2018 BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships The 2018 BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships gathered 56 players in Men’s and 55 players in Women’s Singles Event in Minsk. Under the roof of impressing Falcon club in next four days they will fight for the titles in Singles and Doubles Events. The only way to play here is by being invited. The highest ranked 56 men and 56 women players derived from the December 2017 European Under 21 ranking lists received the invitation with a maximum 3 men and 3 women players from a member Association. In singles events 8 seeded players are directly placed in stage two. Top seeds in Men’s Event are Tomas POLANSKY of Czech Republic Darko JORGIC of Slovenia Andreas LEVENKO of Austria Cristian PLETEA of Romania Bence MAJOROS of Hungary Aliaksandr KHANIN of Belarus Rares SIPOS of Romania and Patryk ZATOWKA of Poland. In Women’s Singles Event top players are WAN Yuan of Germany Adina DIACONU of Romania Alina NIKITCHANKA Daria TRIGOLOS and Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus Solomiya BRATEYKO of Ukraine Natalia BAJOR of Poland and Maria TAILAKOVA of Russia. The remaining 48 or 47 players play in a qualification in 12 groups. The winner and the runner-up from each group will qualify for stage 2. The players ranked 9 – 20 shall be placed in descending ranking order respectively at the top of the groups 1 to 12. In Stage 3 the 16 qualifiers from stage 2 will play a direct knockout competition. Last year at the inaugural Championships held in Russia’s Sochi Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia and Chantal MANTZ of Germany clinched the titles in Singles.
Minsk welcomed European top U21 players
2018 BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships The 2018 BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships gathered 56 players in Men’s and 55 players in Women’s Singles Event in Minsk. Under the roof of impressing Falcon club in next four days they will fight for the titles in Singles and Doubles Events. The only way to play here is by being invited. The highest ranked 56 men and 56 women players derived from the December 2017 European Under 21 ranking lists received the invitation with a maximum 3 men and 3 women players from a member Association. In singles events 8 seeded players are directly placed in stage two. Top seeds in Men’s Event are Tomas POLANSKY of Czech Republic Darko JORGIC of Slovenia Andreas LEVENKO of Austria Cristian PLETEA of Romania Bence MAJOROS of Hungary Aliaksandr KHANIN of Belarus Rares SIPOS of Romania and Patryk ZATOWKA of Poland. In Women’s Singles Event top players are WAN Yuan of Germany Adina DIACONU of Romania Alina NIKITCHANKA Daria TRIGOLOS and Nadezhda BOGDANOVA of Belarus Solomiya BRATEYKO of Ukraine Natalia BAJOR of Poland and Maria TAILAKOVA of Russia. The remaining 48 or 47 players play in a qualification in 12 groups. The winner and the runner-up from each group will qualify for stage 2. The players ranked 9 – 20 shall be placed in descending ranking order respectively at the top of the groups 1 to 12. In Stage 3 the 16 qualifiers from stage 2 will play a direct knockout competition. Last year at the inaugural Championships held in Russia’s Sochi Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia and Chantal MANTZ of Germany clinched the titles in Singles.
Star Studded ITTF World Tour Qatar Open Begins Action in Doha
The cream of the crop in world table tennis are in Doha for the first Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum event of the year the Qatar Open which runs from 8-11 March 2018. After two days of high level qualification we have the final 32 men and women made up from 16 players who came from qualification to meet the top 15 seeds plus a host player who will now compete in the main draw today. The qualification was the highest ever quality with players as high as 18 in the world having to fight for a spot in the main draw including Olympic & World Champion DING Ning (CHN) and former world number one LIU Shiwen who had dropped in their world rankings due to inactivity in 2017. The high level of qualification means there are some extremely tough first round matches for the top seeds. None more than the world number one ZHU Yuling having to play her teammate LIU Shiwen in the first round. Commenting on the match that would not be out of place as the final here in Qatar ZHU Yuling stated: “It’s a tough draw but of course I expected that I could meet my teammate in the first round we have 14 of us competing here so the chances are pretty high. Against Liu Shiwen I still have more defeats than victories even though I won our last encounter at the Women’s World Cup last year so I can only try to play my best.” In the men’s draw all eyes will be on Timo BOLL (GER) who became the oldest ever world number one last week at 36 years of age and is turning 37 for his first-round match against Chinese Taipei’s rising star LIN Yun-Ju. Three-time Qatar Open Champion XU Xin who will be looking at making history as the most successful Men’s Singles player in Qatar faces Portugal’s Tiago APOLONIA in his opening match. While world number two FAN Zhendong looks at taking his first Qatar Open title following his success at the 2018 Hungarian Open in January. The Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open is the first of six ITTF World Tour Platinum events in 2018 which is the top tier of the ITTF World Tour with the most prize money and world ranking points. Together with the six regular ITTF World Tour events players compete to earn World Tour Standings points to be one of top 16 to qualify for the one-million-dollar World Tour Grand Finals in December.
Star Studded ITTF World Tour Qatar Open Begins Action in Doha
The cream of the crop in world table tennis are in Doha for the first Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum event of the year the Qatar Open which runs from 8-11 March 2018. After two days of high level qualification we have the final 32 men and women made up from 16 players who came from qualification to meet the top 15 seeds plus a host player who will now compete in the main draw today. The qualification was the highest ever quality with players as high as 18 in the world having to fight for a spot in the main draw including Olympic & World Champion DING Ning (CHN) and former world number one LIU Shiwen who had dropped in their world rankings due to inactivity in 2017. The high level of qualification means there are some extremely tough first round matches for the top seeds. None more than the world number one ZHU Yuling having to play her teammate LIU Shiwen in the first round. Commenting on the match that would not be out of place as the final here in Qatar ZHU Yuling stated: “It’s a tough draw but of course I expected that I could meet my teammate in the first round we have 14 of us competing here so the chances are pretty high. Against Liu Shiwen I still have more defeats than victories even though I won our last encounter at the Women’s World Cup last year so I can only try to play my best.” In the men’s draw all eyes will be on Timo BOLL (GER) who became the oldest ever world number one last week at 36 years of age and is turning 37 for his first-round match against Chinese Taipei’s rising star LIN Yun-Ju. Three-time Qatar Open Champion XU Xin who will be looking at making history as the most successful Men’s Singles player in Qatar faces Portugal’s Tiago APOLONIA in his opening match. While world number two FAN Zhendong looks at taking his first Qatar Open title following his success at the 2018 Hungarian Open in January. The Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open is the first of six ITTF World Tour Platinum events in 2018 which is the top tier of the ITTF World Tour with the most prize money and world ranking points. Together with the six regular ITTF World Tour events players compete to earn World Tour Standings points to be one of top 16 to qualify for the one-million-dollar World Tour Grand Finals in December.
SHIBAEV and MIKHAILOVA secure top prize in Russia
Russian National Championships Alexander SHIBAEV and Polina MIKHAILOVA are the single`s winners of the Russian National Championships. They beat in the final games Vildan GADIEV and Olga VOROBEVA respectively. SHIBAEV 2014 winner participated first time after that title at the national championships while GADIEV recorded his best ever result and even more he upset last year`s winner and current no. 2 seed Alexey LIVENSTOV in seven games of the quarter-final. Both individual winners have needed five games in the final games: MIKHAILOVA beat defending champion VOROBEVA in the gold medal contest 4:1 (11:13 11:5 11:9 11:7 11:3) whilst SHIBAEV has defeated GADIEV 4:1 (11:5 11:6 9:11 11:7 11:5) Men`s Doubles winners are Mikhail PAYKOV and Alexey LIVENTSOV who prevailed against Alexander SHIBAEV and Kirill SKACHKOV after full five games 2:3 (14:12 9:11 8:11 12:10 5:11). The best Women`s Doubles are composed by Valeria KATSYUR and Anastasia KOLISH. They secured gold after very tense final clash against Antonina SAVELYEVA and Elena ABAIMOVA also in five sets.
SHIBAEV and MIKHAILOVA secure top prize in Russia
Russian National Championships Alexander SHIBAEV and Polina MIKHAILOVA are the single`s winners of the Russian National Championships. They beat in the final games Vildan GADIEV and Olga VOROBEVA respectively. SHIBAEV 2014 winner participated first time after that title at the national championships while GADIEV recorded his best ever result and even more he upset last year`s winner and current no. 2 seed Alexey LIVENSTOV in seven games of the quarter-final. Both individual winners have needed five games in the final games: MIKHAILOVA beat defending champion VOROBEVA in the gold medal contest 4:1 (11:13 11:5 11:9 11:7 11:3) whilst SHIBAEV has defeated GADIEV 4:1 (11:5 11:6 9:11 11:7 11:5) Men`s Doubles winners are Mikhail PAYKOV and Alexey LIVENTSOV who prevailed against Alexander SHIBAEV and Kirill SKACHKOV after full five games 2:3 (14:12 9:11 8:11 12:10 5:11). The best Women`s Doubles are composed by Valeria KATSYUR and Anastasia KOLISH. They secured gold after very tense final clash against Antonina SAVELYEVA and Elena ABAIMOVA also in five sets.
Sofia POLCANOVA repeats hat-trick in Austria
Austrian National Championships Linz`s player Sofia POLCANOVA 23 has repeated hat-trick at the Austrian National Championships winning again gold in all three events: Women`s singles and doubles and Mixed Doubles. Daniel HABESOHN secured his third crown in the Men`s Singles event by beating his former teammate 2017-winner Stefan FEGERL in five games. “My goal was to win all possible titles Singles Doubles and Mixed Doubles and I am delighted by the outcome” stated Sofia POLCANOVA in the city of Wolfsberg. HABESOHN stressed that two crucial moments for his success emerged in first two sets when he faced huge deficit (5:8 and 0:5 respectively). Men`s Singles Final: Daniel HABESOHN – Stefan FEGERL 4:1 (11:9 12:10 11:8 11:13 11:4) Bronze: Simon PFEFFER and Alexander CHEN Women`s Singles Final: Sofia POLCANOVA – LIU Yuan 4:0 (11:5 11:9 11:3 11:6) Bronze: Karoline MISCHEK and Amelie SOLJA Men`s Doubles Final: Alexander CHEN / Simon PFEFFER – Christoph SIMONER / David VORCNIK 3:2 (11:8 6:11 6:11 11:5 11:9) Bronze: Dominik HABESOHN / Mathias HABESOHN and Dominique PLATTNER / Martin STORF Women`s Doubles Final: Sofia POLCANOVA / Ines DIENDORFER – LIU Yuan / Lena PROMBERGER 3:0 (11:9 11:6 11:6) Bronze: Sophia KELLERMANN / Karoline MISCHEK and Nicole GALITSCHITSCH /Lisa STORER Mixed Doubles Final: Sofia POLCANOVA / Simon PFEFFER – Lisa STORER / Christoph SIMONER 3:1 (11:7 11:5 9:11 12:10) Bronze: Karoline MISCHEK / Thomas GRININGER and Nicole GALITSCHITSCH / Dominik HABESOHN
Sofia POLCANOVA repeats hat-trick in Austria
Austrian National Championships Linz`s player Sofia POLCANOVA 23 has repeated hat-trick at the Austrian National Championships winning again gold in all three events: Women`s singles and doubles and Mixed Doubles. Daniel HABESOHN secured his third crown in the Men`s Singles event by beating his former teammate 2017-winner Stefan FEGERL in five games. “My goal was to win all possible titles Singles Doubles and Mixed Doubles and I am delighted by the outcome” stated Sofia POLCANOVA in the city of Wolfsberg. HABESOHN stressed that two crucial moments for his success emerged in first two sets when he faced huge deficit (5:8 and 0:5 respectively). Men`s Singles Final: Daniel HABESOHN – Stefan FEGERL 4:1 (11:9 12:10 11:8 11:13 11:4) Bronze: Simon PFEFFER and Alexander CHEN Women`s Singles Final: Sofia POLCANOVA – LIU Yuan 4:0 (11:5 11:9 11:3 11:6) Bronze: Karoline MISCHEK and Amelie SOLJA Men`s Doubles Final: Alexander CHEN / Simon PFEFFER – Christoph SIMONER / David VORCNIK 3:2 (11:8 6:11 6:11 11:5 11:9) Bronze: Dominik HABESOHN / Mathias HABESOHN and Dominique PLATTNER / Martin STORF Women`s Doubles Final: Sofia POLCANOVA / Ines DIENDORFER – LIU Yuan / Lena PROMBERGER 3:0 (11:9 11:6 11:6) Bronze: Sophia KELLERMANN / Karoline MISCHEK and Nicole GALITSCHITSCH /Lisa STORER Mixed Doubles Final: Sofia POLCANOVA / Simon PFEFFER – Lisa STORER / Christoph SIMONER 3:1 (11:7 11:5 9:11 12:10) Bronze: Karoline MISCHEK / Thomas GRININGER and Nicole GALITSCHITSCH / Dominik HABESOHN
Lisa LUNG wins first title NUYTINCK again on the top
Belgian National Championships Lisa LUNG aged 18 won her very first title of Belgian National Championships in the city of Louvain-la-Neuve whilst Cedric NUYTINCK 25 continued his dominancy in the men`s competition. LUNG faced very hard task in the penultimate stage being extended to full distance by Daria MITYUKOVA (led 3:1) while in the gold medal contest she overcame Margo DEGRAEF in six games. Men`s Singles semi-finals provided two super tense clashes both in seven games: Cedrid NUYTINCK vs. Martin ALLEGRO Yannick VOSTES vs. Florian CNUDDE. Defending champion and no. 1 seed has defeated VOSTES in straight games of the final. Men`s Singles Semi-finals: Cedrid NUYTINCK – Martin ALLEGRO 4:3 (9:11 6:11 11:8 11:9 9:11 11:9 11:9) Yannick VOSTES – Florian CNUDDE 4:3 (6:11 11:7 11:6 11:9 9:11 9:11 11:7). Finals: Cedrid NUYTINCK – Yannick VOSTES 4:0 (11:6 11:2 11:7 11:7) Women`s Singles Semi-finals: Margo DEGRAEF – Eline LOYEN 4:3 (11:7 11:9 8:11 9:11 10:12 11:7 14:12) Lisa LUNG – Daria MITYUKOVA 4:3 (4:11 11:6 8:11 9:11 11:9 11:9 11:6). Finals: Lisa LUNG – Margo DEGRAEF 4:2 (11:4 7:11 11:5 12:14 11:8 11:5) Men`s Doubles Final: NUYTINCK / DEVOS – LAMBIET / ALLEGRO 3:0 (11:8 11:9 12:10) Women`s Doubles Final: LOYEN / DEGRAEF – OZER / MARCHETTI 3:2 (4:11 5:11 13:11 11:9 11:6) Mixed Doubles SCHENKEL / MITYUKOVA – SONNET / GUIDON 3:2 (11:8 8:11 6:11 11:7 11:8)
Lisa LUNG wins first title NUYTINCK again on the top
Belgian National Championships Lisa LUNG aged 18 won her very first title of Belgian National Championships in the city of Louvain-la-Neuve whilst Cedric NUYTINCK 25 continued his dominancy in the men`s competition. LUNG faced very hard task in the penultimate stage being extended to full distance by Daria MITYUKOVA (led 3:1) while in the gold medal contest she overcame Margo DEGRAEF in six games. Men`s Singles semi-finals provided two super tense clashes both in seven games: Cedrid NUYTINCK vs. Martin ALLEGRO Yannick VOSTES vs. Florian CNUDDE. Defending champion and no. 1 seed has defeated VOSTES in straight games of the final. Men`s Singles Semi-finals: Cedrid NUYTINCK – Martin ALLEGRO 4:3 (9:11 6:11 11:8 11:9 9:11 11:9 11:9) Yannick VOSTES – Florian CNUDDE 4:3 (6:11 11:7 11:6 11:9 9:11 9:11 11:7). Finals: Cedrid NUYTINCK – Yannick VOSTES 4:0 (11:6 11:2 11:7 11:7) Women`s Singles Semi-finals: Margo DEGRAEF – Eline LOYEN 4:3 (11:7 11:9 8:11 9:11 10:12 11:7 14:12) Lisa LUNG – Daria MITYUKOVA 4:3 (4:11 11:6 8:11 9:11 11:9 11:9 11:6). Finals: Lisa LUNG – Margo DEGRAEF 4:2 (11:4 7:11 11:5 12:14 11:8 11:5) Men`s Doubles Final: NUYTINCK / DEVOS – LAMBIET / ALLEGRO 3:0 (11:8 11:9 12:10) Women`s Doubles Final: LOYEN / DEGRAEF – OZER / MARCHETTI 3:2 (4:11 5:11 13:11 11:9 11:6) Mixed Doubles SCHENKEL / MITYUKOVA – SONNET / GUIDON 3:2 (11:8 8:11 6:11 11:7 11:8)
