Over 50 representatives from European National Associations have attended the first ever Table Tennis. For All. For Life. Forum hosted by the ITTF and ETTU during the STAG 2018 European Youth Championships in Cluj-Napoca Romania on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd July.   Presentations talk and panel discussions from ITTF senior staff and ETTU officials were held at the forum ranging rom the new ITTF Strategic Plan to the future of the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships fan engagement professionalising National Associations and High Performance.   President of the European Table Tennis Union Ronald Kramer was pleased with how the forum unfolded:   “Тhe two-day meeting was very successful. Numerous representatives from many National associations seized the opportunity to meet and speak about the effects of the changes within the World Team Championships. There was a clear overview of the new strategic plan and the vision for the future of our sport. Those who attended heard many valued ideas and had the facility to ask relevant questions. All this will help our future development. Together with the ITTF we are heavily involved in matters that will help develop our sport. This forum proved a perfect place to exchange views on the developments and challenges for Europe.”     The forum had the goal of bringing together the expertise across Europe and learning from each other’s experiences to developing table tennis across all facets including commercial high performance and good governance. ITTF Vice President Petra SÖRLING stated:   “The first ever Table Tennis. For All. For Life. Forum achieved everything that the ITTF set out to achieve which was to enhance the ITTF relationship with all the European National Associations and to share with them ITTF’s new bold plans for the future to bring table tennis to the next level. We had great discussions with all the attendees and we learnt a lot about their challenges and how the ITTF can better assist them to achieve their goals. We look forward to continuing this forum concept and meeting all of our member associations.”   The Table Tennis. For All. For Life. forums will take place on every continent over the next 6-12 months with the goal of educating the continents and national associations on ITTF’s activities and sharing the experience of ITTF’s success. As well as to listen to the concerns of all our members and debate some of the new ideas with them. The next forum will be held in Costa Rica on 9-10 August 2018.   ITTF CEO Steve DAINTON outlined the importance of the first forum held in Cluj-Napoca especially following the big changes announced at the LIEBHERR 2018 World Team Championships in Halmstad.   “After Halmstad where many new and relatively large changes were made by the ITTF It was important for those who wanted to discuss further could. We were so pleased that at our first forum we had so many associations and so many fruitful discussions.”  

2018 STAG European Youth Championships   Two big favorites in Junior Girls and Junior Boys Singles Event exited earlier then their rankings predicted at then 2018 STAG European Youth Championships. Silver medalists from last year in Guimaraes Cristian PLETEA of Romania and bronze medalists Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia suffered defeats in the third round of the Junior Singles.   Cristian PLETEA lost against FANBO Meng of Germany in seven games (-5 5 8 -8 -9 9 9). Christina KALLBERG of Sweden needed one game less to beat TAILAKOVA (3 -5 -7 6 8 8).   “I do not know what to say. Compared to the game in the teams competition I played a lot more consistent and better. In addition my performance was tactically outstanding. Besides my game was very disciplined and structured. I have made only a few slight mistakes ” said FANBO.   In Junior Girls Event Romania still can count on Andreea DRAGOMAN who beat Germany’s Laura TIEFENBRUNNER to reach the Round of 16 and to Tania PLAIAN who succeed against Natlia GRIGELOVA of Slovakia. In Junior Boys at the top of seedings Rares SIPOS is unbeaten. He overcame Alberto LILO of Spain to reach the Round of 16.     Top seed in the cadet Boys Singles Event Maciej KUBIK is safely through to the Round of 16. In third Round he overcame Max HEDBOM of Sweden.   Ivor BAN of Croatia was very confident before he met Filip DELINCAK of Slovakia after the victory over Tan ISRAELI of Israel.   “This match was very good I played very good. There were a lot of balls on the table maybe I served bad but I tried to put the ball back on the table after the serve and it went good. Against Filip DELIONCVK I played before and I always won ” said BAN.   However this time it was different. BAN suffered by the hands of Slovak in seven games.   Quick links   ETTU EYC page   Organiser’s web site    ETTU on Facebook    ETTU On Instagram    ETTU on Twitter  

2018 STAG European Youth Championships   In Junior Boys Doubles Cristian PLETEA of Romania and Irvin BERTRAND of France are safely through to the Round of 16 in the Junior Boys Doubls Event at the 2018 STAG European Youth Championships. They prevailed against Radim BAKO and Tomas MARTINKO of Czech Republic.   For the place in the quarterfinal they will meet Cedric MEISSNER of Germany and Patrik JUHASZ of Hungary. They beat Dimitrije LEVAJAC and Nemanja DILAS of Serbia.   “So far for the double I managed to play really good with BERTRAND yesterday. Today in the first 3 sets I can say I had an average game after that I came back; the footwork started to work well and I felt a bit better. I hope that in next matches I will play better and better ” said PLETEA.   In the lower half of the draw Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece and Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia overcame Alberto LILO and Marc GUTIERREZ of Spain. No. two seeds will play against Goncalo GOMEZ and Samuel DA SILVA of Portugal.   In the Junior Girls Doubles Event Christina KALLBERG and Alma ROOSE of Sweden were in charge for the biggest upset. They overcame Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania to reach the Round of 16.   In the Cadet Boys Doubles Event Thomas JOYCE and Art MCLAUGHLIN of Ireland exceeded the expectations and reached third round of the competition. They accounted at David BESSA and Joao SILVA of Portugal in full distance match.  Sweden’s pairings Theo ABRAHAMSSON and Max HEDBOM are also out. Daniels KOGANS of Latvia and Mitja OMERZEL of Slovenia booked their place at the Round of 16.     In Cadet Girls Doubles Event Elzbieta KWIATKOWSKA and Ilona SZTWIERTNIA of Poland reached the top 16 after victory over Anna HURSEY of Wales and Sophie EARLEY of Ireland. No. one seeds Elizabeta ABRAAMIAN and Liubov TENTSER successfully progressed to the next round.   Quick links   ETTU EYC page   Organiser’s web site    ETTU on Facebook    ETTU On Instagram    ETTU on Twitter  

2018 STAG European Championships In Junior Mixed Doubles Event at the STAG European Youth Championships Leo DE NODREST and Camille LUTZ secured place in the quarterfinal after match against Carlo ROSSI of Italy and Sabina SURJAN of Serbia and latter they beat Jan ZANDECKI and Katarzyna WEGRZYN of Poland. Polish pairings previously eliminated Lev KATSMAN and Kristina KAZANTSEVA of Russia.   “It is first time that we played together. We had only two or three trainings before European Championships and it was little bit odd to play in Mixed Doubles. Except at the Continental Championships we do not have the chance to play at such event” said LUTZ.   The pairings added they were not under pressure.   “I never had a chance to play against those two players and we did not think about their tactics. We just were focused on our game; we tried to put as much balls on the table as we could ” said DE NODREST.   Top seeds Jules ROLLAND and Lucie GAUTHIER of France will also play in semis. Today they overcame YU KHINGHANG and NING Jing of Azerbaijan.  They will meet Maksim GREBNEV and Natalia MALININA of Russia. Russia’s pairings overcame Cedric MEISSNER and Franziska SCHREINER of Germany.   “The match was very difficult. It was very close. We won the first game and we had the set ball in the second one but we lost it with 22-24. After that we won the 3rd to 9. We didn’t play good in the 4th we lost to 5. In the last set we played very very good. We made good choices. The Azeri boy wanted to play strong on me and he made mistakes so we took it and won for the semifinal ” said Lucie GAUTHIER. “It is a pleasure to bring another medal to France. We won last year so now we will try to do the best and take the gold for France and for us.”   No. two seeds Rares SIPOS and Anastasia KOLISH are out. Romania’s and Russia’s combination suffered against Lilian BARDET and Isa Cok of France in Round of 16. However French pairings failed to continue to the semis after defeat against Samuel KULCZYCKI and Anna WEGRZYN.     Quick links   ETTU EYC page   Organiser’s web site    ETTU on Facebook    ETTU On Instagram    ETTU on Twitter    

2018 STAG European Youth Championships   The medal winners in the Cadet Mixed Doubles Event are know tomorrow in the semi final and in the final we will see how the medals will be distributed. The outcome of the quarterfinal came as a surprise especially in the top half of the draw.   Andrea PUPPO of Italy and Arina SLAUTINA of Russia emerged as surprise semifinalists after victory over French pairings Thibault PORET and Chloe CHOMIS. Doubles from France previously overcame top seeded Maciej KUBIK of Poland and Elizabet ABRAAMIAN of Russia. “It is the first time that we play together and in addition it is my first medal. I am very happy ” said PUPPO.   They will meet pairings who were in charge for another upset – Adam STALZER and Linda ZADEROVA of Czech Republic. It is also first medal for them.   “ I don’t believe it it’s a perfect moment. I am so happy that we won against France. We played so good. It was a nice match. It was 1-1 and we were loosing with 9-5 but the we won the set and this was the key point of the match ” said Linda.   In the lower half of the draw Fabio RAKOTOARIMANANA and Prithika PAVADE overcame Mike HOLLO and Sophia KLEE of Germany.  “This match was hard but now we are happy that we won the medal. Now we will go for gold ” said RAKOTOARIMANANA.   In the semi final they will meet Andrei TOMICA and Elena ZAHARIA of Romania. Romanian pairings overcame Theo ABRAHAMSSON and Rebecca MUSKANTOR of Sweden. “I feel very good we had a tough match. They played good but we played better. We hope to get to the finals and to win it ” said Andrei TOMICA.     Quick links   ETTU EYC page   Organiser’s web site    ETTU on Facebook    ETTU On Instagram    ETTU on Twitter    

2018 STAG European Youth Championships   In Juniors Singles Events at the 2018 STAG European Youth Championships the tops seeds still enjoy their break but for doubles the competition is in full swing. There were very few surprises in the opening round but not all favorites progressed to the Round two without the difficulties.   In Junior Boys Singles top seeded Rares SIPOS will play tomorrow against Jonatan MCDONALD of Sweden. Swede accounted for Benno OEHME in five games today. Yaniv KARAMAZIN of Israel created and early stage upset by beating YANG Xinyu of Azerbaijan in full distance thriller. Olav KOSOLOSKY of Belgium was stretched to full distance before he prevailed against Francisco RUIZ of Spain.   “Yes the singles match was a surprise I know it but I expect to keep playing good in the rest of the competition and manage to advance in the rounds. I feel good but it is not the time for relaxing I need to push forward “ said Yaniv KARMAZIN.“I expect to win the next games this competition is really important for me because I worked very hard for it and I hope to keep playing like I played in the last match.”   In Junior Girls Singles Event top seeded Sabina SURJAN of Serbia will meet Snezana MARKOVIC of Bosnia and Herzegovina tomorrow. In the opening round Snezana beat Helga DARI of Hungary in straight games. Marta VUKELIC of Croatia prevailed against Charlotte BARDSLEY of England in six games to create the upset.   “I feel very good for I have managed to win against Bardsley. I will prepare for the next matches and I hope that I will win. My goal is to reach the round of 32 getting to final 16 would be perfect for me” said VUKELIC.   Netherland’s MEN Shuohan was stretched to full distance but ZHOU Chuyi prevailed to book her place in Round two. Ekaterina ZIRONOVA of Russia was also under pressure in the opening round against Kalina HRISTOVA of Bulgaria. By same margin Ema LABOSOVA of Slovakia beat Andreea HUDUSAN of Romania.   Top seeded pairings in Junior Boys Doubles Event Cristian PLETEA of Romania and Irvin BERTRAND of France progressed easily to Round two of the Junior Boys Doubles Event. Same stands for Sabina SURJAN and Tijana JOKIC of Serbia in Junior Girls Doubles Event.   Yaroslava PRYKHODKO and Polina SHUMAKOVA of Ukraine produced the upset by beating Belarus’ Marharyta BALTUSHITE and Nadezhda BOGDANOVA in five games duel of the first round.   Quick links   ETTU EYC page   Organiser’s web site    ETTU on Facebook    ETTU On Instagram    ETTU on Twitter  

2018 STAG European Youth Championships   In 2015 in Bratislava France clinched the gold medal in Junior Teams Event. The two years’ drought is over and at the 2018 STAG European Youth Championships French team celebrated the title again in Cluj Napoca. They overcame Russia in the final and showed once again fantastic team spirit.   “We have a young team but they proved they have very strong team spirit. They never gave up. We were down against Azerbaijan 1:2 in the quarterfinal but Bastien REMBERT and Irvin BERTRAND recovered to win. In addition in team of Russia in the final LEV KATSMAN exceeded the expectations and showed powerful performance which gave Russia dream start. Despite all that difficulties we succeeded ” said coach David JOHNSTON.   Irvin BERTRAND beat Vladimir SIDORENKO and Bastien REMBERT as well. Leo DE NODREST also get the chance to play in the ultimate stage and he beat Maksim GREBNEV.   “We do not have extraordinary individuals as Cristian PLETEA Truls MOREGARD or Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS are but we have very good leveled team. All these boys can step up into the match and play. That is what I have told them to be ready at any moment. The problem is that all main European players have the experience of playing at the top level senior events whilst we do not have chance. It is partly due the reason that I noted previously: we have too many players at the same level of quality. Par example this was Bastien’s first final at Europeans Championships” said JOHNSTON and added that Bastioen booked hos place for the Olympic Youth Games in Buenos Aires.   France had been missing the medal rostrum for two years after seven titles in eight Championships.   “We were little unlucky in 2016 and 2017. In Zagreb Alexandre CASSIN won the title in singles but he had accident in Teams event. Last year Team of England beat us in the group stages and after we were unlucky with the draw and played against Romania. These are just details that makes the whole picture. Finally we worked hard and put all the pieces of that mosaic together and clinched the gold in Cluj Napoca.”   Quick links   ETTU EYC page   Organiser’s web site    ETTU on Facebook    ETTU On Instagram    ETTU on Twitter

2018 STAG European Championships   Romania won the gold medal in Cadet Girls Teams Event. Elena ZAHARIA and Luciana MITROFAN beat Russia. They recovered from being two matches in reverse to take the crown from last year’s winners.   Girls were not the top favorites to win the title since the juniors were under main spotlight.   “Top favorites were the boys with Cristian PLETEA and Rares SIPOS then came Junior girls…We though we can reach the medal gold was not an objective. However personally I felt different. As every coach I was aiming for title ” said coach Marian FILIPAS.   However FILIPAS did not let his objectives change the tactics.   “Playing among top 16 in Europe is a very difficult task. There are no easy matches here. That is why we did not think about the medal rostrum we were just focused on the next match. We went step by step without any calculations what might be if…”   Tough challenge come from Moldova in group stages.   “That was really difficult as one we were playing in the semi final against France. We create a strange situation. In the Group stage we lost against the second team of France. I gathered players and we talked a lot about that match; what was wrong and what we have to do to improve the game. They accepted everything and then beat first team of France in semis.”   Against Russia in the final Romania was two matches down.   “In modern sport one coach is not enough any more. You need to have complete team of experts in order to have top class result. Now we have psychologist physiotherapist…Both  athletes’ body and mind are under severe pressure. In the final I saw MITROFAN was in pain almost crying so I call for a short break and she got help. After that they won the doubles and eventually the match.”     Quick links   ETTU EYC page   Organiser’s web site    ETTU on Facebook    ETTU On Instagram    ETTU on Twitter