The beginning of the Men’s Singles Event at the European Olympic Singles Qualification in Guimaraes proved there are no safe matches for the favorites. The upsets started from Group A. Alvaro ROBLES of Spain beat Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece but suffered by the hands of third seed in the Group Belarus Aleksandr KHANIN. KHANIN also proved too strong for Latvia’s Olegs KARTUZOVS. With two wins he secured top of the standings in the Group at the end of the day. In Group B the highest ranked player on the duty in the Group phase Paul DRINKHALL of Great Britain finished the day unbeaten. He overcame Romania’s Rares SIPOS and Turkey’s Ibrahim GUNDUZ. “I am happy the way I started. I played two good matches; two quite difficult matches against the players with different style and different issues for me. However I managed to stay positive and to find my game in both matches. I am here because I believe I can qualify but lot of players think the same. There are many good players at the tournament and already there were a lot of upsets and I am sure there will be plenty more in next few days ” said DRINKHALL.  Number six seed at the tournament no one in Group C Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania lost to Jesus CANTERO of Spain. Mihai BOBOCICA of Italy finished at the top of the group after day one with wins against IONESCU and Tal ISRAELI of Israel. “I was 1:3 down against IONESCU and I managed to recover to win. I did not play well because it is very hard to play well against Ovidiu. It was important only to win and I did it and I did not have any doubts it will get harder and harder here ” explained BOBOCICA. In Group D Jakub DYJAS of Poland failed to justify his rankings against Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia. Vladislav URSU of Moldova also steal some spotlight by beating another favorite Pavel PLATONOV of Belarus. Eric GLOD of Luxembourg showed great performance and overcame Samuel WALKER of Great Britain and Alex NAUMI of Finland to reach the top position at the standings in Group F. In the men’s event phase one consists of 8 groups. The top four seeded players are not playing in the groups but will qualify directly for Stage 2. The winner and the runner up of each of the 8 groups will qualify for Stage 2 together with the 4 seeded players: Daniel HABESOHN of Austria Pavel SIRUCEK of Czech Republic Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece and KOU Lei of Ukraine making a total of 20 players. After Stage 2 starting from the round of 32 both finalists will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (the final match shall not be played). The remaining 18 players from Stage 2 will continue into Stage 3 in a direct knock out draw of 32. The two finalists of the Stage 3 K.O. draw will qualify for Tokyo 2020 (the final match shall not be played). In addition the winner of the match between the losers of the Stage 3 semi-finals (men) will qualify for the Olympic Games.   You can see live streaming on https://www.ettu.tv/en-int/partner-player/ettu/ettu.tv You can see pictures on FLICKR https://www.flickr.com/photos/ettu_official/albums Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/ettu_official/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ETTUofficial/

At the opening day of the play at the European Olympic Singles Qualification in Guimaraes Portugal hope and anticipations are thick in the air and great pressure already took its toll on few favorites. In Women’s Group A Sarah DE NUTTE of Luxembourg needed full seven games to beat Aikaterini TOLIOU of Greece but greatest upset came from Sibel ALTINKAYA of Turkey who beat Sarah 4:2 and secured good position before tomorrow’s last match in the Group. Leading name in Group B Debora VIVARELI of Italy faced similar faith. She overcame Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia before she lost to Charlotte CAREY of Great Britain seeded at the position no. three in the Group. “Winning my first match here against VIVARELI was quite important. It was a win against a good player a higher ranked player. I was looking for causing an upset and I am happy with the result. Being low ranked in the group makes every match even in the group phase very difficult. I expect it will be difficult match tomorrow against KUKULKOVA. I do not want to think much further ahead. First goal is to pass the Group stage ” said CAREY. Maria XIAO of Spain can go to sleep with memory of the perfect day. She secured passage to the next phase with two wins over Ozge YILMAZ of Turkey and Christina KALLBERG of Sweden. Both matches concluded in straight games. Galia DVORAK of Spain now depends on the outcome of the match between Nathalie MARCHETTI of Belgium and Solomiya BRATEYKO of Ukraine. Galia beat MARCHETTI but lost to BRATEYKO today. In top four groups there are only three players whilst in remaining six are four in each. In Group E YUAN Jia Nan of France is at the top with two wins and tomorrow she will meet Sabina MUSAJEVA of Latvia who is ranked at the position no. four in the Group. In Group F Mateja JEGER of Croatia upset the rankings and overcame Izabela LUPULESKU of Serbia. In the same Group Mia SKOV of Denmark forced JEGER to go full distance before she lost but managed to overcame Anna KIRICHENKO of Finland. Another no. two in Group Giorgia PICCOLIN of Italy overcame the favorite. Rachel MORET of Switzerland concluded the day with one win and one defeat. The tendency of players ranked at the position no. two beating the top players continued with Group H. Sabina SURJAN of Serbia has two wins and one is against Tin Tin HO of Great Britain. Tin Tin overcame Ana TOFANT of Slovenia to stay in the position to fight for one of two positions that leads to the next phase. “It was very difficult match for me. I have never played against HO before but I knew what to expect. The bigger challenge was to play against TRIFONOVA; she has not enough points for higher rankings but she is playing in Bundesliga and she is very dangerous. I came from 0:2 in reverse to win 4:2. That was very important ” explained SURJAN. In Group I top seeded Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus beat Airi AVAMERI of Estonia but lost to Karin ADAMKOVA of Czech Republic. That is not the only upset in that group since Prithika PAVADE of France ranked fourth overcame ADAMKOVA. In the women’s event in phase one entries are split into 10 groups. The top four seeded players: Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia Yana NOSKOVA of Russia and SHAO Jieni of Portugal are not play in the groups but they are qualify directly for Stage 2. The winner and the runner up of each of the 10 groups will qualify for Stage 2 together with the 4 seeded players making a total of 24 players. After Stage 2 starting from the round of 32 both finalists will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (the final match shall not be played). The remaining 22 players from Stage 2 will continue into Stage 3 in a direct knock out draw of 32. The two finalists of the Stage 3 K.O. draw will qualify for Tokyo 2020 (the final match shall not be played).   You can see live streaming on https://www.ettu.tv/en-int/partner-player/ettu/ettu.tv You can see pictures on FLICKR https://www.flickr.com/photos/ettu_official/albums Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/ettu_official/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ETTUofficial/

Sam WALKER says he feels no pressure as he prepares for an unexpected attempt to secure qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. WALKER compete alongside Paul Drinkhall at the European qualifying tournament in Portugal commenced today with Liam PITCHFORD choosing to miss the competition as he will qualify for Tokyo by virtue of his world ranking. Only one of the two GB men competing in Portugal would be able to compete in Tokyo – if DRINKHALL and WALKER both end up in a qualifying place DRINKHALL would go to Japan as he is the higher-ranked player. WALKER who is only just back in training after suffering an ankle injury on his return to competition at the WTT Contender event in Doha in March is relishing the opportunity he has suddenly been given. “I wasn’t thinking about the Olympics at all. For me it was something that went when we didn’t qualify as a team – I’d already faced the fact that I wasn’t going to go and it hasn’t been part of my goals and processes. Now I’ve got this chance that has really come from nowhere and I feel there’s no pressure on me because it’s an opportunity I didn’t feel I was going to get ” said WALKER The injury and consequent lack of practice in the run-up to the tournament may not be ideal but WALKER said that was another reason why he can go into the event with nothing to lose and everything to gain. “I’m going into it more to play matches ” Sam said. “I believe I’ve got the capabilities to qualify but if I’m fit and able to play matches that’s really what I’m going for because I haven’t played a tournament for more than a year. Any qualification that comes out of that is a bonus and would be fantastic. I’ve got no pressure – I haven’t done any training I didn’t expect to have this chance and I’m coming back from injury. It’s a bonus for me and I’ll try to go out and get some matches under my belt and see what happens. Anything can happen at tournaments like this and I know that on my best day I’ve got every chance to qualify.” Walker’s injury was a cruel blow coming on only the 12th point of his first match against Italy’s Niagol STOYANOV – his opening tie at his first tournament in a year. It looked as if the European qualifiers may have come too soon but WALKER admitted that once PITCHFORD’S absence was confirmed getting fit for the tournament has given him motivation. “It was such a blow to be back at a tournament after a year out due to COVID and in the first match 6-5 down to get an injury like that which I wasn’t going to recover quickly from ” he said. “The physio said it would be six to 12 weeks and I’m only into the sixth week of rehab now so it was a tough decision to go to Portugal because I didn’t know if I was going to be fit. We decided that I would be fit to play but probably not have much practice before. “It’s definitely lifted my spirits and given me something to work towards with the rehab – definitely some positive news after the injury.”   You can see live streaming on https://www.ettu.tv/en-int/partner-player/ettu/ettu.tv You can see pictures on FLICKR https://www.flickr.com/photos/ettu_official/albums Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/ettu_official/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ETTUofficial/  

Preparations almost concluded the final touches being applied Guimaraes the city in Portugal is ready for the European Olympic Singles Qualifications. Multiusos de Guimarães is the venue for the tournament to be held from 21st to 25th April. Portugal men team already secured their place at the Olympics through the Team’s Qualifications held in January in 2020 in another Portugal’s city in Gondomar. Now the spotlight of the home nation will be on SHAO Jieni. She competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the women’s singles event in which she was eliminated in the second round. Jieni was also the member of the Portugal’s team which won the silver medal at the European Championships in Nantes. SHAO Jieni returned to Portugal a week ago. Portugal’s player stayed in China during the quarantine time in Europe between March 2020 and April 2021 and now she practice in the Portuguese High Performance Training Center. SHAO is looking forward to her second consecutive presence at the Olympic Games: “I’ve been practising with the aim of the Olympics. Although I had to face some restrictions in my training schedule due to the pandemic situation I kept focused on my goal. I’ll be at my best at the European Olympic Singles Qualification.” The Portuguese National Team coach XIE Juan explained “Shao Jieni can achieve the Olympic Qualification if she plays at her top level. We’ve been practicing with top level athletes and everything is going as planed. I believe she can achieve the qualification.”  

Three players who competed last month at the World Olympic Qualification Singles Tournament in Qatar will represent the Greek table tennis in the respective Olympic Qualification Tournament in Europe. Panagiotis GIONIS Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS and Katerina TOLIOU will be on duty in Guimaraes Portugal to claim the tickets for Tokyo. As in Doha the head of mission will be the national coach Κostas VATSAKLIS. Same as month earlier top Greek athletes at the World rankings were selected for the Qualifications. GIONIS of course lead the team. The main pressure of the big expectations is on his shoulders. Panagiotis has huge experience from such tournaments he has the quality to claim the Olympic spot and he will be one of the favorites at the tournament. GIONIS ‘s goal is to be present at the 5th Olympic Games of his career.  In Doha GIONIS came very close and lost very crucial games in stage 1 and stage 2. In Guimaraes he does not want to miss the opportunity. GIONIS is looking for a success he has already had at the Olympic Qualification tournaments in Europe. He qualified two times through Continental tournaments in 2008 in Nantes France and in 2016 in Halmstad Sweden. SGOUROPOULOS will have his premiere at the Olympic Singles Qualifications Event in Europe but he made his debut on Portuguese soil last year in a similar process to the World Olympic Team Qualification in Gondomar. In Guimaraes he already celebrated his first European title in 2017 (in the junior singles). TOLIOU also has valuable experience from the European Pre-Olympic Tournaments in singles. She was present in 2012 in Luxembourg and in 2016 in Sweden. In Qatar SGOUROPOULOS and TOLIOU were eliminated at the start of Stage 1. In Portugal they definitely want to move on in knock out system and to get to the point to be in the position to cause the upset. “We have done very good preparation the athletes feels thirsty and of course the Federation and the Hellenic Olympic Committee want results” said Κostas VATSAKLIS.

European Olympic Singles Qualification will be held in Portugal’s city of Guimaraes on 21-25 April. A total of nine qualification places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be available for the 36 male players and the 40 female players competing in the Men’s and Women’s Singles Event respectively. Hosted and organised by the Federação Portuguesa de Ténis de Mesa under the authority granted by the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) and International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) five Olympic spots will be reserved for men while another four will be available for women. The male player with the most Olympic experience at the Qualification event is Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece. GIONIS’ first Olympic appearance was in Athens 2004 and he also played at Beijing 2008 London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016. In London and Rio de Janeiro GIONIS reached the Round of 32. The list of the other Olympic stars who will compete at the Qualification event include Galia DVORAK who played for the first time at an Olympic Games at Beijing 2008 and she also was present in London and Rio.  Lithuanian player Ruta PASKAUSKIENE has the longest experience of the female athletes due to compete at the event. She played her first Olympic Games tournament in Atlanta in 1996 and she was also on duty in Sydney and Beijing. The list of players with multiple Olympic Games experience are Paul DRINKHALL of Great Britain who played in London and Rio KOU Lei of Ukraine who competed in Rio and Beijing Mihai BOBOCICA who was present in Beijing and London. Finland’s Benedek OLAH who played in Rio Samuel WALKER of England who competed in Rio as well as Romania’s Ovidiu IONESCU. In Women’s Singles Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic felt the heat at Rio 2016 Mie SKOV of Denmark competed at London 2012 as well as Yana NOSKOVA of Russia whilst Slovakia’s Barbora BALAZOVA played in Rio and reached the round of 64. In Portugal in the women’s event in phase one entries will be split into 10 groups. The top four seeded players will not play in the groups but will qualify directly for Stage 2. The winner and the runner up of each of the 10 groups will qualify for Stage 2 together with the 4 seeded players making a total of 24 players. After Stage 2 starting from the round of 32 both finalists will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (the final match shall not be played). The remaining 22 players from Stage 2 will continue into Stage 3 in a direct knock out draw of 32. The two finalists of the Stage 3 K.O. draw will qualify for Tokyo 2020 (the final match shall not be played). in the men’s event phase one will consist of 8 groups. The top four seeded players will not play in the groups but will qualify directly for Stage 2. The winner and the runner up of each of the 8 groups will qualify for Stage 2 together with the 4 seeded players making a total of 20 players. After Stage 2 starting from the round of 32 both finalists will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (the final match shall not be played).   The remaining 18 players from Stage 2 will continue into Stage 3 in a direct knock out draw of 32. The two finalists of the Stage 3 K.O. draw will qualify for Tokyo 2020 (the final match shall not be played). In addition the winner of the match between the losers of the Stage 3 semi-finals (men) will qualify for the Olympic Games.