Located in Shanghai the China Table Tennis College will organize the 2019 Summer School from Thursday 27th June to Wednesday 24th July. In addition to table tennis training sessions students will be offered Chinese language courses experience traditional Chinese culture and enjoy a range of social activities including sightseeing tours. Established by the Shanghai Municipal Government and Chinese Table Tennis Association the China Table Tennis College is the first professional institution for table tennis in the world. In addition to training sessions the college hosts teaching and scientific research courses alongside foreign exchange initiatives. Moreover bachelor and master degree course are offered as well as doctorates. The now well established Summer School by inviting players from throughout the world aims to expand students’ horizons and promote the development of world table tennis. All participants attending the Summer School will be housed in twin rooms in student apartments within the campus the table tennis training hall being a short walk. The rooms are newly furnished and have private bathrooms and laundry facilities. Applicants must be physically and mentally healthy not Chinese citizens and should have competed in major domestic competitions; a total of 20 students aged 16 years to 25 years will be accepted. Applications close on Monday 20th May. Players accepted will be notified within a period of two weeks. For further information including fees and to whom all replies should be addressed contact: Ms. Xu China Table Tennis College – Email: stella20402040@163.com Tel: +86 21 65507016 Fax:+86 21 65507018 The Personal information form should be completed in full a passport copy remitted plus a certificate or document in Chinese of English endorsing student status. 2019 China Table Tennis College Summer School: Official Letter of Invitation (issued Wednesday 27th February) 2019 China Table Tennis College Summer School: Application Form (Closing date is Monday 20th May)
Düsseldorf and Bangkok to host 2020 ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cups!
The ITTF is announced that Düsseldorf and Bangkok will be hosting the 2020 ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cups. The Men’s World Cup will be held in the north-west German city between 16-18 October 2020 with the Women’s World Cup taking place in Thailand’s capital the very next week between 23-25 October 2020. For Düsseldorf this will be the second time that it has staged a Men’s World Cup six years on from the 2014 edition in which China’s Zhang Jike overcame Ma Long in the final and three years after it famously hosted the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships. Other Men’s World Cups in Germany took place in Magdeburg in 2010 and Saarbrücken in 2016 events won respectively by China’s Wang Hao and the defending champion Fan Zhendong. Meanwhile Bangkok will be making its debut on the World Cup circuit next year though it played host to the highly successful 2014 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals which witnessed one of the best ever sport presentations at an ITTF event. Japan’s Jun Mizutani and Kasumi Ishikawa both took gold in Thailand. “Germany are a regular host of ITTF events and we are very happy that the nation is continuing its strong association with the sport while Thailand previously staged a very successful World Tour Grand Finals event and we are confident that they will be excellent hosts again for next year’s Women’s World Cup. We are looking forward to working together with both countries to take the overall organisation operations and marketing of the World Cups to a higher level ” stated Zena Sim Head of World Cups & ITTF Challenge. “After hosting the extremely successful 2017 World Championships we will be back again next year with a real sporting highlight in Düsseldorf. The 10 000 spectators at the 2014 World Cup was a noteworthy achievement and we’ll definitely try to build on that figure in this table-tennis-inspired region ” said Michael Geiger DTTB President. “The Women’s World Cup is not just a great global sporting event but it also reveals the true character of those competing. Having successfully hosted the 2014 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals we are very much looking forward to having the best women’s players battling it out in Bangkok next year “ explained Sakul Ariyachotima TTAT Deputy Secretary General. Quick Links: Men’s World Cup Women’s World Cup ITTF Social Media: Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube Weibo LinkedIn
K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo
ETTU Cup At home soil FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis lost their semifinal opening match of the Men’s ETTU Cup against K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo 2:3. Two participants of BUTTERFLY U21 European Championships played the match only two days after the end of the tournament in Portugal with mixed outcome. Cristian PLETEA failed to stop Jiri VRABLIK and Taku TAKAKINA whilst Darko JORGIC beat WANG Yang. Taku won both his matches. FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis – K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo 2:3 Patrick FRANZISKA – Jiri VRABLIK 3:1 (8:11 12:10 11:6 11:4) Cristian PLETEA – Taku TAKAKINA 1:3 (11:5 11:13 6:11 8:11) Darko JORGIC- WANG Yang 3:1 (9:11 11:4 11:9 11:4) Patrick FRANZISKA – Taku TAKAKINA 1:3 (7:11 11:9 5:11 6:11) Cristian PLETEA – Jiri VRABLIK 1:3 (11:9 6:11 6:11 8:11)
Players confirmed for Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships
With less than six weeks remaining until table tennis’ biggest event of the year kicks off today the player entry lists are confirmed for the Liebherr 2019 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships to be held between 21-28 April in Budapest Hungary. This year’s event will see record numbers of participation: the 609 players representing 109 National Associations mark an increase on previous record figures posted at the last individual World Table Tennis Championships held in Dusseldorf Germany in 2017. This growth forms a positive step ahead of the ITTF introducing an expanded World Championships format in 2021 which aims to increase National Association participation of 47% closer to 100% global representation as more players will have a greater opportunity to take part thanks to the new World Championship stages. Here follows confirmation of many major participants representing each region of the world: Following their triumphs in China’s qualification tournament the ‘Marvellous 12’ FAN Zhendong and CHEN Meng made sure of their places in China’s Men’s and Women’s Singles categories respectively. FAN the men’s world no. 1 will be joined in Budapest by reigning world champion MA Long while three more of the nation’s highest ranked players XU Xin LIN Gaoyuan and LIANG Jingkun complete the quintet in the Men’s Singles category. WANG Chuqin meanwhile will compete in the Men’s Doubles alongside MA Long. Taking part in the Women’s Singles are reigning world champion and world no. 1 DING Ning alongside CHEN Meng LIU Shiwen WANG Manyu and SUN Yingsha. Having finished second at the Marvellous 12 SUN is very much a player in form and selectors of the Chinese Table Tennis Association have preferred her to world no. 2 ZHU Yuling who finished joint fifth at the Marvellous 12. ZHU is however confirmed for the Women’s Doubles. Here follows China’s selection in all categories: Men’s Singles: MA Long FAN Zhendong XU Xin LIN Gaoyuan LIANG Jingkun Men’s Doubles: MA Long/ WANG Chuqin LIANG Jingkun/ LIN Gaoyuan Women’s Singles: DING Ning LIU Shiwen CHEN Meng WANG Manyu SUN Yingsha Women’s Doubles: CHEN Meng/ ZHU Yuling WANG Manyu/ SUN Yingsha Mixed Doubles: XU Xin/ LIU Shiwen FAN Zhendong/ DING Ning Jun MIZUTANI and Mima ITO secured their selection for this year’s World Championships as a result of winning the Men’s and Women’s Singles titles respectively at Japan’s National Championships this January. Tomokazu HARIMOTO and Koki NIWA alongside Kasumi ISHIKAWA and Miu HIRANO gained their places by virtue of their world ranking. Meanwhile Masataka MORIZONO and Miyu KATO sealed their spots in Budapest by emerging successful in last week’s qualification tournament leaving Hitomi SATO and Kazuhiro YOSHIMURA as the coaches’ selections. Here follows Japan’s selection: Men’s Singles: Tomokazu HARIMOTO Koki NIWA Jun MIZUTANI Kazuhiro YOSHIMURA Masataka MORIZONO Men’s Doubles: Tomokazu HARIMOTO/ Yuto KIZUKURI Masataka MORIZONO/ Yuya OSHIMA Women’s Singles: Kasumi ISHIKAWA Mima ITO Miu HIRANO Hitomi SATO Miyu KATO Women’s Doubles: Mima ITO/ Hina HAYATA Hitomi SATO/ Honoka HASHIMOTO Mixed Doubles: Tomokazu HARIMOTO/ Kasumi ISHIKAWA Masataka MORIZONO/ Mima ITO Thirty-eight years old last Friday world no. 5 Timo BOLL (GER) will be making his 19thWorld Championships career appearance in Budapest. Germany’s Men’s Singles quintet of BOLL Dimitrij OVTCHAROV Patrick FRANZISKA Ricardo WALTHER and Ruwen FILUS are chasing the nation’s first ever Singles title at a World Championships. This will be the 23rd World Championships for Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) – a record among current players. Meanwhile the likes of Liam PITCHFORD (ENG) Marcos FREITAS (POR) Jonathan GROTH (DEN) Mattias FALCK Kristian KARLSSON (SWE) Simon GAUZY (FRA) and Daniel HABESOHN (AUT) will all be looking to make their mark in the Hungarian capital. In the Women’s competition Bernadette SZOCS Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU) Sofia POLCANOVA (AUT) Petrissa SOLJA (GER) LI Jie Britt EERLAND (NED) Matilda EKHOLM (SWE) and the host nation’s Georgina POTA (HUN) represent some of the bigger European names taking part. After a meteoric rise over the last 12 months world no. 6 Hugo CALDERANO (BRA) will have his sights set on a successful World Championships. The 2018 Pan American Cup champion heads up a list of exciting talent from the region including Kanak JHA WU Yue Lily ZHANG (USA) and Adriana DIAZ (PUR). Quadri ARUNA (NGR) ranked 25th in the world represents Africa’s big hope in the Men’s Singles with Dina MESHREF (EGY) the continent’s biggest name in the Women’s Singles. ARUNA’s compatriot Segun TORIOLA at 44 years old is getting ready for his 21st World Championships. His first ever appearance at the event came back in 1991. 2018 ITTF Breakthrough Star Manika BATRA and Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN will be flying the flag for India as the nation’s best players look to build upon last year’s Commonwealth Games triumph. Korea Republic boasts a typically strong selection including LEE Sangsu JANG Woojin LIM Jonghoon and JEOUNG Youngsik in the Men’s Singles competition while SUH Hyowon JEON Jihee and YANG Haeun lead the way in the Women’s Singles. From Oceania there will be Melissa TAPPER (AUS) who in 2016 became the first ever Australian athlete to represent her country at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. WONG Chun Ting (HKG) in the Men’s Singles competition and CHENG I-Ching (TPE) and FENG Tianwei (SGP) in the Women’s Singles are the remaining players – currently ranked in the top 10 in the world – set to compete in Budapest. Click here for the full list of participants. Note: National Associations have until 18 April to make modifications in accordance with ITTF regulations.
Belarus Table Tennis Federation organise preparation camp for European Games
In cooperation with European Table Tennis Union Belarus Table Tennis Federation will organize Second European Games Preparation Camp. Head Coach is Alexandre PETKEVITCH and he will work with Senior coach of the men’s national team Andrei VOROBIEV and Senior coach of the women’s national team Tatiana PETKEVITCH. Camp Manager is Dmitriy TSYKUNOV. The venue is Republican Centre on Olympic Preparation in table tennis and the camp will be held from June 11th to 19th. Only teams qualified for the II European Games are eligible to participate at the camp. The total number of athletes participating in the camp are 32 players (16 men and 16 women) besides 8 athletes (4 men and 4 women) from the national team of Belarus. You can find prospectus here
ETTU Cup Women: Lille beats Grand-Quevilly
ETTU Cup Women semi-finals Leg 1: CP Lyssois Lille Metropole – ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly 3:1 The 2015/16 ETTU Cup champion CP Lyssois Lille Metropole beat ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly 3:1 in the all-French semi-finals 1st leg of the 2018/19 ETTU Cup Women. Second leg is scheduled for March 17th 17:30 CET in the city of Grand-Quevilly. Actual world no. 72 YANG Xiao Xin was player of the match as she won both her games against Galia DVORAK in the opener 3:1 and vs. SUN Jiayi in the concluding forth match 3:1. Tamolwan KHETKHUAN overcame SUN in four games of the second encounter while TIAN Yuan provided unique point for Grand-Quevilly as she defeated ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly 2018/19 ETTU Cup Women semi-finals Leg 1 CP Lyssois Lille Metropole – ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly 3:1 YANG Xiaoxin – Galia DVORAK 3:1 (11:8 11:4 9:11 11:6) Tamolwan KHETKHUAN – SUN Jiayi 3:1 (11:8 9:11 11:8 11:5) Agnes LE LANNIC -TIAN Yuan 0:3 (7:11 7:11 10:12) YANG Xiaoxin – SUN Jiayi 3:0 (11:5 11:9 12:10)
ECLW: Tarnobrzeg wins in Austria
ECLW semi-finals Leg 1: Linz AG Froschberg – KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg 1:3 Actual no. 2 seed of 2018/19 ECLW and former runner-up KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg from Poland beat away two-time ECLW champion Linz AG Froschberg 3:1 in the first semi-final leg. Second game will be held on March 22nd in the Polish city of Tarnobrzeg. Twice in a row ECLW runner-up 2016 and 2017 showed good team work as each their player contributed with one point. Current individual European champion LI Qian paved the way to the victory of her side defeating SOO Wai Yam Minnie in four games. Linda BERGSTRÖM levelled the score as she overcame HAN Ying in straight sets but third clash between Sofia POLCANOVA and Elizabeta SAMARA determined the winner of entire match. Host had an advantage after the third set but Romania’s player prevailed after full five games. HAN Ying beat SOO Wai Yam Minnie in straight games to secure victory for Poland’s team. ECLW semi-finals Leg 1 Linz AG Froschberg – KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg 1:3 SOO Wai Yam Minnie – LI Qian 1:3 (14:12 6:11 6:11 3:11) Linda BERGSTRÖM – HAN Ying 3:0 (11:9 11:7 11:6) Sofia POLCANOVA – Elizabeta SAMARA 2:3 (11:6 7:11 11:6 9:11 6:11) SOO Wai Yam Minnie – HAN Ying 0:3 (7:11 5:11 1:11)
Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS continued to dominate in Europe
BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships Two times European juniors champion Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece clinched gold medal at the BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships in Gondomar in Men’s Singles Event. In the final Greek player overcame Gerrit ENGEMANN of Germany (-9 3 -8 9 -8 10 9). Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia and Rares SIPOS of Romania shared third step at the medal rostrum. SGOUROPOULOS was required to play both stages of Groups matches being seeded only at the positions three and four in his Groups. On his way to the gold medal rostrum he overcame two best Romania’s players and three Germany’s players. “Match against Cristian was the hardest as always but not even duel against Rares was easy. His style is very difficult for me. At the end I was very tired and my arm hurts. I had problems in the final ” said SGOUROPOULOS. Gerrit ENGEMANN won first medal at the Europeans after he lost in the quarters of his last junior year. ENGEMANN beat Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia in the semis 4:2 (-3 -5 4 6 8 9) after being two games down. “I had problem with my service game and problem with receive. Opening games were really hard for me so I had to change my game. I adjust my service I put more rotation on my first ball and managed to recover ” said Gerrit ENGEMANN. Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS beat Cristian PLETEA in quarters and Rares SIPOS of Romania in the semis (-7 5 6 4 -13 -10 9). “It is always problem when players play against the adversaries they know very well. It is hard to find something new tactically. We had to change few things after match against PLETEA but still it was really close match ” explained coach Konstantinos VATSAKLIS. “I told Ioannis he can not give up. True champion must fight until the last ball. We all knew SIPOS will not go easy.” SGOUROPOULOS was 3:1 down before Rares recovered. “I had to slow down the game but most important I kept on fighting ” added SGOUROPOULOS
Adina DIACONU at the top of the Europe
BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships Adina DIACONU of Romania reached the highest step at the medal rostrum in Gondomar. In the final of the Women’s Singles Event at the BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships she beat Maria MALANINA of Russia 4:0 (11 6 9 7). Bronze medalists are Tania PLAIAN of Romania and Nadezhda BOGDANOVA Belarus. “It was 4:0 win but every game was close. However I wanted the medal very much. I played thought the tournament top level table tennis ” said DIACONU. In the semi final Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus suffered by the hands of Adina in straight games (7 3 3 8). “I was very confident. I played at my top level best table tennis of my career and I knew I am going to win. At some point Nadezhda started to panic because my every ball ended on the table. I did direct points unmistakably. I also took good care that after 3:0 I do not let anything spoil my victory. I had in my mind I have top stay focused ” explained Adina. In equally superb style but after five games Maria MALANINA overcame Tania PLAIAN of Romania (9 7 8 -6 5). “I felt a little pain in my hip which disturbed me. In addition I have never played against Tania and she is really good against the players with the defensive style of play ” explained MALANINA.
Gold for Darko JORGIC and Peter HRIBAR
BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships New champions in Men’s Doubles Event at the BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships are Slovenia’s Darko JORGIC and Peter HRIBAR. In the final they overcame Tibor SPANIK and Adam BRAT of Slovakia 3:1 (8 -6 6 3). Bronze medalists are Denis IVONIN and Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia and Antonino AMATO and Daniele PINTO of Italy. “It is my first medal at the European Championships and will not make it without great support from Darko JORGIC. It was great experience ” said HRIBAR. Darko JORGIC showed impressive form in Gondomar. He was main favorite to win the Singles tournament but he lost in the Round of 16 against Artur ABUSEV of Russia. “He was fantastic and deserved that win but I did not let emotion overwhelmed me; I promised I will come back home with the medal ” said JORGIC. In the penultimate stage JORGIC and HRIBAR overcame Antonino AMATO and Daniele PINTO of Italy 3:2 (4 -7 9 -2 6). “We did not expect this. We are playing together for two years we clinched titles twice in National championships but we do not have international medals together. It is first big tournament fight for HRIBAR so it was great achievement. He overcame the pressure and played really good in decisive moments ” said JORGIC. Tibor SPANIK and Adam BRAT of Slovakia also clinched their first medal together at the international level. In the semis they overcame Denis IVONIN and Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia 3:2 (-10 9 9 -3 9). “We are playing four years together and we waited a long for this success. We kept game simply moved good and relied a lot of good service. It paid off ” explained BRAT. SPANIK said that there was one more important factor for success. “In the moments when I was not up to the task Adam played very well and via verse. We complemented each other.”
