The draw for the 2019/20 Europe Cup quarter-finals Men and Women  The draw for the 2019/20 Europe Cup has delivered two all-Austrian clashes one in each of two competitions. Solex-Consult Wiener Neustadt will play against TTCLM participant SPG Walter Wels in the Europe Cup Men while ASKÖ LZ Linz Froschberg faces third placed team from the ECLW group stage TTC CarinthiaWinds Villach in the Europe Cup Women.  2019/20 Europe Cup Men quarter final will see three more matchups: El Nino Praha (CZE) / Sokah Hoboken (BEL) – VS Angers TT (FRA) CSS-SZAK Odorheiu Secuiesc (ROU) – Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) and BeneluxGroup Taverzo (NED) – Ping Pong Club Villeneuvois (FRA).  Beside ASKÖ LZ Linz and TTC CarinthiaWinds Villach duel Women’s cup draw set up following three matchups: G.D. do Centro Social do Juncal (POR) – Leka Enea Tenis de Mesa (ESP) ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly (FRA) – CP Lyssois Lille Métropole (FRA) TMK-TAGMET Taganrog (RUS) – SH-ITB Budaörsi 2i SC (HUN).  2019/20 Europe Cup Men quarter final  Solex-Consult Wiener Neustadt (AUT) – SPG Walter Wels (AUT) El Nino Praha (CZE) / Sokah Hoboken (BEL) – VS Angers TT (FRA) CSS-SZAK Odorheiu Secuiesc (ROU) – Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) BeneluxGroup Taverzo (NED) – Ping Pong Club Villeneuvois (FRA)  2019/20 Europe Cup Women quarter final  ASKÖ LZ Linz Froschberg (AUT) – TTC CarinthiaWinds Villach (AUT) G.D. do Centro Social do Juncal (POR) – Leka Enea Tenis de Mesa (ESP) ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly (FRA) – CP Lyssois Lille Métropole (FRA) TMK-TAGMET Taganrog (RUS) – SH-ITB Budaörsi 2i SC (HUN)
The draw for both TTCLM and ECLW quarter-finals held today December 16th
The draw for both TTCLM and ECLW quarter-finals held today December 16th  The draw for the both 2019/20 TTCLM and ECLW quarter-finals held today in Luxembourg set up several clashes without secrets. Linz AG Froschberg and Metz TT will create unique record as they meet fourth time in last five knockout stages of European Champions League Women.  Regarding Table Tennis Champions League Men Group A winner and reigning champion Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg (Russia no. 1 seed) is going to play against former quarter-finalist GV Hennebont TT (France no. 8). These two teams played in same group last year and five-times TTCLM champion was better in both games.  Two German clubs will decide one semi-finalist as 2019 quarter-finalist Post SV Muhlhausen (no. 5 seed) faces 2011/12 TTCLM semi-finalist FC Saarbrucken TT (no. 3). Saarbrucken won all six group stage matches.  Former quarter-finalist Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Poland no. 7) will play against actual TTCLM runner-up UMMC (Russia no. 6). Russian side enters knockout phase as one of four unbeaten teams.  The 2017/18 TTCLM quarter-finalist Roskilde Bordtennis BTK 61 (Denmark no. 4) challenges TTCLM record holder 11-times winner Borussia Dusseldorf (Germany no. 2 seed). These two clubs shared group in the 2017/18 edition when German team won both encounters.  The 2019/20 ECLW quarter-finals will see another chapter in a rivalry between former two-time ECLW champion Linz AG Froschberg (no. 2 seed) and 2017/18 Europe Cup winner Metz TT (France no. 10). It will be a fourth knockout clash between these two teams in last five seasons. Austrian team won previous three meetings each time in the quarter-final stage. First one 2015/16 has been decided by just one-point difference – 5:5 in matches (19:19 sets 347:346 points) while the second one in 2016/17 Linz won 6-2 on aggregate. Austrian team eliminated Metz in 2018/19 quarter-finals after two 3:2 wins.  Reigning ECLW champion KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg (Poland no. 3 seed) faces last year’s ECLW quarter-finalist SKST Stavoimpex Hodonin (Czech Republic no. 5).  Four-times ECLW champion TTC Berlin Eastside (Germany no. 1 seed) is going to play against 2015/16 ECLW semi-finalist and 2018/19 Europe Cup winner UCAM Cartagena TM (Spain no. 7). Berlin beat twice Spanish side last year in a group stage.  Three-times in a row ECLW quarter-finalist in the last four seasons TT Saint-Quentinois (France no. 4) will meet ECLW newcomer GIRBAU VIC TT (Spain no. 11).  Second placed clubs in group stage will play first leg (10-12. Jan) as host sides. Second games are schedulled for February 14-16th.  2019/20 TTCLM quarter final  GV Hennebont TT (FRA) – Fakel Gazprom Orenburg (RUS) Post SV Muhlhausen 1951 e.V. (GER) – FC Saarbrucken TT (GER) K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (POL) – TTSC UMMC (RUS) Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 (DEN) – Borussia Dusseldorf (GER)  2019/20 ECLW quarter final  UCAM Cartagena TM (ESP) – TTC Berlin Eastside (GER) SKST Stavoimpex Hodonin (CZE) – KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg (POL) Girbau-Vic TT (ESP) – TT Saint Quentinois (FRA) Metz TT (FRA) – Linz AG Froschberg (AUT)
ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly safely through to quarters
Europe Cup  After straight matches win in the opening leg of the 4th Stage in the Women’s Europe Cup ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly safely sealed their place in the quarterfinal. French side beat Tecnigen Linares on home soil.  Thanks to 3:0 victory in opening leg French club finished the job already in the first match today. With 1:0 in their pocket after Galia DVORAK beat Klaudia KUSINSKA they still kept on fighting. Roza Soposki lost to Roxana Ana Maria but TIAN Yuan and DVORAK won their matches.  ALCL TT Grand Quevilly – Tecnigen LINARES 3:1 Galia DVORAK – Klaudia KUSINSKA 3:1 (11:7 11:6 11:13 12:10) Roza SOPOSKI – Roxana Ana Maria ISTRATE 0:3 (7:11 9:11 5:11) Tian Yuan– Judith COBAS 3: 0 (11:5 11:7 11:5) Galia DVORAK – Roxana Ana Maria ISTRATE 3:0 (11:7 13:11 11:9)  Â
Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng crowned champions at Agricultural Bank of China 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals
 China’s Fan Zhendong and Chen Meng ended the year in style winning the men’s singles and women’s singles titles respectively on Sunday 15th December at the Agricultural Bank of China 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.  Fan defeated Ma Long (11-6 12-10 11-6 6-11  11-8) to reclaim the crown he first won in 2017 after Chen Meng overcame Wang Manyu (11-9 11-6 11-6 9-11 11-6) to seal a record-equalling third straight women’s singles title at a Grand Finals. Both Fan and Chen have made sure that they will end 2019 on top of the world rankings.  Japanese teenagers Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki scooped women’s doubles gold medals as Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin claimed the men’s doubles crown. World Champions Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen reigned supreme in the mixed doubles.  The four-day event held in Zhengzhou China brings the curtain down on the 2019 international table tennis calendar. The annual showpiece marks one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments offering prize money of up to $1 001 000.
Benelux Group Taverzo and GDCS Juncal into quarter-finals
Europe Cup – Round 4 second leg  Benelux Group Taverzo and GDCS Juncal booked their places for the 2019/20 Europe Cup quarter-finals as they won second Round 4 matches in their respective men’s and women’s competitions.  Benelux Group Taverzo of Netherlands beat Borges Grup Vall 3:1 like it was in the first leg held in Spain. Yannik VOSTES was man of the match as he won two points overcoming Joan MASSIP and Marc DURAN.  Portugal’s team GDCS Juncal won first away leg against Czech Reoublic’s TT Moravsky Krumlov 3:1 but faced huge challenge in the first two encounters on home soil. Tatiana SANTOS was two games down in the opener but managed to defeat Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA. Renata STRBIKOVA tied up the score twice at 1:1 and 2:2 by beating Leila OLIVEIRA and Tatiana SANTOS. Leila OLIVEIRA concluded the match by her win over Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA.  Europe Cup Men – Round 4 second leg  Benelux Group Taverzo – Borges Grup Vall 3:1 (1st leg 3:1) Yannik VOSTES – Joan MASSIP 3:1 (11:9 3:11 11:2 11:2) Xijun ZHOU – Marc DURAN 2:3 (14:12 7:11 4:11 11:8 8:11) Laurens TROMER – Albert VILARDELL 3:0 (12:10 11:7 12:10) Yannik VOSTES – Marc DURAN 3:1 (11:6 11:8 12:14 11:9)  Europe Cup Women – Round 4 second leg  G.D. do Centro Social do Juncal – TT Moravsky Krumlov 3:2 (1st leg 3:1) Tatiana SANTOS – Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA 3:2 (7:11 6:11 11:6 11:4 11:7) Leila OLIVEIRA – Renata STRIBIKOVA 0:3 (5:11 3:11 8:11) Gulchekhra KHUSSEINOVA – Olga KIM 3:1 (11:8 6:11 11:9 12:10) Tatiana SANTOS – Renata STRBIKOVA 2:3 (11:9 7:11 5:11 13:11 7:11) Leila OLIVEIRA – Ekaterina CHERNYAVSKAYA 3:0 (11:8 11:8 11:6)
Lists of inviting players for Varazdin announced: Adina DIACONU and Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS in new quest for gold
2020 European Under 21 Championships Varazdin Croatia (March 4-8)  Lists of the inviting players for the 2020 European Under 21 Championships Varazdin Croatia (March 4-8) has been announced based on the current U21 European ranking. Defending champion from 2019 BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships Romania’s Adina DIACONU tops women’s list while men’s reigning champion Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece are actual no.12.  Adina DIACONU beat Maria MALANINA of Russia in the 2019 women’s gold medal contest while bronze medalists were Tania PLAIAN of Romania and Nadezhda BOGDANOVA Belarus.  Two times European junior champion Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece won the title in Gondomar as he overcame Gerrit ENGEMANN of Germany. Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia and Rares SIPOS of Romania shared third step at the medal rostrum.  A 56 players in each men’s and women’s singles events have been invited: 48 according U21 European ranking and eight by wildcard. Croatian city of Varazdin will host fourth edition of the European Under 21 Championships after 2017 Sochi (Russia) 2018 Minsk (Belarus) and 2019 Gondomar (Portugal). The Draw for singles and doubles events will take place on Tuesday 3rd March 2020 at 18:00 at the venue.  Top 10 ranked men’s names include 2018 runner-up Cristian PLETEA (actual no.2 Romania) and 2019 bronze medalists Vladimir SIDORENKO (no.4 Russia) and Rares SIPOS (no.3 Romania).  Regarding Top 10 women’s names Varazdin will see among others 2018 champion Mariia TAILAKOVA (current no.8 Russia) 2019 bronze medalist Nadezhda BOGDANOVA (no.6 Belarus) and multiple medalist from European Youth Championships Andreea DRAGOMAN (no.4 Romania).  Top 10 at the current men’s U21 European ranking (December 2019): Bastien REMBERT (no.1 France) Cristian PLETEA (2 Romania) Rares SIPOS (3 Romania) Vladimir SIDORENKO (4 Romania) Florian CNUDDE (5 Belgium) Jules ROLLAND (6 France) Laurens DEVOS (7 Belgium) Tobias HIPPLER (8 Germany) Gerrit ENGEMANN (9 Germany) Denis IVONIN (10 Russia).  Top 10 at the current women’s U21 European ranking (December 2019): Adina DIACONU (no.1 Romania) Lisa LUNG (2 Belgium) Daria TRIGOLOS (3 Belarus) Andreea DRAGOMAN (4 Romania) Leonie HARTBRICH (5 Hungary) Nadezhda BOGDANOVA (6 Belarus) Tatiana KUKULKOVA (7 Slovakia) Mariia TAILAKOVA (8 Russia) Sofia-Xuan ZHANG (9 Spain) Ana GARCIA (10 Spain).
Peter SEREDA leads Vydrany into quarter-finals
Table Tennis Champions League Men Round 5  Saarbrucken will enter TTCLM knockout stage unbeaten as they won postponed Round 5 match against Ping Pong Club Villeneuvois 3:0. German club joined reigning champion Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg actual runner-up UMMC and TTCLM record holder Borussia Dusseldorf with a perfect 6-0 group stage win-loss record.  German side went to France without its three top ranked players Patrick FRANZISKA SHANG Kun and Darko JORGIC but easily justified its status. Kakeru SONE beat Yevhen PRYSHCHEPA in the opener Vassily LAKEEV extended Cristian PLETEA to full distance in the second encounter while Tomas POLANSKY concluded Round 5 clash by his win over Cedric LEPAGE.  Draw for the European club competition to be held this Monday December 16th 14:00.  TTCLM Round 6 Group C  Ping Pong Club Villeneuvois – FC Saarbrücken TT 0:3 Yevhen PRYSHCHEPA – Kakeru SONE 0:3 (8:11 7:11 7:11) Vassily LAKEEV – Cristian PLETEA 2:3 (11:8 11:5 8:11 5:11 5:11) Cedric LEPAGE – Tomas POLANSKY 1:3 (6:11 11:6 5:11 7:11) Â
Asian stars prevail against Europeans in Zhengzhou
Agricultural Bank of China 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals  Quarter-final stage at the Agricultural Bank of China 2019 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Zhengzhou China (Dec 12-15) will pass without any representative of Europe as they have beaten by strong Asian players.  Germany’s Patrick FRANZISKA lost to Japan’s Tomokazu HARIMOTO in straight games. China’s LIN Gaoyuan beat Dimitrij OVTCHAROV in six games. German managed to recover from 0:3 to 2:3 but his opponent easily won next game to book his place among the best eight players.  No.2 seed FAN Zhendong defeated Germany’s Timo BOLL in straight games but it wasn’t so easy as result speaks. Second game had 34 points in total and the next one was decided by a narrow margin too. Chinese Taipei’s LIN Yun-Ju overcame Sweden’s Mattias FALCK in straight games.  Brazil’ Hugo CALDERANO became the sole non-Asian player in the second round as he overcame Japan’s Jun MIZUTANI.  Quarter-final stage saw LIN Gaoyuan’s win over LIN Yun-Ju in straight games. No. 1 seed XU Xin prevailed against HARIMOTO in a super thrilling seven-game clash concluded by two games of 13:11 won by Chinese.  Regarding women’s event three out of four semi-finalists came from China and the fourth one is Japan’s Mima ITO. Semi-final matchups are fallowing: WANG Yidi vs. WANG Manyu CHEN Meng vs. Mima ITO  Germany’s Timo BOLL / Patrick FRANZISKA had advantage after third game of their semi-final clash of the Men’s Doubles event but lost to Chinese Taipei’s LIAO Cheng-Ting / LIN Yun-Ju.  Live scoring Daily Schedule Knock-outs Reports Flash Quotes Media Kit
SKK El Nino Praha won in Belgium
Men’s Europe Cup  The opening leg of the 4th round of the Men’s Europe Cup concluded. In the last match Czech Republic’s SF SKK El Nino Praha overcame TTC Sokah Hoboken in Belgium.  At the begining Jakub KLEPRLIK and Dmitrij PROKOPCOV showed no mercy against Jeremy PETIOT and Olav KOSOLOSKY but Rajko GOMMERS beat Stanislav KUCERA to extend the match. It did not last for long. Jeremy PETIOT suffered by the hands of Dmitrij PROKOPCOV in the fourth match.  The return leg commences on Friday with matches Solex-Consult Wiener Neustadt vs. PTE PEAC Kalo-Meh and SK Vydrany vs. CSS-SZAK Odorheiu Secuiesc. Previously both hosts clubs recorded away wins: TE PEAC Kalo-Meh – Solex-Consult Wiener Neustadt 1:3 and CSS-SZAK Odorheiu Secuiesc – SK Vydrany 3:2.   TC Sokah Hoboken – SF SKK El Nino Praha Jeremy PETIOT – Jakub KLEPRLIK 0:3 (13:15 5:11 9:11) Olav KOSOLOSKY – Dmitrij PROKOPCOV 0:3 (7:11 8:11 9:11) Rajko GOMMERS – Stanislav KUCERA 3:1 (11:7 13:11 10:12 11:5) Jeremy PETIOT – Dmitrij PROKOPCOV 1:3 (8:11 11:3 7:11 5:11)
Ma Long and Liu Shiwen lead prestigious line of winners at Agricultural Bank of China 2019 ITTF Star Awards
Ma Long and Liu Shiwen – this year’s World Champions in the men’s and women’s singles – were crowned Male and Female Table Tennis Stars at the Agricultural Bank of China 2019 ITTF Star Awards held on Wednesday 11th December in Zhengzhou China. The annual celebration brought together players coaches special guests and ITTF staff and officials from all over the world to acknowledge the greatest achievements in international table tennis over the past year and nobody could deny that the seven category winners listed below have been simply outstanding:    Ma Long – Male Table Tennis Star presented by DHS   Liu Shiwen – Female Table Tennis Star presented by Nittaku   Lily Zhang – Breakthrough Star   Thomas Schmidberger – Male Para Table Tennis Star presented by Tinsue   Giada Rossi – Female Para Table Tennis Star presented by Stag   Bladimir Diaz – Star Coach presented by Butterfly   Xu Xin & Fan Zhendong – Star Point presented by Stiga Widely considered the greatest men’s player of all time China’s Ma Long clinched his third consecutive men’s singles crown at a World Championships – as well as the men’s doubles title – in Budapest in April just one month after coming back from a seven-month layoff through injury. In March he returned to the ITTF World Tour to win the men’s singles title in Qatar a stunning achievement after such an absence from international play. Later in May he succeeded in China winning on home soil for the eighth time; moreover this was his 28th men’s singles title on the ITTF World Tour to set a new all-time record surpassing Belarusian legend Vladimir Samsonov. This has resulted in a well-deserved third Male Table Tennis Star award for Ma Long 31 who admitted that he never thought he would be celebrating the title again since achieving the feat in 2015 and 2016. In a wonderfully delivered speech in English ‘The Dragon’ had the following to say:  “First I want to thank the ITTF for giving me this honour. I’m really happy. I never thought I could win this title again. For the last year I know what I have been through and what I have done. I have fought against my injuries for so long but I’m feeling much better now. So here I want to show my appreciation to my team my family and my fans who have supported and helped me a lot. Although I face many challenges right now I will always have a golden heart. Table tennis means everything to me so I will keep fighting and I will pull out all the stops ” said Ma Long  Liu Shiwen was crowned Female Table Tennis Star for the second time in her stellar career after winning it in 2015 in Lisbon following an exceptional 2019 for the Chinese 28-year-old. After 10 years of trying and at her sixth attempt in April she won the won women’s singles gold at the Liebherr 2019 World Championships in Budapest where she also added the mixed doubles title alongside Xu Xin. In October in Chengdu she emerged successful at the Uncle Pop 2019 Women’s World Cup winning the event for an unprecedented fifth time; her first success being a decade earlier in 2009 in Guangzhou. Then in November it was also success in Tokyo where she was a member of the Chinese outfit that won the women’s title at the ZEN-NOH 2019 Team World Cup. “I am so happy to win the Female Table Tennis Star award again. It is a big recognition of my whole year’s efforts. I experienced a lot in 2017 and 2018. It is really hard to imagine that I could make the breakthrough to win the World Championships and Women’s World Cup this year. I want to thank my team for helping a lot in my training and competition. Our ultimate goal is for Tokyo 2020 so let me leave further thanks until then ” stated Liu Shiwen  23-year-old American Lily Zhang was rewarded for an exceptional 2019 with the Breakthrough Star Award. It was her display at the 2019 ITTF-Pan American Championships that ignited her incredible campaign capturing four gold medals in Asuncion. Thus she became the first player to achieve the feat in the tournament’s three-year history. However it was the outing at the Uncle Pop 2019 ITTF Women’s World Cup that really caught the eye as she guided the United States to its first ever semi-final appearance at the prestigious event. Zhang’s fantastic year on the world stage is further endorsed by her progress in the women’s world rankings. She has risen 69 positions to a personal best of no.26 in December. “Wow this is very unexpected. I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting me. Thank you so much to my sponsors Joola especially for taking a huge chance on me this year. Thank you to my friends and my fans who have really been there for me and lifted me out of some dark times this year and most of all thank you to my family who have been there since day one and sacrificed almost everything to give me even this opportunity to pursue my passion. I just feel super grateful and super humbled to even be nominated amongst this incredible group of athletes; it has been just such a rollercoaster of a year. Thank you so much to ITTF and to everyone out there ” added Lily Zhang Zhang becomes the first American to receive an ITTF Star Award and is only the second player based outside of Japan to collect the Breakthrough Star award. She follows India’s Manika Batra who succeeded last year.  Germany’s Thomas Schmidberger and Italy’s Giada Rossi were unveiled as the respective Male Para Star and Female Para Star for 2019. A class 3 athlete Schmidberger received his award following a truly exceptional year at continental and global level. In action at Para Open events in Italy Poland and Egypt the German not only emerged as the
