Jersey Open 2018 The beautiful Channel Island of Jersey is once again the venue for this highly popular 3 day table tennis tournament held over Easter. Many International and club players from the UK and Europe have graced the courts at the superb purpose built Geoff Reed Centre over the years and Table Tennis Jersey looks forward to welcoming new and old friends. Jersey is particularly beautiful in April and further information about the Island can be found on https://www.jersey.com
Germany’s top guns on duty in Magdeburg
Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open The Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open begins today with a qualification tournament whilst the main event commence on Friday 10th November. The crowd will have great opportunity to cheer for two best Europeans at the World Rankings host nations favorites Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Timo BOLL seeded at the position no. three and four. Since the German Open joined the ITTF World Tour in 1999 BOLL has just claim to holding the status of the tournament’s most successful ever player. He has won the Men’s Singles title on four occasions the same as China’s Ma Long but in addition Timo BOLL has been the Men’s Singles runner up twice and the Men’s Doubles winner four times. Dimitrij Ovtcharov won in 2012 in Bremen and in 2014 in Magdeburg. Meanwhile China’s FAN Zhendong the top seed and ZHANG Jike the no.5 seed have both enjoyed success; conversely for colleague XU Xin the no.2 seed he has never appeared in a German Open final. In Women’s Singles Event China’s WU Yang is the defending champion Austria’s LIU Jia the host nation’s SHAN Xiaona and Japan’s Mima ITO are past winners; they all appear on the Women’s Singles entry list.
NING BOGDANOVA URSU and STANKEVICIUS will feel Olympic spirit
2018 Youth Olympic Games Continental Qualification – Europe in Split At the end of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games Continental Qualification – Europe in Split all eight passengers to Buenos Aires are known. After the third day NING Jing of Azerbaijan Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus Vladislav URSU of Moldova and Medardas STANKEVICIUS of Lithuania joined Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia and Lucie GAUTHIER of France. Top seeded in Girls Singles Event NING Jing beat Sabina SURJAN of Serbia no. 4 seed (-8 7 8 4 5) Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania seeded no. 3 (6 -8 8 -8 3 5) and Veronika PEREBEINOS of Ukraine on her way to the final. Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus overcame Christina KALLBERG of Sweden no. 8 seed (9 6 -9 8 8) Franziska SCHREINER of Germany (5 6 -10 4 -12 -10 4) before she beat no. six seed Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia in semifinal (14 6 9 8). “I am happy I managed to reach the Youth Olympic Games but I do not know what I can expect there. There are so many players from Asia ” said Nadezhda. Andrea PAVLOVIC overcame Veronika PEREBEINOS for the place first reserve. Vladislav URSU reached the final after impressive run. He overcame Volodymyr LUSHNIKOV of Ukraine (-10 6 9 11 -6 1) Laurens DEVOS of Belgium (6 -9 5 10 -9 8) and no 5 seed Bastien REMBERT (5 -9 3 8 -7 9). “I had a very tough Group but at the end everything concluded well ” said URSU. Medardas STANKEVICIUS accounted for Jose Pedro FRANCISCO of Portugal (8 6 -9 7 -9 2) YU Khinhang of Azerbaijan (10 9 -14 -5 7 -10 9) Matteo MUTTI of Italy (12 11 10 -1 -8 9). “I did not expect I can make it. It makes victory even greater ” admitted STANKEVECIUS. Matteo MUTTI is first whilst Bastien REMBERT second reserve.
SGOUROPOULOS SIDORENKO TAILAKOVA and GAUTHIER booked their places for Argentina
2018 Youth Olympic Games Continental Qualification – Europe in Split At the end of the Day two at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games Continental Qualification – Europe in Split four passengers already booked their visas for Buenos Aires. In Split Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece and Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia reached the final of the Boy’s Singles Event whilst Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia and Lucie GAUTHIER of France were the finalists of the Girls Event. European Champion from Portugal earlier this summer SGOUROPOULOS had a very big challenge from the very first match of the day. No. two seed meet leading player in Croatia Cristian PLETEA of Romania in the opening round and prevailed in six games (5 8 -9 9 -11 6). In second round he beat Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria no. 7 seed by same margin (-5 -6 8 4 9 5) before he overcame Truls MOREGARD OF Sweden seeded at position no. 4 in five games (11 12 9 -6 10). “I am very happy and I am looking forward my trip to Argentina. It will be first time for me and I will give my best to arrive there fully prepared ” said SGOUROPOULOS. No. three seed SIDORENKO had less stressful start against Medardas STANKEVICIUS of Lithuania (8 9 7 8). In second round he overcame Bastien REMBERT of France no 5 seed (7 -6 3 7 9) and then he eliminated the biggest upset of the event YU Khinhang of Azerbaijan (-5 7 -7 8 8 6). “The feeling is great. It will be my first Youth Olympics. My coach had a crucial role here. He managed to motivated me the right way. It is all about what is in your head. Here there are too many players and all of us have only one goal- to reach Argentina ” said SIDORENKO. On her way to Argentina GAUTHIER no 7 seed eliminated top seeded NING Jing of Azerbaijan in second round (-3 -10 -8 6 14 11 11). She beat Katarina STRAZAR OF Slovenia (9 3 3 -15 -10 3) and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania no three seed (5 -5 8 10 -5 9). “I am overwhelmed by this victory. The match against the Azerbaijan representative was the toughest of my life. Now everything ends well and I am happy I will see Buenos Aires ” said Lucie. No. two seed TAILAKOVA overcame Anna WEGRZYN of Poland (6 -7 2 5 8) Jamila LAURENTI of Italy (-7 2 8 6 -8 -9 9) and Zdena BLASKOVA of Czech Republic. “The pressure was very high. It is very difficult to play tournaments like this. I knew I could reach Olympics it was my big dream ” said TAILAKOVA.
Great run for Nadezdha BOGDANOVA
2018 Youth Olympic Games Continental Qualification – Europe in Split Day one at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games Continental Qualification – Europe in Split concluded with few upsets. In the Group stage of the Boy’s Singles Event the biggest upset came from YU Khinhang of Azerbaijan who beat no. two seed Greek’s Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS. Further the draw showed no mercy. We will see the clash between no. one seed Cristian PLETEA of Romania and SGOUROPOULOS at the very start of the Day two in the knock out phase. The great clash between the European champion from Greece and the winner of the Europe Top 10 from Romania is scheduled for the first round. Unlike SGOUROPOULOS Cristian PLETEA cruised toward second day of the competition as well as other favorites: no. three Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia and no four seed Truls MOREGARD of Sweden. Laurens DEVOS of Belgium upset the favorite. He recorded all three wins in Group 8. He accounted for Kay STUMPER of Germany the leading name in his Group. In the Girl’s Singles Events two lower ranked players crated the upsets. Zdena BLASKOVA of Czech Republic pushed host nation’s player Andrea PAVLOVIC to second position in Group 6 with surprising victory. There were no comfort with draw for Croatia’s player. She will meet no one seed NING Jing of Azerbaijan tomorrow. Zdena will meet Franziska SCHREINER of Germany. Nadezdha BOGDANOVA of Belarus followed the same path. She overcame no. 8 seed Christina KALLBERG of Sweden. KALLBERG will play against Andreaa DRAGOMAN of Romania tomorrow whilst Nadezdha will meet Jamila LAURENTI of Italy. Top four seeds NING Jing Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia Dragoman and Sabina SURJAN of Serbia concluded the day undefeated.
Three Cities Bid for 2020 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has confirmed expressions of interest from three cities to host the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships after the closing of the interest phase on 15 October 2017. The expressions of interest were received by Ekateringburg (Russia) Busan (Korea Republic) and San Jose (USA) to bring the world’s biggest table tennis event and the best teams into their city. The bid from San Jose also meant that USA is in the running to have the second only ITTF World Championships to be held outside Asia & Europe the first and only being in Cairo Egypt in 1939. This portrays the global rise of table tennis especially in North America who have successfully hosted the last two editions of the ITTF Women’s World Cup in the USA and Canada. ITTF CEO Steve DAINTON stated “We are glad to receive expressions of interest from three new cities to bid for the hosting of the 2020 edition which is a sign that more cities are now interested in bringing major table tennis events into their annual calendar.” “The World Table Tennis Championships is the world’s biggest table tennis stage and the ITTF’s most important event of the year that brings great opportunity for city promotion and tourism boost for the host city. With the success of the recently concluded edition in Düsseldorf Germany I believe it was a great motivation for Ekateringburg Busan and San Jose to bid for the hosting of the event in 2020.” The ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT added: “Having three cities showing strong interest is a clear sign that the new ITTF management’s hard work is paying off and is well supported around the world. We have been promoting the benefits of hosting the world’s biggest table tennis event more strongly as well as looking at how to make the event more successful to ensure its long future. All of this on the back of one of the best ever World Championships this year in Germany shows that the ITTF is performing better than ever before and we are so happy to have three fantastic cities keen to host the World Championships.” The Liebherr 2017 World Table Tennis Championships which was held in Düsseldorf Germany from 29 May to 5 June 2017 was followed by over 355.6 million audiences worldwide and smashed social & viewership records of any table tennis event in history. Following the closing of the interest phase the three interested cities will have to submit their detailed bids and commitment to bid which the ITTF Selection panel will analyze and conduct inspections in the bid phase which closes on 1 February 2018. The ITTF Executive Committee will then have to decide on the final shortlist by 15 February. The shortlisted bidders will be invited to present their final bid book to the ITTF and all National Associations for voting at the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Halmstad Sweden where a final decision on the host will be made.
OVTCHAROV (GER) advanced to a career high of number three in the world
World Rankings In the November edition of the Men’s World Rankings Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV advanced to a career high of number three in the world after becoming the Liebherr 2017 Men’s World Cup Champion for the first time. Reigning World and Olympic Champion MA Long of China who suffered a surprise defeat in the semifinals of the Men’s World Cup to Timo BOLL of Germany stays world number one ahead of FAN Zhendong of China. The Chinese pair of XU Xin and ZHANG Jike fell off the November list due to their inactivity over the last four months. Timo BOLL benefits from this moving up to number four. Next in line appear two familiar Japanese names but in different order than previous world rankings Koki NIWA and Jun MIZUTANI. NIWA climbs from number eight to five and MIZUTANI from 7 to 6. Simon GAUZY of France who has had a breakthrough season cracks the top 10 for the first time and sits in eighth position. On the back of her victory at the Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup presented by Polar Naturals China’s ZHU Yuling (CHN) has become the women’s world number one for the first time. The 22-year-old replaces Olympic and World Champion DING Ning of China who held the top position for the past 13 months and beat ZHU in the World Championships final earlier this year. ZHU who is also a two time Junior World Champion stated: “Of course I’m very happy to be able to be ranked world number one but it’s just a ranking and doesn’t reflect the level of skills. I hope being ranked world number one is going to be another motivation for me to continue work hard for competitions in the future.” As DING Ning has been inactive for four months she loses her number two position and falls of the world ranking charts until she plays again. This means that CHEN Meng (CHN) is now at number two followed by the Women’s World Cup runner-up LIU Shiwen (CHN). The Chinese trio are followed by three Japanese players Kasumi ISHIKAWA at number four followed by Miu HIRANO and Mima ITO. Check out the full lists at https://www.ittf.com/rankings/.
Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Continental Qualification for Europe
Youth Olympic Games European Qualication Tournament This Sunday after three days of battles at the Youth Olympic Games European Qualication Tournament in Croatia’s city of Split four boys and four girls will qualify for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. At the list of participants there are 59 names: 32 boys and 27 girls. The competition will be played in three stages: Stage 1 (Friday) group matches (8 groups with 3 4 5 or 6 players) Stage 2 (Saturday) knock-out system Stage 3 (Sunday) knock-out system In Stage one participating players will be drawn into 8 groups in accordance with the latest available World Ranking list. The winners and position 2 players from each group will qualify for the 2nd day Draw ‘A’. The position 3 and position 4 players from each group will qualify for the 2nd day Draw ‘B’. The players eventually ranked 5th or 6th in a group finish his/her participation. In Stage two the progressive knockout system will be used in order to determine the final position for every player with the exception of a match for position 1 and 2. The finalists of the Draw ‘A’ become Qualifier 1 and Qualifier 2 for Buenos Aires 2018 YOG. The remaining 14 players will be drawn into Draw ‘C’ of the qualification. In stage 2 the progressive knockout system will be used in order to determine the final position for every player with the exception of a match for position 1 and 2. The players finishing in position 3 of the first stage groups will be drawn randomly into Draw ‘B’. The players finishing in position 4 of the first stage groups will be drawn by lot into the remaining places but in the opposite half to the winners of their initial group.The finalists of Draw ‘B’ will qualify for Draw ‘C’ to be played on the 3rd day. The 14 remaining players from Draw ‘A’ and the 2 qualified players from Draw ‘B’ will play in a single knock-out system Draw ‘C’. The finalists of Draw ‘C’ become Qualifier 3 and Qualifier 4 for Buenos Aires 2018 YOG. The losers of the semi-final matches of DRAW ‘C’ will play an additional match to determine the 1st and 2nd reserve players. LIST OF PARTICIPANTS (59 PLAYERS) BOYS ENTRIES (32 ENTRIES) Nr NAME ASSOC. DOB 1 KOLODZIEJCZYK Maciej AUT 14-Jan-01 2 YU Khinhang ^ AZE 20-Sep-01 3 RUKLIATSOU Uladzislau BLR 27-Apr-01 4 DEVOS Laurens BEL 15-Aug-00 5 MIHAILOVIC Luka BIH 8-Jan-00 6 JAKELIC Jakov CRO 22-Dec-01 7 VALENTA Jan CZE 30-Mar-01 8 NAUMI Alex FIN 27-Apr-01 9 REMBERT Bastien FRA 31-May-00 10 STUMPER Kay GER 15-Oct-02 11 WALSH Ethan ENG 11-May-02 12 SGOUROPOULOS Ioannis GRE 8-May-00 13 ANDRAS Csaba HUN 2-Aug-02 14 CATHCART Owen IRL 5-Apr-02 15 ISRAELI Tal ISR 19-Apr-03 16 MUTTI Matteo ITA 21-Nov-00 17 MAHMUTI Kreshnik KOS 28-Apr-01 18 KOGANS Daniels LAT 6-Aug-03 19 STANKEVICIUS Medardas LTU 23-Feb-00 20 RIKALOSKI Aleksandar MKD 10-May-00 21 URSU Vladislav MDA 1-Mar-01 22 RADOVIC Filip MNE 8-Jul-00 23 HAUG Borgar NOR 21-Nov-02 24 KULCZYCKI Samuel POL 9-Aug-02 25 FRANCISCO Jose Pedro POR 18-Apr-00 26 PLETEA Cristian ROU 28-May-00 27 SIDORENKO Vladimir RUS 7-Apr-02 28 LEVAJAC Dimitrije SRB 14-Aug-01 29 MOREGARD Truls SWE 16-Feb-02 30 GIROD Dorian SUI 10-Mar-00 31 YILMAZ Tugay TUR 1-Jan-01 32 LUSHNIKOV Volodymyr UKR 25-Jun-01 GIRLS ENTRIES (27 ENTRIES) Nr NAME ASSOC. DOB 301 NING Jing ^ AZE 16-Mar-00 302 BOGDANOVA Nadezhda BLR 22-Jun-00 303 MARKOVIC Snezana BIH 20-Jun-00 304 ILIEVA Ivet BUL 21-Apr-02 305 PAVLOVIC Andrea CRO 27-Jan-00 306 BLASKOVA Zdena CZE 13-Feb-01 307 LUNDSTROM Annika FIN 16-Jan-00 308 GAUTHIER Lucie FRA 17-Feb-00 309 SCHREINER Franziska GER 22-Dec-01 310 GERASIMATOU Ioanna GRE 12-Apr-01 311 HARASZTOVICH Fanni HUN 17-Jan-01 312 LAURENTI Jamila ITA 24-Nov-02 313 MUSAJEVA Sabina LAT 26-Jun-03 314 STOJANOVSKA Ana MKD 25-Jun-03 315 BRINZA Natalia MDA 3-May-03 316 PETRIC Ivona MNE 2-Feb-01 317 ERNST Emine NED 20-Aug-03 318 WEGRZYN Anna POL 9-Jan-01 319 MARTINS Raquel POR 1-Apr-01 320 DRAGOMAN Andreea ROU 18-Aug-00 321 TAILAKOVA Mariia RUS 12-Mar-01 322 SURJAN Sabina SRB 10-Apr-00 323 KUKULKOVA Tatiana SVK 18-Jul-00 324 STRAZAR Katarina SLO 3-May-01 325 KALLBERG Christina SWE 1-Apr-00 326 YILMAZ Ozge TUR 4-Nov-02 327 PEREBEINOS Veronika UKR 20-Oct-01
ITTF Decides on Sanctions for Chinese Trio for China Open Forfeits
During the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum China Open held in Chengdu China in June 2017 the top three table tennis players in the world: MA Long FAN Zhendong and XU Xin did not turn up for their round of 16 matches subsequently forfeiting their matches. The trio did not provide the ITTF or the organizing committee any immediate reason why they did not turn up for their matches. This behaviour meant the ITTF was required to set up a disciplinary panel appointed by the ITTF Executive Committee to investigate the incident and determine appropriate sanction. The disciplinary panel reviewed all the evidence at hand including asking for three players for an official statement which was received as well as taking into account the public statements made by the three players and the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) regarding the issue. After reviewing all the evidence the Disciplinary Panel determined that the actions of the three players breached section 3.5.3 of the ITTF Rule book relating to Good Presentation more specifically clause 3.5.3.1.1 which states: ‘Players have to do their upmost to win a match and shall not withdraw except for reasons of illness or injury’. Therefore the Disciplinary Panel has determined that the behaviour of the three players represents a breach of section 3.5.3 of Good Presentation and according to section 3.5.3.4 the Disciplinary Panel is responsible to determine the players sanction. The Disciplinary Panel decided that due to the three players let down the global fans at the China Open due to their actions and damaged the reputation of the ITTF that a one month suspension would have been justified. However due to the players’ explanations both their own and CTTA’s assurances that such behaviour will not be repeated the three players will not receive any suspension and will be fined US$20 000 each for breaching section of 3.5.3 of ITTF rules. The decision of the disciplinary panel is effective immediately (31 October 2017) due to the players have not appealed the decision which is their constitutional right and have accepted their punishment. The ITTF is looking forward to welcoming MA Long FAN Zhendong and XU Xin back to the ITTF World Tour and for the three icons of the sport to be role models for the millions of table tennis players across the world.
KREANGA lead Enjoy & Deploy Taverzo into the Third Stage
After 2 years of early elimination in the 2nd round of the ETTU Cup time has come for European ambitions of Enjoy & Deploy Taverzo. Mayor Charlie APTROOT of Zoetermeer send congratulations to the team shortly after reaching the 3rd round in the ETTU Cup with a nice hint to the European ambitions of the club in his sportminded city. President Jacob de BOER and team manager Ruud van GRAAFEILAND still have the 2014/2015 quarterfinals in mind as a good example of what might be possible. Last year after a flying start with 2 wins the team was unlucky and still third after counting all sets. This time Enjoy & Deploy Taverzo was sure of to reach the next round after convincing wins against Fortune Kiev (3-1) and ASD Marcozzi (3-0) on day 1. Partly because the Belgian team Sokah Hoboken with Dutchman Rajko GOMMERS managed to beat the same teams by 3-2 and 3-0. The teams from Belgium and the Netherlands thus secured spots 1 and 2 in this phase giving entitlement to the third round. With 5 wins this weekend Kalinikos KREANGA had a significant share in the win. “I like it in Zoetermeer and ETTU Cup are nice games where I still learn every day. How crazy it sounds but for years I’ve been playing my game to win the absolute top players. I really have to adjust my game to win the good players just under that top layer. I’m happy with my teammates good and nice players they did well and won their matches and now we are looking forward to a hopefully favorable draw ” said KREANGA.
