K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo – SPG Walter Wels 3:0 Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki 0:3 First day of the 2018/19 Table Tennis Champions League Men has belonged to the Polish sides as K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo and K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki beat their opponents in straight games SPG Walter Wels and Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 respectively. K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo was in full swing playing in front of its fans against Austria`s SPG Walter Wels. Hong Kong`s WONG Chung Ting showed no mercy against 22-year-old Adam SZUDI (World no. 157). Actual World no. 9 beat Hungarian player in straight games. WANG Yang (no. 69) overcame Korea`s PARK Ganghyeon (no. 231) in four games while Jiri VRABLIK has been extended to full distance by talented Slovenian Deni KOZUL current no. 112. Bogoria Grodzisk did a great job in Denmark by beating last season`s quarter-finalist Roskilde. Actual World no. 76 Pavel SIRUCEK paved the way to guest`s victory as he prevailed against ZHAI Yujia (no. 124) after full five games. Ultimate game was decided by a narrow margin. Former individual European champion Michael MAZE wasn’t in his best shape being beaten in straight games by Masaki YOSHIDA 0:3 (8:11 4:11 4:11). Greece`s Panagiotis GIONIS confirmed Bogoria`s win against Tamas LAKATOS. 2018/19 TTCLM Round 1 Group B K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo – SPG Walter Wels 3:0 WONG Chun Ting – Adam SZUDI 3:0 (11:8 11:8 11:2) WANG Yang – PARK Ganghyeon 3:1 (11:9 9:11 11:7 11:4) Jiri VRABLIK – Deni KOZUL 3:2 (12:10 2:11 11:7 9:11 11:4) Group C Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki 0:3 ZHAI Yujia – Pavel SIRUCEK 2:3 (7:11 15:13 11:8 3:11 9:11) Michael MAZE – Masaki YOSHIDA 0:3 (8:11 4:11 4:11) Tamas LAKATOS – Panagiotis GIONIS 1:3 (11:8 5:11 8:11 11:13) More information: here ETTU Facebook ETTU Twitter ETTU Instagram
2018/19 TTCLM Round 1: Newcomer from Germany Post SV Mühlhausen starts in Orenburg
Round 1 to be held from today September 26th to Friday. MAZE (Roskilde): “I’m ready and look forward for the Champions League season”. KUTERGINA (UMMC): “Each season our aims and goals are the same – to win”. ENDOLOV (Orenburg): “There have been significant changes in our team”. LUNDQUIST: “We are looking forward to be back in TTCLM” New edition of the Table Tennis Champions League Men TTCLM will be held from today to Friday September 26-28th with two games in the opening day: K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo – SPG Walter Wels (Sep 26 18:00 CET) Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Sep 26 19:00 CET). Borussia Dusseldorf No. 1 seed defends the title after its win against Fakel Gazprom Orenburg last spring after 6-3 aggregate score. These two sides are considered as in few previous seasons as top two favourites for the crown. Timo BOLL & Co. opens new season this Thursday at home against 2017/18 semi-finalist Sporting Clube De Portugal as Coach Danny HEISTER stated: “We are in pleasant anticipation to the start of new TTCLM season. We will start with a very interesting match against Sporting. It´s the first time that we play against the Portuguese team. They reached the semis last season and the will still have a strong team with ARUNA MONTEIRO and CARVALHO.” Two-time TTCLM winner AS Pontoise Cergy travels to Czech Republic to meet TTC Ostrava 2016 – AS Pontoise Cergy in other Group A clash. Actual ETTU Cup champion K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo from Poland hosts SPG Walter Wels in Group B while 2012 runner-up TTSC UMMC faces 2016/17 ETTU Cup winner and last season`s TTCLM newcomer Stella Sport La Romagne. Coach of Russian side Tatiana KUTERGINA explains: “Each season our aims and goals are the same – to win! The roster of the team gives us a hope that our goals may come true. FANG Bo came back! If he is in the same physical shape as one and a half years ago we have a right to expect for much more. If he will be successful in matches others will follow him. I am very happy that Jonathan GROTH plays for UMMC I am sure he will do his best to help the team. As for our rivals last season we lost out to German team Saarbrucken 1:3 and went down. Broadly speaking European Champions League does not forgive mistakes. We have a lot of respect to every rival team. On 28 of September we have a match with French team Stella Sport La Romagne. Once we played with them but did not have a success. This match will be a challenge for us. It’s a very professional strong team. Such a great players as Adrian CRISAN and CHEN Tianyuan is going to come.” Group C will see today`s clash between Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 and K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki. Roskilde`s team manager Allan BENTSEN has stressed: “We look forward to start Champions League again after last year`s good results a quarter-final we hope that this season will at least as good. We are again in last seeding but hope to play some good matches and I know if my players are good then we can beat many teams. Great Michael MAZE will do his best to help Roskilde to repeat its best result: “Not the result I’d hoped for at the ITTFEuros2018… I had fun though and it really felt great to be back at the table – though struggled a bit with the body in the last match… Still progressing overall and I’ll now take a few days off to rest and then I’m ready and look forward for the Champions League season starts with Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 The 2012 semi-finalist FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis faces former quarter-finalist Vaillante Sports Angers. Coach of host side Slobodan GRUJIC said: “We enter new season with much younger team and our aim is second or third place in the group stage. We look forward to the opener against Angers and of course we are keen to show good play and win”. Angers` Jens LUNDQUIST hopes that his side is able to secure its place among the best eight clubs: “We are looking forward to be back in CL! Even if the group is strong I think we have a good chance to reach quarterfinal. The first match in Saarbrücken will be difficult especially with Patrick FRANZISKA in a great form. But we come from a good start in Pro A (3-0 against St Denis) and if we can keep that level it’s not easy to defeat us.” Four-time TTCLM winner Orenburg hosts newcomer from Germany Post SV Mühlhausen as Coach Vladimir ENDOLOV states: “We congratulate everyone on the start of the new season in the European Champions League! All TTCLM teams have high-class players. This means that we will face a hard and intense struggle in this season. There have been significant changes in our team: instead of JUN Mizutani we invited two new high-class players: Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) and YAN An (China). We hope that with such players and our leaders: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Vladimir SAMSONOV our team will be the winner in the TTCLM season 2018-2019. We are quite sure that the upcoming match with the German club Post SV Mühlhausen will be interesting for the audience and tense for both teams.” Post SV Mühlhausen`s manager Thomas STECHER explains: “The match against Fakel Gazprom Orenburg will be the first match ever in the TTCLM in the history of Post Mühlhausen. For us it is a great pleasure to play against the best clubs in Europe and especially against Orenburg one of the best table-tennis teams in the world. We are curious about the Russian Federation and we will enjoy the journey very much.” Mühlhausen hopes that his players will continue good shape from the recent 2018 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Alicante where Ovidiu IONESCU won
Ostrava will host European Youth Championships in 2019
Once again after 6 years Ostrava will host European Youth Championships. The city that successfully welcomed seniors in 2010. will open its doors for another big European event. The ETTU Executive Board has agreed to change the date of the 2019 European Youth Championships from Sunday 7th to Tuesday 16th July next year. “I am delighted to see that our Youth Championships in 2019 will be hosted in Ostrava in the Czech Republic. The proven experience of the Czech table tennis association gives us full confidence that we will have another top event ” said ETTU President Ronald KRAMER Organisers from Czech Republic looking forward European Youth Championships. “We have the experience of organising numerous of events. We saw this as an opportunity to promote our beautiful sport. Ostrava and generally this part of Czech Republic is well known as a region where table tennis is very popular so we hope it will gather a lot of spectators. We also have a great support from the City and Regional Government and I am sure we will be up to the task ” said member of the ETTU Executive Board and Vice President of the Czech TT Association Nikolas ENDAL.
2018/19 TTCLM commences: Reigning champion presents two medalists from Alicante
Borussia Dusseldorf hosts Sporting Clube de Portugal this Thursday while the new season will be opened by two games tomorrow September 26th. BOLL: “The matches in Alicante will help me to come closer to 100 percent and to be in a good shape against Sporting” The 2018/19 Table Tennis Champions League Men will be opened this Wednesday (Sept 26) by two games to be held in Poland and Denmark while the reigning TTCLM champion and current No. 1 seed Borussia Dusseldorf commences its Group A contest this Thursday against last year´s semi-finalist Sporting Clube de Portugal. Two Borussia`s players finished on the podium in the Men`s Singles event at the recent 2018 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Alicante: Timo BOLL improved his record to seven titles while Kristian KARLSSON won bronze. It was a huge encouragement for the upcoming TTCLM season for sure. „After a longer period in summer without practicing I only played one Bundesliga game and European Championships. So I am not at me highest level at the moment but I feel better and better every day” stated Timo BOLL seven-time individual European champion and six-time TTCLM winner. “The matches in Alicante will help me to come closer to 100 percent and to be in a good shape against Sporting. I am very happy that I could win the title in Spain one more time but I know that all the other players will be stronger every time. So me and my teammates have to be prepared for hard matches against Sporting.” Coach Danny HEISTER believes that Alicante`s success will bring a lot self-confidence to his side: “We are in pleasant anticipation to the start of new TTCL season. We will start with a very interesting match against Sporting. It´s the first time that we play against the Portuguese team. They reached the semis last season and the will still have a strong team with ARUNA MONTEIRO and CARVALHO. Timo (BOLL) and Kristian (KARLSSON) played European Championships. They have been very successful and I am sure both will play with self-confidence and power on Thursday. We will fight to start with a victory.” German club won all three titles last season TTCLM Bundesliga and German Cup. They beat Fakel Gazprom Orenburg in the 2017/18 TTCLM final on aggregate 6-3 to lift the trophy 11th time in their history more than any other side. Egyptian player Omar ASSAR current world no. 29 is unique real newcomer in Borussia`s squad bearing in mind that Indian Sharath Kamal ACHANTA spent four seasons there (2013-17). Two-times ITTF Africa Championships winner (2015 2016) continues his career in Bundesliga as he was Werder Bremen`s member in the last season. 2018/19 TTCLM Round 1 Group A TTC Ostrava 2016 – AS Pontoise Cergy (Sep 27 18:00 CET) Borussia Düsseldorf – Sporting Clube De Portugal (Sep 27 19:00 CET) Group B K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo – SPG Walter Wels (Sep 26 18:00 CET) TTSC UMMC – Stella Sport La Romagne (Sep 28 16:00 CET) Group C Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Sep 26 19:00 CET) FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis – Vaillante Sports Angers TT (Sep 28 19:30 CET) Group D TTC Fakel Gazprom – Post SV Mühlhausen (Sep 28 14:00 CET) Eslovs Ai Bordtennis – G.V. Hennebont T.T. (Sep 28 18:30 CET) More information: here ETTU Facebook ETTU Twitter ETTU Instagram
Timo BOLL won his seventh title in Singles at LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships
Germany’s Timo BOLL added seventh title to his European Championships record. The winner of six titles at the singles event (Zagreb 2002 Belgrade 2007 Saint-Petersburg 2008 Ostrava 2010 Gdansk-Sopot 2011 and Herning 2012) Timo BOLL clinched gold in Alicante at the LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF European Championships. In the final he overcame Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania (6:11 11:7 11:9 11:6 11:5). Bronze went to Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany and Sweden’s Kristian KARLSSON. Last time Timo was champion in Singles in 2012 but admitted he still feels the fire. “I am still nervous I still have desire to win and to play. That is good thing. I enjoy the game. Success is important but if you do not feel the joy then is time to quit. I think I will stay more for a while. I am feeling good ” said Timo. BOLL recovered from the injury and came back after the break. “I am surprised that I win this Championships ” said BOLL.” I was also shocked in the final. IONESCU is very clever player. He came well prepared he is fast and he hits hard the ball. Also the level of his self-confidence was fantastic.” In the semi final Timo made a remarkable recovery against his teammate Patrick FRANZISKA (8:11 14:12 9:11 8:11 11:9 11:5 11:7). He was three games to one in reverse before he recovered to win the match. At the Championships where he faced pressure so many times in the semis he was in the most difficult position but again he found his way to the victory. “I gave too many easy balls by being passive. At the beginning I let Patrick be more aggressive and he took over the control. With his strong service and first ball it was very dangerous position. I was not enough self-confident just to wait for his mistakes. That is why I had to change the tactics and to attack more ” said BOLL. Seeded only at the position no. 26 in Alicante Ovidiu IONESCU beat Sweden’s Kristian KARLSSON no. 9 seed on his way to the final (10:12 6:11 11:13 9:11 9:11). His remarkable achievement did not make him less humble than the previous days when he overcame Vladimir SAMSONOV and title defender Emmanuel LEBESSON. “I am so honored to play among such big stars here. I did not believe something like this will happened but now I believe in everything ” said IONESCU. His dream came true but he got rid of few nightmares in the process. “Ten days ago Kristian KARLSSON was my nightmare. In ten matches he beat me seven times. And then 10 days ago I beat him in the League. Everything changed. Before that I had knew I am done if I see him in the draw but then I finally made a break through ” said IONECSU. “In the semis his backhand which is usual lethal was not that strong as usual. He is more aggressive usually. I seized the opportunity…It was first semi final of the European Championships for both of us so I guess we both were very nervous.”
LI Qian brings gold to Poland
LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF European Championships Qian of Poland clinched the gold medal in Women’s Singles Event at the 2018 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships. In the final she overcame Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine (11:8 12:10 6:11 6:11 2:11 2:11). Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC of Poland and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria won bronze medals. LI Qian who won bronze medal in Singles in 2011 showed no mercy in the ultimate stage. Silver and bronze medals winner in Singles at the European Championships in 2009 Stuttgart and 2011 Gdańsk–Sopot and bronze medal winner in team’s event in Ekaterinburg 2015 PESOTSKA could not find the game for her adversary. “It was difficult because no one plays like PESOTSKA. I beat her already at the Olympic Qualifications in Sweden and it was the close match as well. I was under pressure because we had to play under expedite rule but now I am so happy ’ sad LI. LI admitted she needed a long time to recover her game after she gave birth four and a half years ago. “I made a two years break and could not find my game. Finally everything comes together ” said LI. Margaryta PESOTSKA overcame Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria in the semi final (11:7 14:16 10:12 13:11 4:11 5:11). After the rough start she managed to finish the match in superb style. “I have played against Sofia long time ago and I did not know which tactics to use. It was very difficult; whatever I tried – it failed. She is so fast and she puts all the ball on the table. After first game when I started to understand what is going on there I stopped playing on her backhand. Not that her forehand was much weaker but her backhand was astonishing. Sofia is so quick; you do not have time to think ” said Margaryta PESOTSKA. LI Qian overcame Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC of Poland (13:11 11:6 11;6 10:12 12:10). “I had very tough matches yesterday against Bernadette SZOCS and Polina MIKHAILOVA so I was very tired and nervous. It is never easy to play against teammates. We know each other so well. There is noting new you can do to help yourself ” said LI who had won bronze medal at the world Championships in Suzhou 2015.
HABESOHN and GARDOS at the top of the Europe again
LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF Europan Championships Daniel HABESOHN and Robert GARDOS won the title together in 2012 and once again they are at the top of the Europe. In Alicante at the LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF European Championships in the final of the Men’s Doubles Event they overcame Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden (11:9 6:11 11:4 11:9 11:9). Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany and Jonathan GROTH of Denmark champions from Budapest lost in the semi final. Ruwen FILUS and Ricardo WALTHER of Germany also had to settle with bronze. In the final Daniel HABESOHN and Robert GARDOS were hardly in danger. It was their fourth final in five competitions. “It is great feeling to win the title again. Especially since we lost in the first round last time in Budapest. This time we did not take any risks. Robert came from Spain to work with me for a week. We had a very good preparations and it paid off “ said HABESOHN. It has been a long tournament. “This time Daniel was tired but we did not want to repeat what happened in 2015. Then I had an excuse and we lost after failed to take advantage of math ball. It was wrong thinking. Before this final we just said ‘we have to win’. There were no excuses ” said GARDOS. Against FALCK and KARLSSON Austria’s pairings had lost recently. “We lost against them in World Tour but in the final we had advantage ” said HABESOHN. Mattias FALCK and Kristian KARLSSON won the third medal at the Continental Championships in Doubles. In Herning in 2012 they were runners up and in Budapest 2016 they won bronze.
Nina MITTELHAM and Kristin LANG crowned Doubles Champions
LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF European Championships Newly crowned champions in Women’s Doubles Event at the LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF European Championships are Nina MITTELHAM and Kristin LANG of Germany. In the final they overcame Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria and Yana NOSKOVA of Russia (10:12 11:8 11:6 4:11 11:9 7:11 12:14). Bronze medal winners are are Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden and Georgina POTA of Hungary and Luxembourg’s pairings NI Xia Lian and Sarah DE NUTTE. Kristin LANG is unbeaten at the European Championships. She clinched the title with Sabine WINTER in 2016 made a break due the family maters and came back strong to collect another gold with young Nina MITTELHAM. “The chances were 50/50 but we seized the opportunity. Final match was very difficult and we were forced to change our tactics few times. We had to be aggressive and to took control from the very beginning otherwise NOSKOVA and POLCANOVA were unbeatable ” said LANG. NOSKOVA and POLCANOVA managed to recover and to level the match three times but eventually the close finish went on Germany’s account. “We are so sad ” said POLCANOVA who win silver in Mixed Doubles and bronze in Singles. On their way to the highest step at the medal rostrum German combination overcame no. two seeds Elizabeta SAMARA and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania whilst NOSKOVA and POLCANOVA beat top seeded POTA and EKHOLM.
Paul DRINKHALL elected head of ETTU Athletes Commission
Paul DRINKHALL has appointed as the member of ETTU Athletes Commission. The 28-year-old England`s player has been chosen at the elections held in the Spanish city of Alicante during the LIEBHERR 2018 ITTF EuropeanChampionships.“I am looking forward my new role. Europe has great potential. We have tounite all our resources and try to get better together. We have playerswho are very close to Asians like Liam who can challenge them and we need to work to make it happened” stated Paul DRIINKHALL after the elections.Paul DRINKHALL has many table tennis achievements winning 2016 ITTF World Team Championships bronze medal with England`s National Team. At the Commonwealth Games 2006 Melbourne 2010 Delhi 2014 Glasgow and 2018 Gold Coast Australia he won several medals in mixed doubles doubles and withhis team. Currently he is playing in Germany for TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadtat the “1. Bundesliga”.“I have a wide range of experiences and have battled through manydifferent challenges so I feel prepared to ensure that athlete views arerepresented strongly in the shaping of table tennis in Europe and acrossthe globe. I am keen to see it progress and have some strong views but I am open to ideas and input from across the players spectrum” emphasized Paul DRINKHALL .
POLCANOVA: I won those three medals for my father
LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria secured the third medal at the LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Spanish Alicante. After silver in Mixed Doubles Event with Stefan FEGERL and a place in the final of the Women’s Doubles Event she progressed to the penultimate stage of the Singles Event. In quarterfinal Sofia overcame Petrissa SOLJA of Germany (10:12 11:6 11:9 11:8 11:7). “It is always difficult to play against Peti. She beat me many times before but after our last encounter I felt I can finally turn around the tables. At6 the World Championships I finally overcame her and tear down the barrier ” explained POLCANOVA. The opening game went on SOLJA’s account but then Sofia took the control. “She is very dangerous and she put me under severe pressure but I did not let her play her game. I contr4oled the situation.” Two years ago POLCANOVA reached only the Round of 32 at the European Championships in Budapest. “I improved my game a lot in past two years. I overcame very difficult time of my life. My father Mihail died from cancer and it took me time to heal the wounds. Now I came back and I came even stronger. Those three medals I dedicate to my father ” said POLCANOVA. In the semis Austria’s player will meet Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine who succeeded against HAN Ying of Germany (10:12 9:11 9:11 1:4 11:13). “It is so hard to play against her defense style. I had to change the rhythm the tactics constantly in order to find the right way to beat her. Every ball was important ” said PESOTSKA. In other penultimate match will play Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC of Poland who accounted for Sabine WINTER of Germany (11:3 11:8 11:8 11:8). “I was very focused. I did not think about anything except about next ball. I did not even look at the scoreboard ” said GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC. GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC will have another heavy task in the semis. She qwill meet her compatriot LI Qian. In the last quarterfinal match LI overcame Bernadette SZOCS (9:11 6;11 16:14 6:11 7:11). Timo BOLL needed only four games to secure his place in the semi final of the Men’s Singles Event in the match against Daniel HABESOHN (11:3 11:4 11:4 11:9) whilst Patrick FRANZISKA need one more to overcame his compatriot Benedikt DUDA (11:7 11:3 7;11 11:5 11:9). “It is getting better and better as the tournament progresses. After close matches in previous two rounds I felt much better and my confidence is at the higher level ” said BOLL. FRANZISKA had a tough task to play against teammate but he faced no problems. “We know each other very well but I was very confident. The key was to attack more and not to let DUDA be very active ” said Patrick. “Now I am looking forward my match against Timo BOLL.” In other semi final Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden will meet the player who made one of the biggest upset at the Championships – Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania. Ovidiu overcame Vladimir SAMSONOV in full seven game thriller (11:7 8:11 10:12 15:13 13:11 6:11 11:9). “I am so grateful and happy that I had the opportunity to play among the stars such are Timo BOLL Dimitrij OVTCHAROV…and to beat SAMSONOV 11:9 in seventh game in the match for medal that is tremendous ” said IONESCU.” I do not feel I deserve to win. KI guess the turning point was in the fifth game when I got lucky on some points.” Marcos FREITAS of Portugal lost against Kristian (8:11 11:5 9:11 5:11 12:10 11:6 8:11). Photos: ETTU Flickr ETTU_official – Live Streaming: The event will be streamed on ettu.tv Live Scoring: Live scoring can be followed here
