanța) Women’s Doubles 1. Elizabeta Samara/Bernadette Szocs (CSA Steaua București) 2. Irina Ciobanu/Adina Diaconu (CSM Slatina) 3. Daniela Dodean Monteiro (CSM Arad)/Tania Plăian (CSM Bistrița) 3. Andreea Dragoman/Roxana Istrate (CSA Steaua București) Men’s Doubles 1. Ovidiu Ionescu (SCM Gloria Buzău/Alin Spelbuș (CS Victoria Câmpulung) 2. Alexandru Cazacu (CS Mioveni)/Paul Mladin (CS TT Top Star Constanța) 3. Cristian Grigore (CS TT Top Star Constanța)/Andrei Tomică (CSA Steaua București) 3. Hunor Szocs/Cristian Chirița (CSA Steaua București) Mixed Doubles 1. Darius Movileanu/Bernadette Szocs (CSA Steaua București) 2. Andrei Istrate/Elizabeta Samara (CSA Steaua București) 3. Iulian Chirița (CS Voința Câmpulung)/Bianca Mei-Roșu (LPS NR Constanța) 3. Hunor Szocs/Andreea Dragoman (CSA Steaua București)
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV joined Neu-Ulm for the Champions League
The TTC Neu-Ulm e.V. reacted quickly to the current sports-political situation caused by the war in Ukraine and the changes caused by the professionalization of the TT tournament scene and offered a whole range of world-class players a place in its Champions League team for the 22/23 season. In addition to the Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV a native of Ukraine winner of the bronze medal in the singles and the silver medal with the team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Truls MOREGARD of Sweden reigning vice World champion the Japanese Tomokazu HARIMOTO No. 5 in the World rankings and Taiwan’s LIN Yun-Ju ranked No. 6 in the World joins the team. Club manager Florian EBNER is happy: “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we didn’t want to miss. To get such talents to Neu-Ulm thanks to Dima OVTCHAROV’S charisma -who could have imagined that 3 years ago when our club was founded?” Dimitrij OVTCHAROV talked of his move and the new perspective: “I felt very comfortable in Orenburg but the situation left me no choice. Thanks to Florian EBNER’S enthusiasm for sports and his understanding of my desire to continue playing up front in the Champions League we have now started an exciting and inspiring project with HARIMOTO LIN and MOREGARD which fascinates me and totally motivates me. I am very happy to be coming back to Germany.” The TTC Neu-Ulm was only founded in 2019 and was accepted into the table tennis Bundesliga by wildcard in the same year. The first participation in the European Champions League also took place via wildcard in the 21/22 season. The Ebner Media Group from Ulm is behind the TTC Neu-Ulm.
Europe Trophy kicks start this Friday
Premiere edition of the Europe Trophy kicks start tomorrow Friday April 15th. Regions E and F are first on the program in Czech Republic. The hosts SKST Tesla Batteries Havirov will face Slovakia’s TJ Geolog Roznava Bosnia and Herzegovina’s STK Aladza another Czech team SK Přerov 1908 and Austria’s UTTC Raiffeisen Kennelbach. The tournament will last two days. In Andorra Club Tennis Taula Valls Del Nord on Saturday will host Spain’s Arteal Tenis De Mesa and Portugal’s Clube Desportivo 1º de Maio in Region C. Region D will be played in Belgium. In the group are TT Vedrinamur French Metz TT Netherlands TTV Red Stars Venray. In Women’s Europe Trophy on Friday starts region E and F Groups A and B in Czech Republic and Slovakia. The host in Group A is TT Moravský Krumlov and they will play against Austria’s Ossiachersee Bodensdorf Germany’s SG Motor Wilsdruff and Italy’s A.S.D. Tennistavolo Norbello “Guilcer”. In Group B in Slovakia Stolnotenisove Centrum SKST Bratislava will meet Austria’s SU Sparkasse Kufstein Italy’s ASD Quattro Mori Cagliari “B” and AD Muravera TT “A” and “B” team. In Slovakia you can follow live stream here .
Table tennis brought imam and priest together
World Table Tennis Day 6 April has been really a special one in Turkey. There has been many interesting ways to celebrate it in Turkey but one particularly caught the attention. There’s a famous city called “Mardin” in the southeast region of Turkey. The city is also the hometown of Aziz SANCAR scientist 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry. This city has welcomed a special game this year; an imam (the religious officer of muslims) and a priest (clergy of christians) played table tennis with their religious clothes on World Table Tennis Day. The city has an important harmony of different cultures and religions.
5th Youth Table Tennis World Festival provides ITTF ranking points
Hungarian Table Tennis Association will organise 5th Youth Table Tennis World Festival. Beside the opportunity for youngsters to play the event is officially provides ITTF ranking points. These are going to be the U11 U13 U15 U17 and U19 categories at the World Festival in 2022. It will be held at the Olympic Sport Park of Győr which was built for the European Youth Olympic Festival of 2017. The competition will be held on 47 tables with an extra 22 tables available to use as warm up practice tables. An international coaching seminar and international training camp are also included in the program. The 3 most successful countries according to the points system and the 3 most successful Hungarian clubs shall be awarded with prize money. As the World Festival is not only open just for national teams but for clubs and regional teams as well organisers throughout the second half of 2021 have sent the invitation to all relevant teams clubs and players based on their available database. Registration is now open and Hungarian Table Tennis Association are waiting for all entries; the preliminary deadline for registration is the 25th of April 2022 and the final deadline for all entries is the 20th of May 2022. HTTA invites players to participate at the Youth TT World Festival to be held in Hungary in June 2022. Registration link: http://worldfestival2022.hu/en/registration-form/ Official website (English): https://worldfestival2022.hu/en The link of the promotion video https://youtu.be/6VOoP-UMjoY
The online entries for the Europe Under 13 Challenge open on Monday 18th April
This summer ETTU will launch new event which will give young players great opportunity to compete and to work on their skills. Table Tennis Association of Montenegro under the authority of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) organizes the 2022 Europe Under 13 Challenge in Podgorica from Thursday 16th June – Sunday 19th June 2022. The initiative for having this new competition came by the ETTU Youth committee in cooperation with ETTU Executive Board Vice President Heike AHLERT EB member Sonja GREFBERG and ETTU Development Manager Neven CEGNAR. ” We thought it is time to create an event for the younger athletes to involve more associations in Europe to send their youngest players male and female to a competition where also the coaches of the associations have the possibility to learn and exchange their opinions about the development of table tennis in Europe. To emphasize that we do want to show that table tennis is a sport for young girls and promote that associations should work more on this we suggested having the mixed team competition as the key element of this project and the Executive Board decided to do it ” explained ETTU Executive Board Vice President Heike AHLERT.”I really hope that we will have many participating teams from all over Europe. If this new competition will be a success ETTU wants to keep this event – maybe as U 13 European Championships.” The online entries for the Europe Under 13 Challenge opens on Monday 18th April. Under 13 players shall be under 13 years of age on the 31st December immediately before the start of the year in which the tournament take place (players born on or after 1st January 2009 and younger).
USD Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo clinched the title in Europe Cup Men
The crowned champions in Europe Cup Men in season 21/22 are USD Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo. Italian club overcame Austria’s SolexConsult TTC Wiener Neustadt in second leg 3:1 after they lost the opening encounter last week at home 2:3. The duel from two players who knows each other very well Croatia’s teammates Frane Tomislav KOJIC and Andrej GACINA went full distance as it was expected. GACINA had a better start but pendulum swung and in fourth game it was Andrej who was playing to stay in the match. He pushed to decider but in close finish KOJIC gave hosts dream start. Mihai Razvan BOBOCICA brought match back to the new start after he beat Felix WETZEL. In addition BOBOCICA beat KOJIC in full distance fourth match to seal the victory for USD Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo. Tomas KONECNY suffered by the hands of Lubomir PISTEJ in third match. SolexConsult TTC Wiener Neustadt – USD Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo 1:3 Frane Tomislav KOJIC – Andrej GACINA 3:2 (5:11 11:6 11:8 13:15 6:2) Felix WETZEL – Mihai Razvan BOBOCICA 1:3 (10:12 11:6 11:13 3:11) Tomas KONECNY – Lubomir PISTEJ 1:3 (9:11 11:9 4:11 5:11) Frane Tomislav KOJIC – Mihai Razvan BOBOCICA 2:3 (11:6 10:12 14:12 8:11 5:6) Opening leg Apuania Carrara Tennistavolo – SolexConsult TTC Wiener Neustadt 2:3 Andrej GACINA – Felix WETZEL 3:0 (11:3 11:6 11:8) Lubomir PISTEJ – Frane Tomislav KOJIC 0:3 (4:11 2:11 5:11) Mihai Razvan BOBOCICA – Tomas KONECNY 2:3 (4:11 11:9 8:11 11:2 5:6) Andrej GACINA – Frane Tomislav KOJIC 3:1 (11:7 7:11 11:6 12:10) Lubomir PISTEJ- Felix WETZEL 1:3 (7:11 11:5 6:11 5:11)
