Balkan Championships in Montenegro Turkey clinched all gold medals at the Balkan Senior and U21 Championships in Montenegro’s city of Podgorica. They are team’s winners in Men’s and Women’s Event. Abdullah Talha YIGENLER won gold in Men’s Singles Event Oyge YILMAZ in Women’s Singles Event. Ibrahim GUNDUZ and YIGENLER won gold in Men’s Doubles. YILMAZ and Ece HARAC succeeded to the top position at the medal rostrum in Women’s Doubles and YILMAZ and GUNDUZ are at the top of the Mixed Doubles. Yoto DRIANOVSKI trophy for most successful team at the Championships belongs to Turkey this year.
Slovenia to Host 2018 World Para Table Tennis Championships
The Slovenian towns of Celje and Lasko will be home to the 2018 World Para Table Tennis Championships from 15-21 October 2018. The World Para Table Tennis Championships which started in 1990 in Assen Netherlands was held once every four years featuring both team and individual events with its last edition in Beijing China in 2014. The tournament has since been restructured to feature team events in odd years and individual events in even years. The 2018 World Para Table Tennis Championships will be the first World title tournament for individual para table tennis events after the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and will see an estimated 330 of the World’s best para table tennis players flocking to Slovenia to compete for the World Championships titles in 21 medal events. Four-time Paralympic Singles Champion Natalia PARTYKA (POL) will be looking to make more history in her class 10 category going after her fourth World Championships title in Slovenia after missing out on the World Para Table Tennis Team Championships earlier this year in Slovakia. On the successful bid Mr. Damijan LAZAR President of the Slovenian National Paralympic Committee (NPC) stated “For the first time ever Slovenia will be hosting World Para Table Tennis Championship in 2018. The allocation of the organization of such a major event is a result of many successfully executed international table tennis competitions taking place in Lasko every year. Earlier in May this year we hosted the Slovenia Open for the 14th time and will host the European Para Table Tennis Championships in October and then an even bigger event which is the World Championships for individuals in 2018.” “For the first time ever also the World Para Table Tennis Championship will be hosted by two towns: Celje and Lasko with the Sports Hall Zlatorog Celje home to the competitions while Thermana Lasko who has been accommodating our athletes for all these years at the Slovenia Open will continue to take care of the accommodation. With some challenges and adaptions specific for hosting the disabled we are confident that we will once again set the bar of organization to unreachable heights for a few years to come.” ITTF President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT added “The ITTF is very pleased that the 2018 World Para Table Tennis Championships will be held in Slovenia. Slovenia has done a fantastic job in organizing the Slovenia Open and other para table tennis events in the past and I am sure they will continue to impress us at the World Para Table Tennis Championships next year.”
2018 Europe Youth Top 10 – host Association opportunity
The European Table Tennis Union Executive Board has accepted with regret and understanding the Norwegian Association’s request to step down as host Association of the 2018 Europe Youth Top 10. ETTU will be pleased to hear from member Associations wishing to host this annual event in 2018 for the top 40 European junior and cadet players. Interested Associations are asked to contact Secretary General Richard Scruton (email: rcsettu@pt.lu) no later than Thursday 31st August 2017. The 2017 Europe Youth Top 10 will be held at the University of Worcester Arena in the city of Worcester England from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th September.
Best players are coming to Luxembourg
LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Table Tennis Championships in the „Coque“ Luxembourg can look forward to a really top-notch team event as the best European players take part from 13th to 17th September at the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Table Tennis Championships. The national associations published their selections six weeks ahead of the start The men’s event will see 18 of the 20 top players participate. Thus 2015 Vice-European champions Germany start with their elite Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Timo BOLL ranked 1 and 2 in Europe respectively in August and the squad being completed by Ruwen Filus (8) and Bastian Steger (14). Portugal the 2014 European champions sends its strongest team as well with Marcos FREITAS (5) Tiago APOLONIA (13) and Joao MONTEIRO (21) all competing. Like in Ekaterinburg in 2015 the Austrian team could be considered underdog despite Stefan FEGERL (9) and Robert GARDOS (23) proving in Russia that they can defeat any favourite. Sweden also want to have their say for the title with Mattias KARLSSON (6) Kristian KARLSSON (10) and Pär GERELL (19) all ranked in the top 20. France is also a favourites with Simon GAUZY (4) and European Champion Emmanuel LEBESSON (11). Host Country Luxembourg looks as clear outsider in the competition where they will play against mighty Sweden Greece with its top player Panagiotis GIONIS (7) as well as Russia led by Alexander SHIBAEV (15). In short Eric GLOD (177) Gilles MICHELY (205) Luka MLADENOVIC (211) Traian CIOCIU (233 Feb 16) and Marc DIELISSEN (360) can only gain experience in this setup. Likewise in the ladies’ team event only the best take part: according to the August ranking Germany fields the strongest team: the first two Ying HAN (1) and Xiaona SHAN (2) participate Petrissa SOLJA (7) and Sabine WINTER (14) likewise so that Germany European champions the last three times is definitely the strongest team on paper. The women’s event will see the best players of Europe too with LI Jie (NED/3) LIU Jia (AUT/4) Melek HU (TUR/5) Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU/6) Georgina POTA (HUN/8) Matilda EKHOLM (SWE/9) und YU Fu (10) from Portugal. Unlike their male counterparts the Luxembourg ladies’ team stand a good chance in the group event: NI Xia Lian (18) Sarah de NUTTE (44) Tessy GONDERINGER (118) Danielle KONSBRUCK (137) and Egle TAMAUSKAITE (139) were absolutely inspiring in Ekaterinburg with victories against Belarus and Sweden obtaining 13th rank among 31 nations. Thus in group B the host team will face Romania with Elizabeta Samara (6) and Bernadette SZOCS (19); the Czech Republic with Iveta VACENOVSKA (24) and Hana MATELOVA (32) as well as the Netherlands with their top player LI Jie (3) and Britt EERLAND (23). Therefore the very group-phase will guarantee thrilling and top-level games…..
Cristian PLETEA and Adina DIACONU top Junior lists
The 2017 Europe Youth Top 10 will be held in Worcester England (8-10th September) Participants of the 2017 Europe Youth Top 10 in Worcester England (8-10th September) are announced with many familiar names from the 2016 edition held in Prague Czech Republic. Cristian PLETEA from Romania tops Junior Boys list followed by Greek Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS and Romania`s Rares SIPOS. Last year in Prague PLETEA and SIPOS finished fifth and sixth respectively having both 5-4 score. The 2016 champion was Czech Republic`s Tomas POLANSKY (9-0). After last year`s astonishing ending of Junior Girls event Romanian duo Andrea DRAGOMAN and Adina DIACONU will try to win the title. They finished second and third respectively in Prague behind Audrey ZARIF in spite of having the same score (8-1) like French girl. Now DIACONU is named as No.1 seed while DRAGOMAN will be No. 4. The 2016 winner and runner-up Truls MOREGARD from Sweden and Vladimir SIDORENKO from Russia are toping 2017 list. Both MOREGARD (now No. 2 seed) and SIDORENKO (No. 1 like last year) started the ultimate round of 2016 edition with seven wins and one defeat. After seven games the well-deserved victory went to Swede. Regarding Cadet Girls event actual No. 2 seed Ekaterina ZIRONOVA from Russia achieved biggest result out of all 10 participants last year. She finished third (5-4 score) behind her compatriot Anastasia KOLISH (7-2) and Romania`s Tania PLAIAN (6-3). Russia`s Elizabet ABRAAMIAN now tops the list of Cadet Girls event. JUNIOR BOYS 1 Cristian PLETEA ROU 2 Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS GRE 3 Rares SIPOS ROU 4 Irvin BERTRAND FRA 5 Artur ABUSEV RUS 6 Xinyu YANG AZE 7 Tom JARVIS ENG 8 Denis IVONIN RUS 9 Tobias HIPPLER GER 10 Florian CNUDDE BEL JUNIOR BOYS SUBSTITUTES 1 Gerrit ENGEMANN GER 2 Bastien REMBERT FRA 3 Matteo MUTTI ITA 4 Jules ROLLAND FRA 5 Remi MENAND FRA 6 Jiri MARTINKO CZE JUNIOR GIRLS 1 Adina DIACONU ROU 2 JING Ning AZE 3 Mariia TAILAKOVA RUS 4 Andreea DRAGOMAN ROU 5 Izabela LUPULESKU SRB 6 Lisa LUNG BEL 7 Anastasia KOLISH RUS 8 Daria TRIGOLOS BLR 9 Xuan ZHANG ESP 10 Denise PAYET (Host) ENG JUNIOR GIRLS SUBSTITUTES 1 Solomiya BRATEYKO UKR 2 Luisa SAEGER GER 3 Tania PLAIAN ROU 4 Kristina KAZANTSEVA RUS 5 Andrea PAVLOVIC CRO 6 Jennie WOLF GER CADET BOYS 1 Vladimir SIDORENKO RUS 2 Truls MOREGARD SWE 3 Maksim GREBNEV RUS 4 Bilal HAMACHE FRA 5 Kay STUMPER GER 6 Csaba ANDRAS HUN 7 Dorian ZHENG FRA 8 Samuel KULCZYCKI POL 9 Olav KOSOLOSKY BEL 10 Ethan WALSH (Host) ENG CADET BOYS SUBSTITUTES 1 Martin FRIIS SWE 2 Daniel RINDERER GER 3 Jules CAVAILLE FRA 4 John OYEBODE ITA 5 Gleb IVANOV RUS 6 Felix WETZEL GER CADET GIRLS 1 Elizabet ABRAAMIAN RUS 2 Ekaterina ZIRONOVA RUS 3 Elena ZAHARIA ROU 4 Jamila LAURENTI ITA 5 Prithika PAVADE FRA 6 Natalia MALININA RUS 7 Arina SLAUTINA RUS 8 Natalia BRINZA MDA 9 Camille LUTZ FRA 10 Charlotte BARDSLEY (Host) ENG CADET GIRLS SUBSTITUTIES 1 Sophia KLEE GER 2 Isa COK FRA 3 Wenna TU GER 4 Ozge YILMAZ TUR 5 Anastasia BONDAREVA GER 6 Lou FRETE FRA
ETTU nominated eight players for 2017 ITTF World Cadet Challenge
Players must send their confirmation not later than 10th August 2017 The ETTU nominated and invited eight players for 2017 ITTF World Cadet Challenge to be held in Suva Fiji 21-29 October 2017. Invited boys are Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia Truls MOREGARD of Sweden Bilal HAMACHE of France and Kai STUMPER of Germany. Coach is Belgium’s Marc CLOSSET. Invited girls are: Elizabet ABRAAMIAN of Russia Adriana ZAHARIA of Romania Jamila LAURENTI of Italy and Prithika PAVADE of France. The coach is Csilla BÁTORFI of Hungary. Players must send their confirmation not later than 10th August 2017 to Zita PIDL (zpidl.ettu@gmail.com) with cc to Neven CEGNAR (ncegnar@gmail.com) SCHEDULE: 14th October Departure from Europe 16th October Arrival and check in in Suva (Fiji) 16-20 October Preparation camp 21-29 October ITTF World Cadet Challenge 30th October Departure from Suva (Fiji) 1 November Arrival to Europe (airport of origin)
Podgorica hosts 43rd Balkan Senior and 15th U21 Table Tennis Championships
In Montenegro’s city of Podgorica the 43rd Balkan Senior and 15th U21 Table Tennis Championships are underway. In both Men’s and Women’s Team’s Events there are nine teams: Serbia Romania Albania Turkey Montenegro Kosovo Bosnia and Herzegovina FYRO Macedonia and Bulgaria. In the Men’s Event Serbia Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina concluded the first stage at the top of their respective groups undefeated. Serbia and Turkey top seeds in first two groups progressed to the semi final directly. In penultimate stage Serbia will meet the winner of the match between Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina whilst Turkey will play against better team from the duel between FYRO Macedonia and Romania. In Women’s Teams Event Turkey is also safely through to the semis as well as Bulgaria. Top seeds will play against the winner of the match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. Bulgaria will wait for the winner of the match between FYRO Macedonia and Romania.
The Seminar for Referees as a preparation for two big events in Minsk
Seminar was held in Minsk host city of 2018 European Under 21 Championships and 2019 European Games Two bright international tournaments in table tennis will be held in Minsk in the next two years: 2018 European Under 21 Championships and 2019 European Games. Preparing for these competitions the Belarus Table Tennis Federation based on the RCOP in table tennis conducted a referee seminar under the leadership of Nikolai TERESHKIN the head of the Referee and Umpires Committee of the Russian Table Tennis Federation. A total of 25 referees from all over Belarus took part in the seminar. The seminar began with the greeting of First Deputy President Alexandre PETKEVITCH. He noted that the seminar is only the first step to improving the skills of Belarusian referees and solving some problems of the judiciary in this country. One of them is a small number of international umpires. The Federation of Table Tennis of Russia also faced similar difficulties. When Nikolai TERESHKIN had only began to head the Referee and Umpires Committee they did not have a single referee of the international top-level category (blue badge). And in Belarus there are no such qualifications till now. “I knew before the seminar the situation with the judiciary in the republic. Despite the excellent overall attitude to table tennis in Belarus and the impressive results of the team the success of the referee leaves much to be desired” stated Nikolai TERESHKIN. “Now in Russia there are 5 referees of the top international level (blue badge) and we are preparing two more who will be able to serve the world championships youth Olympic games etc. If you are now embarking on the path of holding large tournaments then you need to seriously engage in the training of referees.” Despite the shortage of referees of the international category they still exist in Belarus. And Belarus Table Tennis Federation is determined to work on improving the skills the participation in the seminar confirms this fact. Oleg TYUSHKEVICH is the owner of the international refereeing category and also still acts as a player in competitions. Sometimes after a match is played he has to point out to young referees their mistakes in refereeing. “There are a lot of young people at the seminar who have recently began to judge the competitions and they have received very useful information here. Such meetings should be hold as often as possible. For me there is a lot of familiar material because I am a practicing referee judge matches go to the European Championships. But repetition is the mother of learning. As Nikolai Tereshkin has correctly noted the referees learn a lot of nuances precisely in the process of work” Oleg Tyushkevich said. Some referees have the opportunity to get more acquainted with refereeing at the international level thanks to trips to major tournaments as a coach. Tatiana Dolgonosova has recently returned from the European Youth Championships where our team of cadets won the bronze in the team tournament. True if the result of the athletes pleased the specialist from Belarus the work of the referees did not always receive the highest evaluation of her. Tatiana DOLGONOSOVA says: “I have an international refereeing category and used to practice much more. Now I direct the main forces to coaching. At the European Championships among juniors and cadets several controversial judgments were adopted. Fortunately they did not touch us but influenced the results of our rivals. For example we know for sure that there was a mistake in the match but the judge insisted on his own. This means that the coach also needs to know all the nuances of refereeing and prepare athletes for ambiguous decisions. The seminar under the direction of Nikolai Tereshkin is very useful both for more experienced referees and for beginners. We got such an academic work where we analyzed game situations and corresponding judicial decisions. “ After having passed the exam each student received a certificate and an opportunity to ask questions to Nikolai TERESHKIN. Belarus Table Tennis Federation thank all participants of the seminar as well as the teacher and organizers for the work done!
TSUBOI & ZHANG Qualifies for ITTF World Cups
Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi & USA’s Lily Zhang claim Gold at first ever ITTF-Pan American Cup to qualify for ITTF World Cups later this year. Brazil’s Gustavo TSUBOI & USA’s Lily ZHANG have claimed the titles at the inaugural ITTF-Pan American Cup that concluded yesterday 30 July in San Jose Costa Rica to qualify for the prestigious Men’s & Women’s World Cup later in the year. After the table tennis craze at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games last year Brazil continues to prove itself as a table tennis powerhouse in the Americas booking both places in the Men’s Singles final. Facing the challenge of 23-year-old colleague Eric JOUTI (BRA) the experienced TSUBOI stood victorious to win 4-2 (11-5 12-10 9-11 11-9 6-11 11-5). Guaranteed his third World Cup appearance the 32-year-old shared “This is a really good start to the new season for me after having a holiday break. I’m going to play for Rzezcow in Poland and of course it’s really good in my preparation for the World Cup.” Lily ZHANG was in dominant form in the Women’s Singles final against ZHANG Mo (CAN) her long-term rival in North America who had ended her dream of direct qualification for the Women’s World Cup in 2015 & 2016 at the ITTF-North American Cup. Lily ZHANG took revenge for her previous two defeats to win a four straight game (11-8 11-7 11-5 11-7) to take the title and her golden ticket to the Uncle Pop Women’s World Cup in October. “Mentally I was really well prepared today in my mind I could imagine myself winning. I felt confident in the rallies ” stated the elated 21-year-old who will making her first World Cup appearance as a qualifier. ZHANG had played her first World Cup last year in Philadelphia USA where she made her appearance as the host nation representative. Hybrid of the ITTF-North American Cup and the ITTF-Latin American Cup the ITTF-Pan American Cup is in its first edition in San Jose Costa Rica and will see one male & one female player representing North America and Latin America each at the World Cups to be held later in the year: Liebherr 2017 ITTF Men’s World Cup – 20-22 Oct 2017 Liege (BEL) Uncle Pop 2017 ITTF Women’s World Cup – 27-29 Oct 2017 Markham (CAN) With the Men’s Champion from Latin America & the Women’s Champion coming from North America the best performing male & female player from North America & Latin America respectively will qualify for the World Cups as well. This means USA’s Kanak JHA and Chile’s Paulina VEGA will be making their way to Liege & Markham alongside TSUBOI and ZHANG. The ITTF World Cups are the second most prestigious events on the international table tennis calendar with only 20 of the top table tennis players qualifying through their respective Continental Cups together with the current World Champions one host player and a wildcard. Qualified Players: World Champions: MA Long (CHN) DING Ning (CHN) 2017 ITTF-African Cup: Quadri ARUNA (NGR) Dina MESHREF (EGY) 2017 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) Alexander SHIBAEV (RUS) Simon GAUZY (FRA) LI Jie (NED) Petrissa SOLJA (GER) Sabine WINTER (GER) 2017 ITTF-Oceania Cup: David POWELL (AUS) LAY Jian Fang (AUS) 2017 ITTF-Pan American Cup: Gustavo TSUBOI (BRA) Kanak JHA (USA) Lily ZHANG (USA) Paulina VEGA (CHI)
2017 World Table Tennis Day Biggest Ever
The 2017 World Table Tennis Day held on 6th April 2017 proves table tennis to be popular universal & inclusive attracting over 90 000 participants in 93 countries to rejoice the sport of table tennis making it a true sport for all. 453 events were held in 93 countries in all 6 continents with one common theme – Table Tennis for Everyone Everywhere! To celebrate the third edition of the World Table Tennis Day the ITTF also held 2 main events at the United Nation Headquarters in New York USA and at the Sports Accord Convention in Aarhus Denmark to showcase the universality of Table Tennis to be played in ALL corners of the world. ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated “Once again to everyone who contributed in one way or another to making our third World Table Tennis Day beautiful and memorable I would like to express my sincere gratitude from the bottom of my heart. It fills me with great pride to see how far we have come and may we continue to push on in our quest to make table tennis for everyone everywhere. To make TABLE TENNIS FOR ALL.” “In 2017 ITTF is celebrating the universality of Table Tennis as it is the first International Organisation gathering all countries in the world as members totaling 226 under its umbrella. It’s our task now to keep motivation high and to see further than just the country name to reach people in their daily lives with Table Tennis and to use it as a tool for a positive social change ” shared ITTF Development Director Leandro OLVECH. Butterfly equipment packages were given to AmaTur Romania and Pingpongphilic StartUp Incubation Universal Society (PSIUS) who hosted 112 & 76 events respectively to celebrate their passion for the sport. iPong Robots were also given to the most popular most universal most inclusive and most creative events. Find out more about how table tennis enthusiasts around the world came together to celebrate 2017 World Table Tennis Day here: https://youtu.be/8HLTcr4TEgs! We now look forward to the 2018 edition of World Table Tennis Day which will again of course be on 6 April! Winner:Butterfly Equipment Package: AmaTur Romania Pingpongphilic StartUp Incubation Universal Society (PSIUS) iPong Robots for 2 Most Popular Events: Dita Boterore e Pingpongut in Prishtina Kosovo İzmir Playing Table Tennis at WTTD in Izmir Turkey iPong Robots for 2 Most Universal Events: World Table Tennis Day in Cabo Verde Teepee Table Tennis in Fort Simpson Canada iPong Robots for 2 Most Inclusive Events: Ping Sans Frontiéres celebrates World Table Tennis Day in France Ivory Coast Nigeria and Haiti Table Tennis for Everyone in Hoima Uganda iPong Robots for 2 Most Inclusive Events: The Great Knowledge Quiz about Table Tennis in Prabuty Poland Table Tennis Fun Day 4ALL Fiji Style in Suva Fiji iPong Robots for 2 Most “Popular Universal & Inclusive” Events at once: Jugamos donde queremos (We play where we want to) in Santa Marta Colombia Brighton Table Tennis Club celebrates World Table Tennis Day in Brighton England
