The first two tickets for Paris 2024 in Men’s Singles at the European Olympic Singles Qualification are booked by Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece and Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland. For GIONIS it will be his sixth appearance at the Olympics while 17-year-old REDZIMSKI will experience his first. In the Olympic ticket match 44-year-old GIONIS overcame Slovakia’s Yang WANG in straight games (12:10 11:5 11:8 14:12). Throughout the tournament he also beat Alexander GILLEN of Ireland Niagol STOYANOV of Italy and Martin ALEGRO of Belgium without losing a game. Cedric NUYTINICK of Belgium took one game from the Greek while only Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO of Ukraine forced him to go the full distance. GIONIS played at the Olympics for the first time in Athens 2004. “This one in sarajevo was the most difficult qualification tournament for me. Firstly because of my age and then because I had a very tough season behind me. Over the last two years I suffered from many injuries. I was forced to stop for four months then for five. I was out of the rankings and my chances of being at the Olympics were very slim. I tried with the tournaments but I couldn’t catch up ” explained GIONIS. “We had very stressful days here and I can say this was the most emotional tournament for me. However knowing that this was my only chance I prepared a good strategy with my coach Kostas VATSAKLIS. I spent some time in Düsseldorf training. Most of all experience taught me that you have to put stress away; otherwise playing seven matches in three days is a very hard mission.” Holding the same flag that the team used at the European Championships in 2013 in Schwechat when Greece won silver GIONIS proudly talked about how much joy this victory brought him. “Maybe we are a little superstitious but it is always a great joy to see the Greek flag.” Everyone expected a longer match between the two players with defensive styles but against WANG GIONIS showed no mercy. “We were 50-50. However against ZHMUDENKO I faced a more challenging game. It was the third match of the day yesterday and before it I told my coach that I didn’t have the power anymore. Today I felt better and the final match for the tickets just wiped away all the tiredness.” Seventeen-year-old Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland will make his Olympic debut later this summer. At the tournament the Polish player showed no fear and displayed the maturity needed to secure his place in Paris. In the final match of the tournament he beat Alvaro ROBLES of Spain in five games (5:11 11:5 11:7 11:9 14:12). “I was so stressed yesterday knowing what was coming but I managed to have a good sleep and come early to the venue to warm up. He beat me the last two times so I am happy that I managed to overturn my fortune. At the begining I played exactly the same like in those matches I lost. I forced myself to change the tactics eventually in order to win” said REDZIMSKI. REDZIMSKI admitted that he did not have high hopes for the qualification tournament. “Coming here I was sick for a week. I did not practice and was in bad shape. However I lifted myself.” On his way to Paris 2024 REDZIMSKI overcame Loic STOLL of Switzerland Lubomir JANCARIK of Czechia Denislav KODJABASHEV of Bulgaria Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia and Eduard IONESCU of Romania before beating ROBLES. The competition continues with Stage 3. Three more tickets in each event will be distributed tomorrow. You can watch all the matches live on ettu.org and follow the results live here. Pictures you can see here

In the penultimate round of Stage 2 of the Women’s Singles Event at the 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification in Sarajevo Georgina POTA of Hungary Anna HURSEY of Great Britain Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia and Britt EERLAND of the Netherlands secured their places in tomorrow’s two Olympic ticket matches. In her last match on the third day POTA overcame Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia in five games (11:9 12:10 11:3 5:11 11:3). “In the second game she was leading 9:6 and lost it. That was the key moment of the match. Hana is very good and I faced difficulties from the beginning of the match with her big spins and powerful game. Somehow with my old style I managed to confuse her a little to put the receive out of balance. I put some side spins and made sure she did not get the same balls ” explained POTA. In previous matches today Georgina overcame Italy’s Debora VIVARELLI 4:3 and Fu YU 4:1. “Against Debora I was leading easily 3:0 and then she turned the match around. She put every ball on the table for 3:3. Against FU the key was the opening game. It was 8:8 and she missed the service. I don’t have to tell you how good her service is so this was a present from above. After that I tuned my receive which was sufficient because in the rallies we were equal.” POTA will meet 17-year-old Anna HURSEY who recovered from 0:3 in reverse to beat Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia 4:3 (3:11 13:15 8:11 11:5 11:5 11:7 11:9). “Our styles are very different and I found it very hard to adjust to her style at first. However as I got more used to it I played much better. It was the first time that I faced her in singles. Her style is quite tricky with short-medium pimples so I had to adjust the tactics slightly going for the right balls ” said HURSEY. In the previous match Anna beat Sara TOKIC of Slovenia. “We’ve known each other for a very long time played against each other. Since we were young we grew up together.” Coming back from being down 1:3 Britt EERLAND leveled to beat Tin Tin HO of England (7:11 11:7 9:11 13:15 11:7 11:9 11:9). “She was putting very good pressure on me and I did not feel I could take control over the rallies. I felt she was deciding it. Also at 1:2 I was leading 5:1 and she started to put extra pressure. I even called for a time-out to get some rest from the game but I lost. I really felt I had to change the game to be more in control and I managed it after being down 1:3. In the decisive game it was a mental fight for both of us ” said EERLAND. In the previous round Britt also went the full distance against Hana MATELOVA of Czechia. “She was really good playing very strongly. She changed the game more on the forehand serve so I had to make some adjustments and we played at an unbelievable level.” Another thrilling comeback was performed by Barbora BALAZOVA who was down 0:3 before she beat Jieni SHAO of Portugal 4:3 (10:12 9:11 9:11 11:7 11:7 15:13 11:9). “All the opening games were very close. I lost them by narrow margins. I was missing by little which made me more and more frustrated because I felt I was close but then I was too far. We know each other well and I know how good she is in tense moments. I had that on my mind too so at 0:3 I told myself it’s not over until it’s over. I changed tactics. The placement of my serves was better and I am happy I could return to the match. Then it was 3:2 7:5 for her so I managed to recover once again to push for the deciding game. Then I was down at the beginning got the lead at 9:7 and then my service which was working stopped. The same happened to her and somehow we finished this match ” said BALAZOVA.

There is only one round remaining in the Men’s Singles Event at the 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification in Sarajevo before the first two players secure their place at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. In tomorrow’s two Olympic ticket matches top-seeded Alvaro ROBLES of Spain will meet Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland and Yang WANG of Slovakia will meet Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece. ROBLES came to Sarajevo as a leading name in the seedings and so far he has justified his rankings by beating all four adversaries. In the main draw he prevailed against Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia in straight games (11:9 11:9 11:8 11:8) earlier this morning before overcoming Mihai BOBOCICA 4:2 (9:11 11:7 7:11 11:4 11:2 12:10). “I arrived in Sarajevo in good shape because I had so many tournaments in the past months. I was playing without a break for a while. Physically I am not at the very top at 100 percent but I have a very good rhythm of the game. That allowed me to beat very tough opponents in the Group and to reach the final match for the ticket ” explained ROBLES. He will meet REDZIMSKI. “Most recently we played two times this year. It was always very close. He is young but he already performs at the top level ” stated ROBLES. In the other match of the round which determined the player who will reach the Olympic ticket match Milosz REDZIMSKI beat Eduard IONESCU of Romania. Only 17 years old he overcame his two-year-older adversary (6:11 11:9 11:7 11:3 12:10). Previously he beat Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia 4:3. “I can say that PISTEJ is the player with a very strange and difficult style of play. On top of all it was my first time that I played against him. In the two opening games I was very aggressive and I was changing my service play every time. He did not manage to receive properly but as the match went by he became better and better especially on the receive and on the first ball ” said REDZIMSKI and continued: “Against IONESCU the results did not predict how close it was. I missed a training for a week because I was sick and after the opening game I was just excused but I forced myself to ignore it to move less but to add some power to my strokes. It worked just fine.” The record between ROBLES and REDZIMSKI is 2:1 in favor of the experienced player. “He beat me last time but I am not looking at it. If you want to go to the Olympics you have to beat good players.” On the third day of play in Sarajevo WANG overcame Vladislav URSU of Moldova 4:1 before defeating Benedek OLAH of Finland in straight games (11:5 12:10 11:9 12:10). “URSU played very well against players with a defensive style so it was very difficult for me. He had a lot of power in his forehand. He forced me to change tactics and attack him with the service which changed the course of the match ” said WANG. The statistics against OLAH did not favor WANG. “The last two times I lost against him. That’s why I had to adapt a new approach. I changed my service although it was hard. Twice it was 10:10 and it could have gone either way.” Panagiotis GIONIS overcame Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO of Ukraine after seven grueling games (9:11 11:7 11:3 8:11 11:7 9:11 11:5). It was his third match of the day having previously defeated Niagol STOYANOV of Italy and Martin ALEGRO of Belgium both in straight games. “It was good that I faced such a hard challenge against ZHMUDENKO because so far I won the matches too easily. I needed something difficult like this because tomorrow against WANG it will be very hard. This was good preparation for what’s to come next. When you win easy matches you can stumble at the first hurdle. However we both played the third match today and we were tired which also affected the game. He exceeded my expectations; we’ve played against each other so many times but he’s never been this good ” said GIONIS. We will see tomorrow’s clash of two players with a defensive style of play. “We’ve played many times before and we are very close. However he beat me in the qualifications in Qatar three years ago…but no one can predict how the match will go tomorrow. Two defenders it is going to be a long game we will be tired and all the cards are on the deck.”

In a upset at the 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification in Sarajevo Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia defeated the top-seeded player Giorgia PICCOLIN of Italy securing the top position in Group A and advancing to the second stage. Like other group winners in the top 8 groups she will receive a bye in the opening round of the knockout stage tomorrow. PICCOLIN managed to advance to the second stage from the second position in the group. Jieni SHAO of Portugal secured two wins to progress as the leader in Group 2 with Ozge YILMAZ of Türkiye joining her from second place. Tin Tin HO of England also secured the top spot with two wins over the no. 3 seed Maria XIAO of Spain who failed to qualify for the next stage. Karoline MISCHEK of Austria also advanced accounting for XIAO and booking her place in stage 2. Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia and Sabina Surjan of Serbia justified their rankings and will compete tomorrow. Rachel MORET of Switzerland had a better ratio compared to Georgina POTA of Hungary emerging as the top player in Group E. Fu YU of Portugal showed no mercy with two straight game wins. Sarah De NUTTE of Luxembourg joined her in the next stage from the second position. Britt EERLAND of the Netherlands went the full distance twice against Sofia Xuan ZHANG of Spain and Elisavet TERPOU of Greece but maintained her top place in the group with ZHANG in second. Sara TOKIC of Slovenia defied the odds earning a bye tomorrow from the third position in the group with three wins over top-seeded Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine Sibel ALTINKAYA of Turkey and Sabina MUSAJEVA of Latvia. PESOTSKA finished second. Anna HURSEY of Great Britain emerged successfully at the top of Group I by defeating all her adversaries. Croatia’s Ivana MALOBABIC finished second. The winner of Group J is Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia with Slomiya BRATEYKO of Ukraine in second place. In Group H Debora VIVARELLI of Italy claimed the leading position over Hana MATELOVA of Czechia but both moved forward. Izabela LUPULESKU of Serbia topped Group L ahead of Dora MADARASZ of Hungary. You can watch all the matches live on ettu.org and follow the results live here. Pictures you can see here

On the second day of play as the Group stage of the 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification drew to a close there was a remarkable feat in the Men’s singles. Only one player seeded at the bottom of his group at position no. 4 not only secured his spot in the main draw but also emerged as the group winner. Kas VAN OOST from the Netherlands seeded 28th in Sarajevo achieved this by recording two wins and suffering a narrow 3-4 defeat ultimately earning his place in the knockout stage. VAN OOST started his campaign strongly defeating Luka Mladenovic of Luxembourg 4-2 in the opening match and following it up with another 4-2 victory over Marios YIANGU of Cyprus. Despite a loss to the top seed in Group 11 Andreas LEVENKO VAN OOST pushed the Austrian player to a full seven-game match. Levenko also advanced to the second stage. Among the tournament favorites Alvaro ROBLES of Spain progressed to the knockout stage without encountering much trouble and will enjoy a bye in the opening round tomorrow. From the same group Vladislav URSU of Moldova upset the rankings to move forward while Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece failed to secure a victory. The no. 2 seed Ovidiu IONESCU secured his place in the next stage with two wins while Ibrahim GUNDUZ of Türkiye eliminated the favorite Borgar HAUG of Norway from further contention. Daniel HABESOHN of Austria notched three wins to secure his ticket to the next stage and Juan PEREZ of Spain also progressed with one win less. In Group D WANG Yang of Slovakia and Adam SZUDI from Hungary progressed to the knockout stage as expected by the rankings. In Group E Samuel KULCZYCKI of Poland advanced as the first from the group thanks to a better game ratio while the no. 5 seed Eduard IONESCU of Romania progressed as the second. Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland dominated his group with three 4-0 wins to secure his place in the knockout stage while Lubomir JANCARIK of Czechia followed suit as predicted by the rankings. From the lower-ranked groups Martin ALLEGRO of Belgium Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia in Group G Mihai BOBOCICA of Italy and Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO of Ukraine in Group H Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece and Cedric NUYTINICK of Belgium in Group I Paul DRINKHALL of England and Niagol STOYANOV of Italy in Group J and Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia and Benedek OLAH of Finland in Group L all advanced to the next stage. The 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification is currently playing in Sarajevo. You can watch all the matches live on ettu.org and follow the results live here. Pictures you can see here

During the 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification the ETTU delegation represented by ETTU Vice President Miguel VICENS and Secretary General Pierre KASS received an invitation to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Olympic Committee where they engaged in a productive morning of work. Dr. Sci. Said FAZLAGIC the Secretary General of the BiH Olympic Committee along with Senior Expert Associate for Sport International Relations and Projects Dejana PLANINCIC warmly welcomed the guests who were accompanied by Mirsad PAJEVIC President of the BiH Table Tennis Association. “We are immensely grateful that Sarajevo was able to organize this tournament at such short notice. On behalf of ETTU we express our sincere appreciation to the Association ” stated Vice President Miguel VICENS. ETTU Secretary General Pierre KASS emphasized the excellent collaboration between ETTU and BiHTTA. “We were here last year for the Under 21 European Championships we are now here for the European Olympic Singles Qualification and next year we will come back for the European Teams Championships Stage one. We already feel at home here.” Dr. Sci. Said FAZLAGIC Secretary General of the BiH Olympic Committee commended the outstanding work of Mirsad PAJEVIC President of the BiH TTA. “We fully support the Federation and we have witnessed progress and development in recent years under PAJEVIC’s leadership. Table tennis is improving steadily both in terms of sportsmanship and organization.” PAJEVIC emphasized that hosting such events enables the nation’s players to participate in larger numbers and compete against the best. “We receive support from the Olympic Committee and we are delighted that ETTU has entrusted us with three significant events within a span of 20 months. It is a great recognition of our efforts and evidence that we are moving in the right direction.” The 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification is currently playing in Sarajevo. You can watch all the matches live on ettu.org and follow the results live here. Pictures you can see here  

The opening stage of the Women’s event at the 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification in Sarajevo provided some gripping moments for the favorites. Giorgia PICCOLIN the top seed upheld her status by defeating Slovenia’s Ana TOFANT 4-1. However just one Group below the no. 2 seed Jieni SHAO of Portugal faced intense pressure. Zdena BLASKOVA of Czechia took a 2-1 lead before SHAO staged a comeback to secure the victory. Maria XIAO of Spain experienced a reversal of fortunes at the outset of her match against Karoline MISCHEK of Austria. She initially led 2-1 before MISCHEK rallied to level the score and seize the lead. Despite XIAO’S efforts to even the playing field MISCHEK claimed the decisive seventh game with a score of 11-8. Tatiana KUKULKOVA of Slovakia emerged victorious against Margo DEGRAEF of Belgium while Georgina POTA of Hungary triumphed over Aikaterini TOLIOU of Greece. Fu YU of Portugal also secured a win against Martine TOFTAKER of Norway. Britt EERLAND of the Netherlands faced a tough challenge in her match against Elisavet TERPOU of Greece. The contest went the distance culminating in EERLAND’S triumph. EERLAND’S return to the top circuit in Portugal in November marked her comeback after a two-year hiatus due to maternity leave. In a surprising turn of events 17-year-old Sara TOKIC of Slovenia dealt a blow to Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine a two-time silver medalist at the European Championships and the no. 8 seed. TOKIC required six games to secure victory following in the footsteps of her uncle Bojan TOKIC who enjoyed success as a member of the Slovenian Olympic team on four occasions. Ivana MALOBABIC of Croatia displayed no mercy against Finland’s Marina DONNER clinching a 4-0 victory. Hana MATELOVA of Czechia also notched a straight games win against Tanja HELLE of the Netherlands while Izabela LUPULESKU of Serbia overcame Emina CERIC of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Meanwhile Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia required two additional games to defeat Maria YOVKOVA of Bulgaria. You can watch all the matches live on ettu.org and follow the results live here. Pictures you can see here  

The 2024 European Olympic Singles Qualification kicked off today amidst fervent anticipation in Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina. The opening day saw action-packed matches in both the Men’s and Women’s events as players vied for a coveted spot in the upcoming Olympic Games. In the men’s event Czechia’s Pavel SIRUCEK emerged as an early standout defying the odds by clinching a remarkable victory over the leading contender of Group E. SIRUCEK’S performance set the stage for an enthralling competition ahead. Eduard IONESCU of Romania the No. 5 seed faced an unexpected defeat at the hands of SIRUCEK. Despite a valiant effort IONESCU fell short losing the last two games 11-9 after a tense 3-2 battle. While SIRUCEK’S triumph marked the morning’s biggest upset most of the other favorites in the Men’s Event enjoyed a smooth start to their campaign. Alvaro ROBLES of Spain who topped Group 1 showed his prowess by overcoming Vladislav URSU of Moldova in a hard-fought encounter securing a 4-2 victory. Similarly Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania displayed his skill and determination by outplaying Ibrahim GÜNDÜZ of Türkiye also claiming a 4-2 win. Austria’s Daniel HABESOHN and Slovakia’s WANG Yang demonstrated dominance in their respective matches securing straight games victories against Tamas LAKATOS of Hungary and Anton LIMONOV of Ukraine. In other matches Milosz REDZIMSKI of Poland delivered a commanding performance dispatching Loic STOLL of Switzerland in straight games. Meanwhile Martin ALLEGRO the No. 7 seed was pushed to the limit by Alex NAUMI of Finland but ultimately emerged victorious after a grueling contest. Among the favorites who secured wins in the opening round were Mihai BOBOCICA of Italy Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece Paul DRINKHALL of England Andreas LEVENKO of Austria and Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia. You can watch all the matches live on ettu.org and follow the results live here.