In the opening day of the fights in the Group A in the Men’s TT European Champions League Stage two in ARAG CenterCourt in Germany titleholders Borussia Dusseldorf overcame Asisa Borges Vall whilst SPG Felbermayr Wels won the very close battle against Sporting Clube De Portugal. In first match of the day Austria’s SPG Felbermayr Wels had 2:0 lead but Sporting Clube De Portugal recovered to level the match. In the decisive match Nandor ECSEKI overcame Diogo SILVA and withstood the spirited comeback from the Portugal’s team. Andreas LEVENKO gave Wels dream start with 3:0 win over Diogo SILVA. For Nandor ECSEKI it was different story. He beat Diogo CARVALHO but by sudden death point. Once again in the duel between Jiri MARTINKO and Bode ABIODUN five games were on the menu but in the close finish it was Sporting’s player who won. In another full distance thriller Andreas LEVENKO lost to Diogo CARVALHO and it was ECSEKI who sealed the match with the effective win over SILVA. “The key was my first match against Diogo CARVALHO. I was down 1:2 all the games were very close. In the decisive game I even faced two match balls against me but I managed to win by sudden death point. That gave me extreme confidence before the clash against SILVA ” said Nandor ECSEKI. CARVALHO beat LEVENKO but he regretted deeply after the defeat against Nandor. “I had a big chance and the lead to set another course of the match ” explained CARVALHO. Asisa Borges Vall – Borussia Dusseldorf 0:3 For Borussia Dusseldorf it was quite day in the office. Without due alarm favorites overcame Asisa Borges Vall. “It was solid and very good performance of all team. It is the new season and we all wanted to have a good start “ said Dang QIU. Marc DURAN pointed that the real start of the tournament for Asisa Borges Vall will be – tomorrow. “This was historic match for us. It is great that we had a chance to play against one of the best clubs in the world. We put a great fight but Borussia is out of our range. For us the real challenge starts tomorrow. We have two more matches to fight for the better position ” explained DURAN. Group A SPG Felbermayr Wels – Sporting Clube De Portugal 3:2 Andreas LEVENKO – Diogo SILVA 3:0 (11:3 11:9 11:7) Nandor ECSEKI – Diogo CARVALHO 3:2 (11:9 7:11 17:19 12:10 6:5) Jiri MARTINKO – Bode ABIODUN 2:3 (11:8 9:11 7:11 11:9 4:6) Andreas LEVENKO – Diogo CARVALHO 2:3 (11:9 11:9 4:11 8:11 3:6) Nandor ECSEKI – Diogo SILVA 3:0 (11:9 12:10 11:4) Asisa Borges Vall – Borussia Dusseldorf 0:3 Marc DURAN – Anton KALLBERG 1:3 (11:8 6:11 5:11 7:11) Viktor BRODD – Timo BOLL 0:3 (5:11 6:11 9:11) Joan MASIP – Dang QIU 0:3 (3:11 8:11 8:11)
Linz AG Froschberg faces strong competition at home soil
The action in Stage 2 of the 2021/2022 TAMANNEFTEGAS European Champions League Women commences today in Linz. Runners up last season two times winners of the main club’s trophy (in 2013 and 2009) Linz AG Froschberg is the host of Group D where will also play Poland’s KTS ENEA SIARKOPOL Tarnobrzeg French Saint-Denis US 93 Tennis de Table and TT Moravsky Krumlov of Czech Republic. Host club has a very strong team. Linz AG Froschberg is led by Sofia POLCANOVA. For the Champions Legue are also listed Margarita PESOTSKA LIU Jia Suthasini SAWETTABUT Yui HAMAMOTO Limei HU Karoline MISCHEK Margarita BALTUSHYTE and Jamila LAURENTI. They will need their top guns since in Group D plays the winners from the 2019 event Poland’s KTS ENEA SIARKOPOL with Elizabeta SAMARA HAN Ying YU Fu LI Qian YANG Xiaoxin Viktoryia PAVLOVICH. French Saint-Denis US 93 Tennis de Table the winners of last year’s Europe Cup counts on Prithika PAVADE Leili MOSTAFAVI Camille LUTZ Camilla ARGÜELLES Chloé CHOMIS Celia SILVA Crystal CHAN… TT Moravsky Krumlov comes with well-known Bernadett BÁLINT as well as Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA Mitsuki YOSHIDA Nikita PETROVOVÁ Lenka HARABASZOVÁ Liliya ANDRIYANOVA Darya VASILENKA. “I hope me and all my teammates are in the good shape. We have difficult group every team has strong players. But we will try to give our best performance. Of course at first we want to qualify from the group and hopefully to win the main trophy ” said PESOTSKA. Last year in the final held in Linz at the last hurdle host team lost against Germany’s ttc Berlin eastside.
TTSC UMMC always set the highest goals
https://www.ettu.org Table Tennis European Champions League Men Finalists from 2019 Russia’s TTSC UMMC will host Group B in Stage 2 of the 2021/22 TTCLM event. In the Group are also French GV Hennebont TT Solex Consult TTC Wiener Neustadt from Austria and Italy’s Top Spin Messina Fontalba. The matches commences on Thursday. “We have a good training camp so far preparing for the Group Stage of the Champions League. We know it is going to be three hard matches we knows the teams very well. The players from the teams are very strong. Personally I know the Hennebont very well I played for three years there. We will fight hard to win the Group “ said Liam PITCHFORD. Due the medical reasons Jonathan GROTH’s presence was under question mark but it seems he will be in the team for the tournament. Tomislav PUCAR is also on duty. “Two or three weeks earlier I had a rupture in my muscle so I was out of the trainings for a short period. I started to play last week. I am not in perfect shape but I will give my best. PITCHFORD is in the top shape he is doing great in Russia’s league ” said PUCAR.”The adversaries are not the mystery for us. We knows each other very well. I have played against MONTEIRO 4 weeks ago at the European Championships and I beat his in very close seven games match. In Austria play my teammate from Croatia KOJIC we train together. No doubt at the end the most difficult match will be against Hennebont.” Coach Tatiana KUTERGINA said: “Our players are preparing very hard for the Champions League games. The last time I saw them play was during the Russian championship however it was difficult to judge their shape since they were objectively stronger than their rivals. But now I see them in training they are very good ” explained KUTERGINA. French team is the strongest adversary; Solex Consult TTC Wiener Neustadt from Austria and Italy’s Top Spin Messina Fontalba was required to go through Stage 1. “Hennebont has the most dangerous team. There are two tennis players from Top Spin Messina who before played in UMMC so we are also familiar with them. The Austrian team is coming to us for the first time it will be interesting to play against them. We must win in every match and go to next stage from the first place in the Group because UMMC always sets only the most serious aims for itself ” said KUTERGINA. Coach Zoran PRIMORAC invited all to come to Verkhnaya Pyshma or to follow the action live on ettu.tv. Listed players for the TTCLM beside PITCHFORD are: Jonathan GROTH Tomislav PUCAR Aleksandr TIUTRIUMOV Miron VASILEV Ilia KONIUKHOV Serafim ORLOV and Ramis TUICHIEV.
Titleholders from Borussia Düsseldorf starts their quest toward 13th title
The men’s TT European Champions League Stage two starts with the matches in ARAG CenterCourt in Germany. Titleholders from Borussia Düsseldorf will welcome Sporting Clube de Portugal Spanish CTT Borges and Austria’s SPG FELBERMAYR Wels. Borussia Düsseldorf the most successful club in the history of Champions League Men with 12 titles „I am wondering which club will manage the mode best to play day by day. For the players it´s no new situation we are used to play daily matches. We are the favorite team and we want to show this in are group. I am healthy and I feel well and I am pleased to play with my team this competition “stated the player with the record number of titles in Europe Timo BOLL. Another Borussia’s star Anton KALLBERG is coming fresh from the first ever title clamed at the WTT tournament last week. „I am looking forward to the Stage 2 of Champions League season 2021/22. I feel very good since more than one year and currently everything fits in my game. I hope to perform well this week to help my team to win the matches ” said KALLBERG. Coach Danny HEISTER unfortunately is not sure if he can count on Cristian CARLSSON for this stage. “We are happy to start the Table Tennis Champions League 2021/22. My team´s shape is very good we won all matches we played this season in German Bundesliga and in German Cup. Furthermore Anton won WTT Contender tournament in Tunis last Saturday DANG has been runner-up. We just have to look to the health of Kristian who had a rupture of a muscle fibre several days ago. We will see day by day if it´s possible for him to play one or more matches. Timo is stable on good level and his form is getting better and better when he has competitions. So I am happy with my team. Our big aim is to defend our title. For us Orenburg is favorite but we are working hard to be the best in Europe again. Sporting has got a strong team although they lost MONTEIRO. This we think is our hardest opponent in the group. But we also know that Wels and Borges do have good players. They have nothing to lose and I am sure that this will be interesting matches too “explained HEISTER.
1. FC Saarbrücken TT e.V. aiming the top place in front of home crowd
In a week packed with action in European Champions League last year’s runners up 1. FC Saarbrücken TT e.V. will host Group C in Germany. Team led by the captain of the German national team at the European Championships earlier this year Patrick FRANZISKA will host Roskilde Bordtennis BTK 61 from Denmark Polish K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo and former winners from 2016 French AS Pontoise Cergy TT. “We are looking forward our matches in Group Stage. It is great pleasure to play in front of the home crowd and our fans. It will be special for them too I guess. There will be a lot of action to be seen. The group is very balanced; all the adversaries are tough to beat; there will be a lot of close matches because every team can beat everyone. It is important that we have a good start against K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo but the main goal is to reach the top of the standings and progress to the quarterfinals ” said FRANZISKA. Darko JORGIC is also in fantastic shape and awaits the challenges with the good and long winning row. “ I am very happy that we are playing in front of home crowd but most of all I am happy that we are able to go on with the competitions and play Champions League in this uncertain times. We have slight advantage with the home soil but the Group is very tough. We are favorites for sure but the wins would not come easy. On Friday we starts with Polish club which has a very dangerous four players. I cannot wait for the tournament to start. Experienced Danish side Roskilde is very well known to us. We played many times against them and we know how hard is to beat them. Pontoise I heard will not be able to count on ROBINOT and FLORE due the injury but all kind of upsets are possible. We cannot be relaxed and we are ready that all their players could create surprising wins ” said Darko JORGIC. 1.FC Saarbrücken TT e.V. had shaky start in opening two rounds of the Bundesliga but since then they are unbeatable. In addition they reached the final four in the Germany’s Cup last week. Coach WANG Zhi added: “The shape of our players right now is at the very high level. FRANZISKA won European Top 16 Cup at the European Championships he was the captain of the German team which reached the gold medal. He had a short break and then return to Bundesliga’s matches without the defeat. Darko is for a four weeks already in top shape. At the European Championships in Cluj he did not lose single match in the Slovenia’s team and continued in same pace in the Bundesliga Cup matches – without defeat. Thomas POLANSKY also can performed at the high level. Our goal is to reach the top of the group and the place in the quarterfinals.” Coach put the adversaries on “scanner”: “We played against Roskilde last year in Dusseldorf the have very experienced team. It will be hard to beat them but I think the main obstacle on our way to the top position will be Polish side. Concerning French team it is questionable who will be in their line up.”
Last year’s semifinalist’s Metz looking forward new challenges at home in Group B
The host of the Group B in the Stage 2 of the 2021/2022 TAMANNEFTEGAS European Champions League Women is French Metz TT. Czech Republic’s SKST PLUS Hodonin Spanish Girbau Vic TT and Serbia’s TTC Novi Sad will travel to France fight for their place in the next round. Egypt’s Dina MESHREF Romania’s Adina DIACONU Germany’s WU Jiaduo Russia’s Mariia TAILAKOVA Hungary’s Leonie HARTBRICH and French player Julia KOCH are listed in Metz TT line up. “After reaching the semifinals last season for first time in club history we are delighted to welcome the Champions League back to us in Metz. After this long break caused by the Covid Pandemic we are impatient to return to our supporters for this Champions League ” said Manager Loïc BELGUISE The matches in Groups B commences on Friday. Metz and Girbau Vic TT already played in the final of the Europe Cup in 2019 and French club won the title two years ago. “Group B is very balanced with four good teams it will therefore be very close and fierce fight in all matches to secure the two qualifying places for the quarter-finals. The battle promises to be close and interesting. We have a crazy week with 1 match on November 2nd in the French Championship followed by the Champions League from 5th to 7th and to finish this program we will end on November 9th a new important match in the French Championship. A busy and exciting program ahead ” said Loïc BELGUISE. In SKST Plus Hodonin are among the others Natalia PARTYKA Sakura MORI Tetyana BILENKO Karin ADAMKOVA. Top stars in Girbau Vic TT are Sofia-Xuan ZHANG Charlotte CAREY Tamolwan KHETKHUAN whilst Novi Sad is strengthened with Annamaria ERDELJI and LAM Yee Lok alongside Aneta MAKSZUTI and Tijana JOKIC.
A bouquet of upsets and surprises at WTT Contender Tunis
The first-ever WTT Series in Africa concluded with the WTT Contender Series in Tunisia. The winners in the singles events – Hana MATELOVA of the Czech Republic and Anton KALLBERG of Sweden – claimed their first WTT titles. MATELOVA’s title is a first for the Czech Republic. In contrast KALLBERG’s win is the second title for Sweden after Truls MOREGARD won the Men’s Singles title at WTT Contender Budapest in August. MATELOVA and KALLBERG started their campaigns from the main draw and both edged out top seeds on their way to the podium. Eighth seed MATELOVA edged out fourth and top seeds Nina MITTELHAM of Germany and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria respectively in the quarter-final and semi-final of the Women’s Singles. On the final day she overcame Monaco’s comeback queen Xiaoxin YANG with a 4-3 (11-9 11-9 10-12 6-11 11-7 2-11 11-4) win to emerge champion. Following her triumph MATELOVA said: “I will say my journey in Tunis has been amazing and incredible. This is my first WTT title and it means a lot to me. I did not have a good season after the COVID-19 lockdown. I could not find myself. But now I am back and it is amazing.” The 2019 Croatia Open champion KALLBERG was at his very best in his semi-final 4-3 win over second seed Quadri ARUNA of Nigeria. He was on the verge of defeat against ARUNA but fought back to win the tie at 4-3 ((10-12 11-7 8-11 11-5 4-11 11-7 11-7) in a match he admitted was the toughest for him in Tunis. “The semi-final against Aruna was the toughest for me. It was a big match which lasted almost until midnight. After that I was really exhausted. But I was a bit more confident going into the final after the semi-final win ” said the Swede. However Kallberg applied icing on that superlative performance with a 4-0 (13-11 11-9 11-7 12-10) drubbing of the German Dang Qiu to emerge champion in the Men’s Singles. “I am very happy winning all four sets but it was not an easy one. I am very happy. So many good and strong players played in this tournament. Winning it makes me happy. It is a confidence booster for me going forward ” said KALLBERG . The Women’s Doubles final saw the Swedish pair of Linda Bergstrom and Christina KALLBERG claim their first WTT title in Tunis. They had only recently started their partnership three months ago. The second seeds defeated qualifiers Rachel MORET of Switzerland and Daria TRIGOLOS of Belarus 3-2 (10-12 115-11-7 7-11 11-9) in the final. “It was unexpected and it is an amazing feeling because this is our second tournament since August when we started playing together in the doubles. We were a bit nervous in the first game but we started dictating the game from the second set to win. The title means a lot to us being our first title and it is a motivation to us to continue to play together to win more titles ” said BERGSTROM. India won their second WTT title after Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai defeated Emmanuel Lebesson and Alexandre Cassin of France 3-1 (11-9 4-11 11-9 11-6) in the final of the Men’s doubles. GNANASEKARAN and Manica BATRA won the Mixed Doubles title at the WTT Contender Budapest to give India their first WTT title. In Tunis GNANASEKARAN claimed his second this time with Desai in the Men’s Doubles. In the Mixed Doubles Emmanuel LEBESSON and JIA Nan Yuan of France justified their status as top seeds after coming back from 2-0 down to beat Belarus’ Aleksandr KHANIN and Daria TRIGOLOS 3-2 (3-11 9-11 11-5 11-8 11-9). Impressive performances came from Croatia’s Filip ZELJKO who dumped top seed Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany from the quarter-final of the Men’s Singles. Plus teenage sensation Prithika PAVADE a WTT Youth nominee beat Romania’s Adina DIACONU former European Junior medallist in the first round 3-0 (11-7 11-9 11-7). The 17-year-old also defeated the fifth-seeded and six-time African champion Dina MESHREF of Egypt 3-0 (12-10 12-10 11-4) to qualify for her first quarter-final at the WTT event.
ETTU Executive Board meeting
On Friday 29th October a meeting of the ETTU Executive Board was held virtually under the leadership of President Igor Levitin. The President and the Secretary General reported on feedback received from member Associations concerning visa application procedures for the 2021 ITTF World Championships at Houston USA next month. There were two European players with outstanding visa application interviews. It was noted that some European National Associations such as The Russian Federation (TTFR) had incurred considerable additional expenditure having to arrange for their delegation to travel to the American embassy in different country. It was reported that from 8th November it will be necessary to be vaccinated with a WHO recognised vaccine to gain entry into the United States a requirement that numerous ITTF member Associations are unable to meet. Continental Federation Presidents have called upon the ITTF Executive Committee to urgently resolve this situation with the American authorities as in regards to compensation of additional expenses for obtaining visas as regarding vaccine situation to enable all qualified players and delegates to come to the World Championships. A request from the Balkan TT Union for financial assistance was discussed and various options will be considered before the next Board meeting. The Executive Board discussed the financial aspects of the ITTF Continental Agreement including for the 2nd half of 2021 and the use of monies received by the ITTF after Olympics in Tokyo. It was agreed to waive the entry fee for those teams participating in European Team Championships stage 1 C groups to be played in 2022 of Associations which had entered and played in the stage 1 groups of the 2021 qualification. It was agreed to hold a virtual meeting prior to the ITTF AGM and Board of Directors meeting to discuss all propositions and resolutions. President Levitin thanked members for their contribution and closed the meeting.
Titleholders from Borussia Düsseldorf kick up the action in Champions League Men on Wednesday
The second stage of the Champions League commences on Wednesday next week. Four groups will be hosted in Germany and in Russia. Borussia Düsseldorf the most successful club in the history of Champions League Men winners of 12 titles will be the host of Group A in ARAG CenterCourt Düsseldorf. They will face no. two seeds in that Group Sporting Clube de Portugal. In addition from Stage 1 progressed Spanish CTT Borges and Austria’s SPG FELBERMAYR Wels. The host in Group B is Russia’s TTSC UMMC. They were finalists in 2019. In the Group is French GV Hennebont TT whilst Solex Consult TTC Wiener Neustadt from Austria booked their position through the Stage one as well as Italy’s Top Spin Messina Fontalba. Group B starts on Thursday. Last year’s runners up 1. FC Saarbrücken TT e.V. will host Group C in Germany. Roskilde Bordtennis BTK 61 from Denmark is seeded at the position no. 2 whilst the Polish K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo and French AS Pontoise Cergy TT are already warmed up after September’s matches. AS Pontoise Cergy TT won the title in 2016. In Group D Russia’s Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg five times winners are at the top of the group but the hosts are no. two seeds KS DARTOM BOGORIA Grodzisk Mazowiecki. In Poland will also play Germany’s TTC Neu-Ulm and SF SKK El Nino Praha from Czech Republic. The matches in the last Groups commences on Friday.
The TAMANNEFTEGAS ECLW Stage two kicks on in Linz – champions from ttc Berlin eastside on dutu on Saturday
Austria will break the ice on Wednesday with the first matches in Stage 2 of the 2021/2022 TAMANNEFTEGAS European Champions League Women. Runners up last season Linz AG Froschberg is the host of Group D where will also play Poland’s KTS ENEA SIARKOPOL Tarnobrzeg the winners in 2019 French Saint-Denis US 93 Tennis de Table the winners of last year’s Europe Cup and TT Moravsky Krumlov of Czech Republic. Groups B and C starts on Friday. In Group B the host Metz TT awaits for Czech Republic’s SKST PLUS Hodonin Spanish Girbau Vic TT and Serbia’s TTC Novi Sad. Metz and Girbau Vic TT played in the final of the Europe Cup in 2019 and French club won the title then. Group C will also play in France. TT Saint-Quentinois is the host. There will also play Spanish UCAM Cartagena T.M Austria’s TTC Villach and French Etival Clairefontaine ASRTT. The winners of the last year’s Champions League will commence last – on Saturday. Germany’s ttc Berlin eastside will welcome SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club of Hungary CP Lyssois Lille Métropole of France and GDCS Do Juncal of Portugal. SH-ITB Budaörsi Sport Club played in the final of the Europe Cup last year whilst French club won the title in Europe Cup in 2016.
