HTTF made a tribute to Kallinikos Kreanga for his 50th birthday on its YouTube chanel.  Kallinikos Kreanga celebrated 50th birthday on Tuesday 08/03 and on this occasion the Hellenic Table Tennis Federation published a photo tribute for the most important of his huge successes. He changed the direction of the sport in Greece. From his arrival in Athens from Romania in the summer of 1989 when he applied for political asylum from the first medal with the greek colors in a top event in 1991 the bronze in mixed doubles at the World Championship to the incredible It was an amazing course of 30 years of the athlete-legend and the professional-role model who continues to give the valuable contribution to the sport. Eleven medals on European Championships two on World Championships a trophy in Europe Top 12 two finals in World Cup five participations in Olympic Games are among his acheivements. On its youtube channel HTTF recorded in eight minutes a video of all the great moments of Kreanga step by step. You can see the photos here

Sofía-Xuan ZHANG and Marc DURÁN won singles titles at the 2022 Spanish Championships held in Santander. They have two Spanish Championships for the second time. The Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation did a light show to support Ukraine people with a Ukraine’s flag and an emotional music before the finals. In Men’s Singles DURÁN clinched the title after victory over Francisco Miguel RUIZ 4-1 (13-11 11-8 11-8 8-11 12-10). Endika DIEZ and Daniel BERZOSA won the bronze medal. In the Women’s Singles final Sofía-Xuan ZHANG secured the trophy for the second time. She overcame Sofía BARBA (11-8 11-8 11-9 y 11-2) to take the crown. Angela RODRÍGUEZ and Elvira RAD won the bronze medal. In the Men’s Doubles tournament Marc DURÁN won his eighth title together Oriol MONZÓ. They won against CERL Escala pair Iker GÓNZALEZ and Norbert TAULER by 3-2 (11-8 4-11 8-11 11-8 11-8). In Women´s Doubles Ainhoa CRISTÓBAL and Eugenia SASTRE won her first title against Sofía-Xuan ZHANG and Silvia COLL in a very close final by 3-2 (11-8 11-7 2-11 8-11 11-3). In Mixed Doubles Jesús CANTERO and María XIAO took the victory after beating Carlos CABALLERO and Sofía-Xuan ZHANG in the final. The Girbau Vic TT player Sofía-Xuan ZHANG reached a new final securing three medals.  

Sofia POLCANOVA and Daniel HABESOHN are the new table tennis champions in Austria. In the 92nd title fights in the Klagenfurt Sportpark the hero from Linz raced to her fourth individual gold with 16-0 games in a breakneck speed. Daniel HABESOHN defeated David SEDAROGLU in the finale by 4-1 games while the defending champion Robert GARDOS had to retire due to illness. Defending singles champion Karoline MISCHEK reached all three finals defended gold in women’s doubles with Ines Diendorfer and also took second place in mixed and in singles. Unfortunately the dream final between top seeded Robert GARDOS and No. 2 Daniel HABESOHN could not happen. Last year’s champion qualified for the semi-finals was already playing with a fever and had to retire in the semi-finals. That cleared the way for last year’s finalist David SERDAROGLU (No.3). But in the final Habesohn underpinned his top form lost only the second game won his fifth singles title with a 4-1 victory. As expected Sofia POLCANOVA in the women´s singles was unbeatable. The European top 16 bronze medalist won her fourth title with 16-0 games finished off her team mate of Linz AG Froschberg Karoline MISCHEK by 4-0 and even won the first game by 11-0. MISCHEK was still satisfied as she defeated Amelie SOLJA (No. 3) from Vorchdorf in the semifinals after a 3-1 lead by 4-3. Ines DIENDORFER won singles bronze and defended the doubles title with MISCHEK. MISCHEK earlier lost in mixed doubles after a 2-3 defeat with Jonas PROMBERGER against last year’s finalist Sofia Lu CHEN with her new partner Alexander CHEN. In the men´s doubles Dominik HABESOHN/Simon PFEFFER were able to defend gold with a 3-1 win over Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK/Andre Pierre KASES. Austrian Championships in Klagenfurt: Women´s Singles. Final: Sofia Polcanova (OÖ) – Karoline Mischek (OÖ) 4:0 (0 1 9 8) Semis: Karoline Mischek (OÖ) – Amelie Solja (OÖ) 4:3 (9 4 -4 10 -3 -5 9) Sofia Polcanova (OÖ) – Ines Diendorfer (OÖ) 4:0 (1 2 3 5) Men´s Singles Final: Daniel Habesohn (NÖ) – David Serdaroglu (NÖ) 4:1 (9 -5 4 7 7) Semis: David Serdaroglu (NÖ) – Robert Gardos (T) 4:0 w.o. Daniel Habesohn (NÖ) – Simon Pfeffer (St) 4:2 (-4 9 5 3 -6 9) Women´s Doubles Final: Ines Diendorfer/Karoline Mischek (OÖ) – Elena Pöll (OÖ)/Amelie Solja (OÖ) 3:0 (4 2 3) Semis: Diendorfer/K. Mischek (OÖ) – Anna Pfeffer (W)/Melanie Welkhammer (S) 3:2 (6 -9 -9 2 10) Elena Pöll (OÖ)/Amelie Solja (OÖ) – Teresa Oppelz (T)/Lena Palatin (B) 3:0 (11 5 13) Men´s Doubles Final: Dominik Habesohn (NÖ)/Simon Pfeffer (St) – Maciej Kolodziejczyk (NÖ)/Andre Pierre Kases (B) 3:1 (10 5 -10 9) Semis: Habesohn (NÖ)/S. Pfeffer (St) – Michael Trink (S)/David Vorcnik (St) 3:1 (3 8 -9 8) Kolodziejczyk (NÖ)/A. Kases (B) – David Serdaroglu/Alexander Chen (NÖ) 3:2 (5 9 -10 -3 10) Mixed Doubles Final: Sofia Lu Chen/Alexander Chen (NÖ) – Karoline Mischek/Jonas Promberger (OÖ) 3:2 (10 -9 5 -9 8) Semis: Mischek/J. Promberger (OÖ) – Ines Diendorfer (OÖ)/Michael Trink (S) 3:0 (6 2 10) Sofia Lu Chen/Alexander Chen (NÖ) – A. Solja (OÖ)/T. Al-Samhoury (B) 3:0 (9 8 7)

Alex Naumi and Marina Donner cleared the prize table at the Finnish Table Tennis Championships in Helsinki. NAUMI grabbed gold in the men’s singles and as well in the doubles with Sam KHOSRAVI. Donner took the title in the singles doubles with Anna KIRICHENKO and mixed doubles with Johan PETTERSSON. In the men’s singles final NAUMI beat Samuli SOINE 4-2 (8-12 12-14 11-7 16-14 11-8 11-5). “The final was awkward because I wanted to start playing my best game. It did not go through at first and was a bit unlucky. All credit also to Samuli who made the final game a real game. Of course I am happy; this was my first singles championship gold ” NAUMI said. In doubles NAUMI and KHOSRAVI were slightly 3-2 (11-6 11-4 11-13 10-12 11-9) better against master’s class duo Pasi VALASTI and Aki KONTALA. “Doubles title with Sam was a nice bonus. It went a little unnecessarily tight but victory is always victory and as well Sam’s first gold medal ” NAUMI summed up the weekend. Marina DONNER renewed last year’s women’s singles championship gold completing her own weekend with a triple championship. In the singles final she knocked out her own double’s teammate 4-2 (9-11 11-4 15-13 7-11 11-3 11-4). In the doubles gold medal match Donner and KIRICHENKO got a strong vibe against Anni HELJALA and Aleksandra TITIEVSKAJA beating them 3-0 (11-8 11-6 11-8). In the final match of the mixed doubles Donner / PETTERSSON defeated TITIEVSKAJA and Lauri LAANE 3-0 (11-9 11-7 14-12).  “Great! Three events and three Finnish Championship gold medals. This time everything worked – the head and the body. As an athlete I can only say that winning is nice ” Donner rejoiced. A total of 75 players took part in the Finnish Championships organized by MBF. Benedek OLÁH missed this year’s championships. Finnish number one player travelled to Singapore to take part in the WTT Smash competition starting on the Monday.

The National Championships of Bosnia and Herzegovina was played last weekend in Sarajevo. In Men’s singles event new champion is Luka MIHAILOVIĆ who played for for TTC UNIQA Biesenfeld – Austria and in women’s single event  champion is Emina HADŽIAHMETOVIĆ – BUTKOVIĆ from TTC “SPIN 2012” Sarajevo For Emina this is the 13th national title in Bosnia and Herzegovina.