Japanese teenagers 16 year old Tomokazu Harimoto and 19 year old Mima Ito head the seeding in the respective men’s and women’s singles events at the 2020 ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open. The four-day main event commences in Budapest on Thursday 20th February following two days of qualification. World no.5 Tomokazu Harimoto appears in the same half of the draw as Germany’s world no.10 Dimitrij Ovtcharov the no.3 seed. At the first ITTF World Tour event of the year the German Open in Magdeburg the pair experienced contrasting fortunes. Surprisingly Harimoto was beaten in the opening round by Chinese Taipei’s 38 year old Chuang Chih-Yuan; by contrast Ovtcharov reached the semi-finals by eliminating Fan Zhendong who started the year on top of the world rankings. Ovtcharov’s progress on home soil eventually came to a halt in the penultimate round at the hands of Ma Long the reigning Olympic Games and World Champion. In Budapest Harimoto is joined in the same quarter of the draw by compatriot Koki Niwa the no.5 seed and a player with whom he will line up alongside at the upcoming Hana Bank 2020 World Team Championships in Busan Korea Republic and at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Harimoto held the upper hand over Niwa in their most recent meetings at the T2 Diamond in Singapore and the Chengdu Airlines Men’s World Cup. Meanwhile Ovtcharov could potentially face a former Hungarian Open winner at the quarter-final stage with Japan’s Jun Mizutani the no.6 seed and winner in 2010 and Austria’s Daniel Habesohn the no.15 seed and 2014 champion both positioned in the same section of the draw. In the opposite half of the draw Brazil’s Hugo Calderano the no.2 seed and world no.7 is in the hunt for his first ever ITTF World Tour title just two weeks after retaining the Pan America Cup in Puerto Rico. Calderano is named in the same half as his TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen clubmate Frenchman Simon Gauzy the no.8 seed who in turn faces a first-round showdown with Germany’s Qiu Dang winner at last week’s ITTF Challenge Plus Portugal Open. Fellow German Patrick Franziska the no.4 seed will be keen to bounce back from his shock opening round defeat to Japan’s Mizuki Oikawa at the German Open. Franziska could face a second round meeting with American rising star Kanak Jha the no.12 seed or recently crowned Japanese national champion Yukiya Uda. Meanwhile potential quarter-final opponents are Hong Kong China’s Wong Chun Ting the no.7 seed and 43 year old Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus the no.10 seed and the winner of no less than 27 ITTF World Tour men’s singles titles.  Names from the Land of the Rising Sun prominent in the men’s singles event they are even more prevalent in the women’s singles competition. Top seed and world no.3 Mima Ito a quarter-finalist in Germany beaten by China’s Ding Ning is in the same quarter of the draw as colleagues Hitomi Sato the no.6 seed and Miyu Kato the no.10. Kato and Sato are scheduled for a second round meeting; in world ranking events Kato has always beaten Sato. Miu Hirano the no.4 seed also appears in the same half of the draw as Ito and company. A potential quarter-final against Romania’s Bernadette Szocs the no.7 seed could materialise. Hirano is currently unbeaten against Szocs on the international scene. In the lower half of the draw Kasumi Ishikawa is the only seeded Japanese name present though the no.2 seed starts her campaign against compatriot Haruna Ojio with a potential second round meeting against another Japanese Miyu Nagasaki the reigning ITTF World Junior Champion. Featuring in the same quarter of the draw are two players who recently booked their places in the Women’s World Cup to be staged in October 2020 in Bangkok. Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz the no.9 seed lines up against Nagasaki in an eye-catching opening round duel while Germany’s Petrissa Solja the no.8 seed could be a quarter-final opponent for any of the aforementioned players. Earlier this month Diaz retained her crown at the Universal Pan America Cup and Solja likewise at the CCB Europe Top 16. Hong Kong China’s Doo Hoi Kem the no.5 seed and Chinese Taipei’s Cheng I-Ching the no.3 seed could be in line for a quarter-final battle. Last year they met twice on the international scene Doo Hoi Kem winning at the ITTF-Asian Cup in Yokohama Cheng I-Ching at the ZEN-NOH Team World Cup in Tokyo. In the women’s doubles Chen Szu-Yu and Cheng Hsien-Tzu head the seeding. The Chinese Taipei pair were silver medallists at the Agricultural Bank of China 2020 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. They appear in the same half of the draw as Japan’s Miu Hirano and Kasumi Ishikawa the no.4 seeds runners up earlier this month in Germany. In the opposite half Doo Hoi Kem and Hong Kong China colleague Lee Ho Ching occupy the no.2 seeded spot while the mixed nationality pairing of Slovakia’s Barbora Balazova and Czech Republic’s Hana Matelova weigh in at no.3.  Chinese Taipei is represented prominently again in the men’s doubles with Chen Chien-An and Chuang Chih-Yuan the no.3 seeds. World champions in 2013 interestingly they have never reached an ITTF World Tour final. In Budapest they sit in the same half of the draw as the somewhat untried German partnership of Benedikt Duda and Patrick Franziska the no.2 seeds. The pair to note in that half of the draw is Poland’s Jakub Dyjas and Belgium’s Cédric Nuytinck the no.6 seeds recent semi-finalists in Germany and Sweden on the ITTF World Tour. In the opposite half of the draw the home Hungarian crowd will be behind Nandor Ecseki and Adam Szudi the no.4 seeds and winners at the 2018 ITTF Challenge Croatia Open. The top seeds are Hong Kong China’s Ho Kwan Kit and Wong Chung Ting the runners up at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in both 2017 and 2018. Top of the order in the men’s doubles it is the same for Wong Chun Ting

Salary – Circa £30 000 pa (two year fixed term)   Table Tennis Scotland (TTS) is seeking a dynamic individual to take on the role of Pathways Manager (PM).   This new position will support the Board of Directors and the Chief Operating Officer in implementing the development of table tennis throughout Scotland with an emphasis on building pathways into the sport which enables people to achieve their full potential in their chosen field. It is a challenging role and the successful candidate will take the organisation forward in achieving the objectives set out in the new TTS Strategic Plan 2019-23.   The successful applicant will have a proven track record in sports development or a related discipline and experience of managing people volunteers budgets and projects. Knowledge of table tennis and the current Scottish sporting landscape would be advantageous.   This is a full-time post supported by sportscotland and based in the TTS office at Caledonia House Edinburgh with the post holder expected to travel throughout Scotland. The successful candidate will also have access to comprehensive training and support for professional development.   A full job description and application form can be downloaded from the TTS website or by contacting the TTS office on 0131 317 8077.   The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 6 March.   Interviews will be held in Edinburgh on Friday 20 March 2020.  

  Sabina MUSAJEVA and Daniels KOGANS won medals in Riga City Council’s Cup 2020 international youth table tennis competition which took place from February 14th to 16th in Riga bringing together more than 400 players from 17 countries.   On first day February 14th Azerbaijan representatives triumphed in the cathegory of athletes born on 2008 and younger; Marziyya NURMATOVA becoming the girls champion and Adil AHMADZADA winning the boys competition.   On February 15th the winner of the boys event (category 2005 to 2007) was Artur GROMEK from Poland while Kaashvi GUPTA from India won girls competition. Second was Estonian Andrei MALTIZOV and for girls – Anastasia SIZOVA from Russia. Latvians closed the day without medals.   February 16th was double success for the Indian player Kaashvi GUPTA on girls finals for players born 2002 to 2004 as she won gold. Anastasia SIZOVA from Russia also repeated previous day’s achievement and came second. Boys finals concluded with Polish Patryk LEWANDOWSKI defeating Patryk BIELECKI also Polish.   Latvian player Sabina MUSAJEVA was third in the girls competition. “It was my fourth cup as the last three were the most effective. The toughest match was the semi-final against the Russian which I won previous year but lost this year. I could definitely fight for victory this year unfortunately I got sick and had to skip trainings. As Latvian Championship is coming I feel excitement before the tournament. I believe I will play well.”   Daniels KOGANS finished third in the boys finals. For Daniels it was seventh cup. “The toughest moment was the semi-finals I had to fight for every point. Overall I was confident about my game but less relaxed attitude might be much helpful this time. But I like the way I played. I feel in good shape before upcoming Latvian Championship.”   The full results and live streams are available at at www.lgtf.lv  and www.galdateniss.lv.   “Riga City Council’s Youth Cup 2020” is organized by the Table Tennis Federation of Latvia main organization responsible for table tennis in Latvia. The cup is supported by Riga City Council and Latvian Sports Federations Council. The information provided by www.galdateniss.lv.