Double TTCLM winner Pontoise Cergy hosts four times champion TTC Fakel Gazprom (Oct 13 20:00 CET). Borussia Dusseldorf targets its first season`s win in Poland The 2017/18 Table Tennis Champions League Men Round 2 will be held from Wednesday to Friday (October 11-13th) with two intriguing clashes. First one covers the last six titles as double TTCLM winner Pontoise hosts four times and actual champion Orenburg (Oct 13 20:00 CET) while in the other one ten times TTCLM winner Borussia Dusseldrof fights for its first season`s win in Poland against Dekorglass Dzialdowo. “All players have been seriously prepared for the upcoming match in Pontoise. A good help was the participation of our players in the fifth round of the T2 APAC and in the Polish Open. Our players are in good shape. Now the team is having a good training camp in Düsseldorf. We also take into account the mood of the hosts. The match is expected to be very tense. Our players are set up only to win” stated Fakel Gazprom`s team manager Victor ANDREEV Pontoise`s president Louise ADAM hopes that her side will play much better than in the opening clash against Portugal`s Sporting: “In the past we have shown that we were able to beat them on several occasions. However their team has become since last season really formidable … We will however welcome them with great pleasure and the show will certainly attend. Danny HEISTER Borussia`s coach emphasized that each of his players is fully aware of an importance of the match: “We were very unlucky after the first round against Hennebont. Now we need to win in Poland to keep the chance for the next round. But this won’t be easy. Dzialdowo has got a strong team and it will be a very hard match. I think that our players are in a better shape than last match. Timo BOLL is playing table tennis at its best but Stefan (FEGERL) and Kristian (KARLSSON) had problems against Hennebont. We know the importance of the game in Dzialdowo and we will be prepared.” Youngest player in Borussia`s line-up Anton KÄLLBERG stressed: “We practiced very focused in the last days and we all feel good. Dzialdowo has two very strong players with WONG and MATSUDAIRA. If both will play it will be very difficult for us to win if we don’t play on our top level. We know that we can’t be defeated again if we want to reach the quarter finals.” 2017/18 TTCLM Round 2 (October 11-13th) GROUP A Sporting Clube De Portugal – K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Oct 12 20:00 CET) AS Pontoise Cergy – TTC Fakel Gazprom (Oct 13 20:00 CET) GROUP B FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis – TTSC UMMC (Oct 13 18:30 CET) Eslovs Ai Bordtennis – Chartres ASTT (Oct 13 19:00 CET) GROUP C SPG Walter Wels – TTC Ostrava 2016 (Oct 11 19:00 CET) Stella Sport La Romagne – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (Oct 12 19:30 CET) GROUP D K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo – Borussia Düsseldorf (Oct 13 18:00 CET) Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – G.V. Hennebont T.T. (Oct 13 19:30 CET)
ETTU Annual Coaching Conference 2017 in Warsaw
Hotel Airport Okecie October 8th – 10th This morning the experts gathered in the Hotel Airport Okecie in Warsaw for the ETTU Annual Coaching Conference 2017. The Conference attracted 58 coaches from 21 country and at the beginning of the session they were greeted by the ETTU President Ronald KRAMER. Chinese expert LI Xiadong will be the lecturer on the opening day of the Conference on subject of “Analyses of six stages of Development of table tennis”. Tomorrow the stage will belong to Watanabe RIKI with the “The newest Situation of the plastic balls”. All Power point presentations from the Conference will be published on ETTU web page (Development / Documents).
Astana to Host 2017 ITTF Star Awards Alongside World Tour Grand Finals
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is pleased to announce that the 2017 ITTF Star Awards will be held in the Kazakhstani capital of Astana on 14 December 2017 in conjunction with the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals that will be held from 14-17 December. Following the success of the previous four editions of the annual Star Awards night the 2017 ITTF Star Awards promises to be more spectacular than ever at the Rixos President Hotel located at the heart of Astana. Dubbed the “Oscars of Table Tennis” the 2017 ITTF Star Awards will be a night of glitz and glamour as we see stars of the sport – athletes officials & coaches all dressed up in their finest to celebrate their achievements and a great year of table tennis in 2017. Fans and table tennis enthusiasts from all around the world are also welcomed to join in the celebrations at the ITTF Star Awards with the stars in Astana by reserving a seat or table at the awards night. ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT shared “The ITTF Star Awards has been a much anticipated annual event for our top athletes and partners as a season finale to celebrate a fruitful year of table tennis since its inauguration in 2013. This year we are very excited to bring the Star Awards to Kazakhstan for the first time ever for an evening of celebrations and glamour with our stars of the sport.” The 2017 ITTF Star Awards will be seeing the crowning of Stars in the following categories: Male Table Tennis Star Female Table Tennis Star Male Para Table Tennis Star Female Para Table Tennis Star Table Tennis Star Point Table Tennis Star Coach Table Tennis Breakthrough Star Table Tennis Fair Play Star
Stella Sport La Romagne proud to be part of TTCLM
“We hope to learn a lot from this competition and why not reach the quarterfinals” stated coach Fabrice COUTOLLEAU between Round 1 (3:2 vs. Walter Wels) and Round 2 (Oct 12th vs. Ochsenhausen) Actual ETTU Cup winner Stella Sport La Romagne targets 2017/18 TTCLM quarter-finals at least. They beat Walter Wels 3:2 in their debut in TTCLM while this Thursday (October 12th 19:30 CET) will host 2009 runner-up TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen. “After winning the TT Intercup in 2004 and the ETTU Cup in 2017 the club of La Romagne participates for the first time in its history to the Champions League and I must say that everyone is very playful to the idea to rub against the biggest of Europe” stressed Guy SOULARD president of the club founded almost half century ago (1968). Coach Fabrice COUTOLLEAU hopes that his side will take one of two top spots in the Group C: “It is a great pride to have this group take part in the Champions League. It`s a new march that the club is climbing this year and the victory in the opening round despite players tense enough we reassurance on the competitiveness of our team. We hope to learn a lot from this competition and why not reach the quarterfinals. It would be a great satisfaction.” CHEN Tianyuan who became La Romagne member 11 years ago won two matches in the opening round against Austrian club. He said it was very important for him to commence the season in that manner: “We did a good job in the Round 1 and I am very happy to have brought two points to our team.”
59 players in Split at the YOG European Continental Qualification
There are 59 names of the players at the entries lists for the YOG Continental Qualification for Europe. The tournament will be played from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th November 2017 in Croatia’s city of Split. The events for boys and girls will be played in Sportski Centar ‘Gripe’ in one hall with 6 tables and a separate 5 tables training hall. Four boys and four girls will qualify for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. The competition will be played in three stages: Stage 1 (Friday – 1st day) group matches (8 groups with 3 4 5 or 6 players) Stage 2 (Saturday – 2nd day) knock-out system Stage 3 (Sunday – 3rd day) knock-out system STAGE 1 Players will be drawn into 8 groups (A B C D E F G H) in accordance with the latest available World Ranking list. The players ranked 1 – 8 will be placed in descending ranking order respectively at the top of the groups A B C D E F G H. The remaining players will be drawn 2 by 2 among the 8 groups taking into account the ‘snake system’. 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. STAGE 2 DRAW ‘A’ 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 winner of group A goes to position 1 the winner of group B goes to position 16 the winners of groups C and D will be drawn among positions 8 and 9 the winners of the groups E F G H will be drawn among positions 4 5 12 and 13. The players finishing in position 2 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 (see diagram). 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. DRAW ‘B’ 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 (see diagram). The finalists of DRAW ‘B’ will qualify for DRAW ‘C’ to be played on the 3rd day. STAGE 3 DRAW ‘C’ 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 semi-finalists of DRAW ‘A’ will go to position 1 and position 16 of Draw ‘C’. All remaining players will be drawn randomly to the remaining positions. 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. You can see prospectus and relevant documents here LIST OF PARTICIPANTS (59 PLAYERS) BOYS ENTRIES (32 ENTRIES) KOLODZIEJCZYK Maciej AUT 14-Jan-01 YU Khinhang ^ AZE 20-Sep-01 RUKLIATSOU Uladzislau BLR 27-Apr-01 DEVOS Laurens BEL 15-Aug-00 MIHAILOVIC Luka BIH 8-Jan-00 JAKELIC Jakov CRO 22-Dec-01 VALENTA Jan CZE 30-Mar-01 NAUMI Alex FIN 27-Apr-01 REMBERT Bastien FRA 31-May-00 STUMPER Kay GER 15-Oct-02 WALSH Ethan ENG 11-May-02 SGOUROPOULOS Ioannis GRE 8-May-00 ANDRAS Csaba HUN 2-Aug-02 CATHCART Owen IRL 5-Apr-02 ISRAELI Tal ISR 19-Apr-03 MUTTI Matteo ITA 21-Nov-00 MAHMUTI Kreshnik KOS 28-Apr-01 KOGANS Daniels LAT 6-Aug-03 STANKEVICIUS Medardas LTU 23-Feb-00 RIKALOSKI Aleksandar MKD 10-May-00 URSU Vladislav MDA 1-Mar-01 RADOVIC Filip MNE 8-Jul-00 HAUG Borgar NOR 21-Nov-02 KULCZYCKI Samuel POL 9-Aug-02 FRANCISCO Jose Pedro POR 18-Apr-00 PLETEA Cristian ROU 28-May-00 SIDORENKO Vladimir RUS 7-Apr-02 LEVAJAC Dimitrije SRB 14-Aug-01 MOREGARD Truls SWE 16-Feb-02 GIROD Dorian SUI 10-Mar-00 YILMAZ Tugay TUR 1-Jan-01 LUSHNIKOV Volodymyr UKR 25-Jun-01 GIRLS ENTRIES (27 ENTRIES) NING Jing ^ AZE 16-Mar-00 BOGDANOVA Nadezhda BLR 22-Jun-00 MARKOVIC Snezana BIH 20-Jun-00 ILIEVA Ivet BUL 21-Apr-02 PAVLOVIC Andrea CRO 27-Jan-00 BLASKOVA Zdena CZE 13-Feb-01 LUNDSTROM Annika FIN 16-Jan-00 GAUTHIER Lucie FRA 17-Feb-00 SCHREINER Franziska GER 22-Dec-01 GERASIMATOU Ioanna GRE 12-Apr-01 HARASZTOVICH Fanni HUN 17-Jan-01 LAURENTI Jamila ITA 24-Nov-02 MUSAJEVA Sabina LAT 26-Jun-03 STOJANOVSKA Ana MKD 25-Jun-03 BRINZA Natalia MDA 3-May-03 ETRIC Ivona MNE 2-Feb-01 ERNST Emine NED 20-Aug-03 WEGRZYN Anna POL 9-Jan-01 MARTINS Raquel POR 1-Apr-01 DRAGOMAN Andreea ROU 18-Aug-00 TAILAKOVA Mariia RUS 12-Mar-01 SURJAN Sabina SRB 10-Apr-00 KUKULKOVA Tatiana SVK 18-Jul-00 STRAZAR Katarina SLO 3-May-01 KALLBERG Christina SWE 1-Apr-00 YILMAZ Ozge TUR 4-Nov-02 PEREBEINOS Veronika UKR 20-Oct-01
Michael MAZE enjoys again in table tennis
Former European champion helped Rosklide to win TTCLM Round 1 game against K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo. MAZE: “I have to admit that I did not even count on playing so well”. BENTSEN: “Our aim stays same The lower-seeded TTCLM club Roskilde Bordtennis BTK 61 (no. 16 seed) opened new season by unexpected win playing away against no. 6 seed K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo from Poland. Danish side won 3:2 last Sunday as the 2009 European champion in Men`s Singles event Michael MAZE had successful comeback to Table Tennis Champions League Men. “This was a very good start but we are still the “underdogs” in this tournament” stated Roskilde`s team manager Allan BENTSEN. “But with this win we have for sure god a good confidence and can use it for a lot. Last year we have lost all matches and wasn’t so funny. But now we will have chance to do a surprise and maybe take one off the places for next round. From the start we wear hoping to make some surprises and maybe take third place and this still will be our goal.” One of the best European players in the last 15 years 36-year-old Michael MAZE announced his retirement a year and a half ago but decided to try to help his club. Playing against Polish side he beat Jiri VRABLIK and managed to extend World no. 12 Kenta MATSUDAIRA to full distance (2:3). “I was really surprised that MAZE could play like he did but he had now some rest and his body is ok and he had a lot of fun. So maybe he can make more good performance in next matches” explains BENTSEN. Michael MAZE individual bronze medalist from the 2005 World Championships in Shangai admitted that he was surprised by his own play: ”I have to admit that I did not even count on playing so well except for the last three days before the match I had not exercised much since the summer. But the body is good and then I can still be lucky to hit the ball well.” Roskilde hosts Hennebont in the Round 2 October 13th 19:30 CET. French side also created upset in the opening round beating away ten times TTCLM winner and actual no. 2 seed Borussia Dusseldorf 3:2. “The game against Hennbont will be as difficult as all others. They beat Dusseldorf. But we hope to have a full hall behind us and that our players can find the good level again. Then everything can happen” concluded Allan BENTSEN.
ITTF Announces Polar Naturals as Presenting Sponsor for 2017 Women’s World Cup
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and Table Tennis Canada are pleased to announce Canadian brand Polar Naturals as the Official Health Care Product & Presenting Sponsor of the Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup to be held from 27 – 29 October 2017 in Markham Canada. Upon the announcement Table Tennis Canada CEO Tony KIESENHOFER shared: “Table Tennis Canada welcomes Polar Naturals to the Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup. As the exclusive ‘presented by’ and the Official Health Care Product sponsor Polar Naturals will play a crucial role to make the event in Markham a success.” “We understand that Polar Naturals has plans to expand its market in Asia – the extensive media and TV coverage of the Women’s World Cup in Asia will be a useful tool in this strategy. We are excited to have Polar naturals on board and will work hard to make the event a success for Polar Naturals and for our other sponsors.” Wynn XIE Managing Director of Polar Naturals stated: “We are proud to sponsor in an event such as the World Cup especially since we (Canada) represent the hosting country for 2017. As this is only the third time that the World Cup has been held outside of Asia we believe that the opportunity to support the ITTF Women’s World Cup will increase the exposure for this sport and these exceptional athletes.” ITTF Head of Sponsorship Kimberly KOH added: “We are excited to welcome Polar Naturals on board for one of our most prestigious events on the ITTF calendar. North America is a big market for the ITTF and with the success of the Seamaster 2016 Women’s World Cup in Philadelphia (USA) last year that was watched by over 45 million viewers on TV we look forward to working with Table Tennis Canada and Polar Naturals to present another great event for our spectators and table tennis fans all around the globe.” The Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup presented by Polar Naturals will feature 20 of the world’s best table tennis players including Continental Champions competing for the prestigious title. World class players such as four-time Women’s World Cup Champion LIU Shiwen (CHN) as well as Miu HIRANO (JPN) who made history becoming the first non-Chinese Champion will all be in action at the PANAM Centre from 27 – 29 October 2017.
Ukraine won five gold at European Para Table Tennis Championships
The 2017 European Para Table Tennis Championships organized by the NPC Slovenia under the auspices and authority of the Slovenian Table Tennis Association and International Table Tennis Federation (Para Table Tennis Division) concluded today in Slovenia’s city of Lasko. In the battles that started last Tuesday 26 countris won medals. Most medals – 11 each – won Turkey Poland and France followed by Ukraine and Great Britain with 10 medals each. Ukraine won most gold medals (5) and is followed by Turkey with 4 gold medals. At least one gold medal won 10 participating countries. „I am happy such a well organized European championahip is behind us. I believe we’ve set high standards for further organization of such competitions. I am especially happy and proud that teams are leaving Slovenia pleased and with good impresions. I am also happy that our national team proved that they are close to the European top of table tennis.This is a great incentive for further work and developement. Sports Federation for the Disabled of Slovenia – Paralympic Committee will try even harder to provide optimal conditions for work and developement for young talented athletes. At this point I would also like to say that we experienced many things during this championship that will come in handy at next year’s World Championship which will also be hosted here. It will not take a week for organizational team to gather and set up work for the upcoming World Championship – so called SPINT 2018!“ said Damijan LAZAR the president of organizational board of EPINT 2017 and of NPC Slovenia – Paralympic Committee after the champioship. MEDAL WINNERS TF 2-3: gold Croatia Andela MUZINIC and Helena DRETAR silver Italy Michela BRUNELLI Giada ROSSI bronze Turkey Nergiz ALTINTAS Hatice DUMAN. TF 4-5: gold Serbia Borislava PERIC RANKOVIC Nada MATIC Biljana UBOVIC silver Great Britain Susan GILROY Megan SHACKLETON bronze Russia Nadejda PUSHPASHEVA Aleksandra VASILEVA. TF 6-8: gold Russia Ulija SHISHKINA (OVSYANNIKOVA) Raisa CHEBANIKA Victoriya SAFONOVA silver Juliane WOLF Stephanie GREBE Corinna HOCHDORFER bronze Sweden Linnea Agnes Smilla SAND Emelie ENDRE. TF 9-10: gold Turkey Neslihan KAVAS Merve DEMIR Hilal TURKKAN silver Marlene REEG Lena KRAMM bronze Denmark Sophie Amanda WALLOE Thea Amalie NIELSEN Poland Karolina PEK Katarzyna MARSZAL. TF 11: gold Russia Elena PROKOFEVA Anzhelika KOSACHEVA Maria GALKINA silver Poland Krystyna Maria LYSIAK Dorota NOWACKA bronze France Magali ROUSSET Lea FERNEY. TM 2: gold Slovakia Jan RIAPOS Martin LUDROVSKY Czech Republic Jiri SUCHANEK Martin ZVOLANEK bronze Serbia Goran PERLIC Boris STOILJKOVIC France Fabien LAMIRAULT Stephane MOLLIENS Vincent BOURY. TM 3 gold Germany Thomas SCHMIDBERGER Thomas BRUCHLE silver Ukraine Vasyl PETRUNIV Oleksandr YEZYK bronze Sweden Carl Alexander Mattias OHGREN Jan Victor SJOQVIST Austria Egon KRAMMINGER Manfred DOLLMANN. TM 4: gold Turkey Abdullah OZTURK Nesim TURAN silver Maxime THOMAS Florian MERRIEN Alan Rene Jean PAPIRER bronze Poland Rafal LIS Krszysztof ZYLKA Spain Francisco Javier LOPEZ SAYAGO Miguel RODRIGUES-MARTINEZ. TM 5: gold France Nicolas SAVANT-AIRA Alexandre DELARQUE silver Valentin BAUS Jan GUERTLER bronze Ali OZTURK Suleyman VURAL Hamza CALISKAN Serbia Mitar PALIKUCA Miroslav HOMA Milan ZELEN. TM 6: gold GBR David Paul WETHERILL Martin Robert PERRY Paul Arif KARABARDAK silver Pavao JOZIC Vjekoslav GREGOROVIC bronze Danny BOBROV Asaf Ayal GOFER Russia Alexander ESAULOV Timur KHUSNULLIN. TM 7 Ukraine Maksym NIKOLENKO Mykhaylo POPOV Bogdan OMELCHUK silver France Stephane MESSI Kevin DOURBECKER Bastien GRUNDELER bronze Spain Alvaro VALERA Jordi MORALES Alberto SEOANE ALCAZAR Slovakia Miroslav JAMBOR Alexander NAGY Gabriel CSEMY. TM 8 gold Ukraine Viktor DIDUKH Ivan MAI Roman VAKARASH silver Sweden Emil ANDERSSON Linus KARLSSON Nicklas Thomas WESTERBERG bronze GBR Ross William WILSON Aaron MC KIBBIN Billy SHILTON Poland Piotr GRUDZIEN Marcin SKRZYNECKI. TM 9: gold Laurens DEVOS Ben Ashok DESPINEUX silver Mohamed Amine KALEM Samuel DE CHIARA bronze Daniel Sune Stefan GUSTAFSSON Anders Niklas Tobias ANDERSSON Finland Esa MIETTINEN Ismo Sakari LALLO. TM 10: gold Poland Patryk CHOJNOWSKI Igor MISZTAL silver GBR Kim DAYBELL Ashley Facey THOMPSON bronze Netherlands Bas HERGELINK Emanuel MARTINS FERREIRA Spain Jose Manuel RUIZ REYES Jorge CARDONA Juan Bautista PEREZ GONZALEZ. TM 11 gold: France Lucas Edouard CREANGE Antoine ZHAO silver Russia Kemal GAYFULLIN Alexandr EFREMOV bronze Poland Marek CHYBINSKI Damian FIRA.
Dr. CASL`s newcomer DOO Hoi Kem excited to play Seamaster ECLW
“DOO had very professional approach in her debut” stressed president of Croatian club Martin-Tino CASL Croatian champion Dr. CASL had successful start in the 2017/18 Seamaster Champions League Women beating ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly 3:1 three days ago. President of the Zagreb-based club Martin-Tino CASL was satisfied with the performances of his side. First of all he said: „This is the third presence of my club in Champions League. First time we emerged with the Men’s team (RYU Seungmin TAN Ruiwu…) in 2011 then girls participated in the following edition and now I hope – third time lucky! Martin-Tino CASL stressed role of team’s newcomer actual World no. 32 DOO Hoi Kem but he analyzed other players as well: “DOO had very professional approach. She came to Zagreb nine days before the opening round she trained very hard and you can see result. It was her debut in Seamaster ECLW hence she was very excited. She faced strong opponents but she was focused all the time to beat them and she managed it. In spite playing close games. YU Fu easily won her match. It was obvious that she is a great player with a lot of experience. LI Jie had super busy schedule last week. She played Chinese League Friday night and then she spent 24 hours on her way to Zagreb. That’s why she couldn’t play her best table tennis. She fought but she was tired (jet leg) while her opponent KIM was fantastic and so motivated playing her very first ECLW match. In spite of knowing all these circumstances LI`s defeat was a bad surprise for me. I hope he will find winning rhythm as soon as possible. Nevertheless she is the biggest star of our team.” Concerning Round 2 (October 13th) CASL added: “In the Round 2 we are going to play away against Szekszard. It will be a huge challenge for us as they have the best ranked ECLW player CHENG I-Ching. It will be hard to beat her but in sport everything is possible. If we win that game we will have good chances to have successful ECLW season.” DOO Hoi Kem explained how important match against French club was for her: “I feel very excited to play in Seamaster European Champions League Women. It is my first time being here. I feel happy that we won our first match although it was a very tough game but still it was a good start. I will try my best in the coming up match and I am looking forward to win.”
Join ITTF in Donating to Ian Lariba’s Medical Funds
Join the ITTF Dream Building Foundation in helping Philippines table tennis hero Ian LARIBA raise US$60 000 for her fight against Leukemia. After the ITTF Dream Building Foundation’s $20 000 donation $40 000 is still needed for the Philippines hero to pay for her treatment. 22-year-old LARIBA was in prime form experiencing the best year of her life in 2016 where she qualified and played at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and was given one of the highest honour in sport to be the flag barrier for the Philippines contingent at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Life could not be going better for LARIBA until she receive the devastating news 4 days before she was due to leave the Philippines to represent her country at the 2017 World Table Tennis Championships that she had Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Find out more about LARIBA’s journey here. As of now LARIBA has already completed 3 cycles of Chemotherapy and 3 Bone Marrow Aspirate and Biopsies. After these gruelling sessions of Chemotherapy and Bone Marrow Aspiration LARIBA now has to undergo a Total Body Irradiation and Bone Marrow Transplant which will cost US$60 000. The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is asking for donations to help LARIBA and her family raise this much-needed money for her Leukaemia treatment! ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated “When I heard that Ian Lariba needed money to pay for her fight against Leukemia it was clear that the ITTF had to support her as she is an inspiration to all. I was so proud seeing Lariba carry out the Philippines flag in Rio 2016 it was a moment not just for Lariba but also for our sport as well. The newly created ITTF Dream Building Foundation has donated $20 000 to the cause and we are asking the whole table tennis family to get behind our hero.” The newly formed ITTF Dream Building Foundation is getting the ball rolling and putting US$20 000 to #SupportLariba. Members of the sports community and the table tennis family can now join in the cause to #SupportLariba by making your donations here.
