by Ian Marshall ITTF Publications Editor   Born in Timisoara on Saturday 25th November 1933 recently just after her 84th birthday Ella Zeller Constantinescu greeted welcome visitors; Beatrice Romanescu Marketing Manager of the Romanian Table Tennis Federation and Richard Scruton Secretary-General of the European Table Tennis Union were the distinguished guests. Lunch followed by a return to her house in the Hanau Germany for tea and home made cakes; photographs and newspaper articles of yesteryear proved enchanting reading.(left to right) Beatrice Romanescu Ella Zeller Constantinescu and Richard Scruton in Hanau (Photo: courtesy of Richard Scruton) by Ian Marshall ITTF Publications Editor Outstanding at ball games in addition to table tennis she excelled at handball volleyball and basketball when 13 years old playing for the local town table tennis team she attracted considerable attention. She stood out from the crowd; in 1950 after leaving high school she enrolled at the Institute of Physical Culture and Sport in Bucharest the club where Angelica Rozeanu six times winner of the Women ‘s Singles title at the World Championships was a member. Rapid progress followed a place in the Romanian national team was achieved and medals at World Championships gained. Notably 1956 1957 and 1963 she reached the semi-final stage of the Women’s Singles event at the World Championships but her strength was as team player. In 1953 in Bucharest she teamed with Angelica Rozeanu to win the Women’s Team title before in 1955 in Utrecht and 1956 in Tokyo again with Angelica Rozeanu she struck gold in both the Women’s Team and Women’s Doubles competitions.     “Ella is looking forward to visiting the 2018 World Championships in Halmstad and the European Youth Championships in Cluj Napoca.” Richard Scruton Many titles came her way notably at the first ever European Championships in 1958 she won Women’s Doubles gold again in partnership with Angelica Rozeanu; before in 1966 she retired from international play but was not lost to the sport of table tennis. She assumed the position of head coach for the national team before fulfilling a major role within the European Table Tennis Union. She became a member of Management Committee later she assumed the role Vice President and is now a honorary member. Beatrice Romanescu and Richard Scruton will be assisting Ella Zeller Constantinescu in producing a biographical and historical project about her life in table tennis; undoubtedly it will be intriguing reading. 

Finlandia Open started on Thursday with men’s and women’s team competitions. Just like last year Japan clinched double titles in both Events. The best men were Yosuke WATANABE and Hokuto KORIYMA and the best women Saki SEYAMA and Minami ANDO. The team competition was played for the first time only in two winning points.   Finlandia Open is held for the 28th time. The venue is an already familiar Kisakallio Sports Institute where organizers have brought 27 tables. The hall is in fact the Finnish basketball team’s practice hall. There is 30 countries in the race. On Wednesday the 100th anniversary of Finnish independence was celebrated which has been reflected in Finland’s street art in many ways.   From Friday to Saturday the men’s and women’s singles are played by 120 male and 55 female players. The game system is Finlandia Open’s traditional progressive knock out which at the end of the competition gives an accurate position for every player.   The home crowd’s favourite Benedek OLÁH is first seeded in men’s singles. On Thursday Oláh suffered a surprising loss in team competition for Russia’s Evgenii REGENTOV.   Hokuto Koriyma and Minami Ando are defending their titles in Finlandia Open.   Results   Men’s team semi-finals   Japan 1 – Spain 2-0   Japan 2 – Russia 2-0       Final   Japan 1 – Japan 2 2-0   Yosuke Watanabe – Yusuke Sadamatsu 11-4 5-11 13-11 11-5   Hokuto Koriyama – Daisuke Yosida 11-6 6-11 11-7 11-8       Women’s team semi-finals   Japan 1 – Belarus 2-0   Japan 2 – Hungary 2-1       Final   Japan 1 – Japan 2   2-1   Saki Seyama – Mai Asadi 12-10 6-11 9-11 11-3 5-11   Minami Ando – Akari Okushita 11-6 9-11 11-5 11-5   Seyama / Ando – Asadi / Okushita 11-9 11-7 9-11 5-11 13-11    

Fourth annual Camp gathered a total of 20 players from 11 European countries   The latest fourth annual ETTU Development Training Camp gathered a total of 20 players and 14 coaches from 11 European countries in the Czech Republic city of Ostrava. Training Center of TTC Ostrava 2016 hosts this prestigious U-13 Camp guided and administered by Neven CEGNAR the ETTU Development Officer.   Neven CEGNAR stressed that all participants have a nice conditions in Ostrava training twice a day with coaches Peter KORBEL Tomas DEMEK and Dominik PISKOR.

Silver medalist at the European Youth Championships in the Cadet Boy’s Singles Event for a two years in the row Sweden`s rising star 15-year-old Truls MOREGARD justified his status on a higher level by winning silver at the 2017 ITTF World Junior Championships in Riva del Garda Italy last week. His tremendous run was halted on a final hurdle in the final against no. 1 seed China`s XUE Fei.   MOREGARD had a good warm up before the Championships. Swede is the youngest ever Table Tennis Champions League participant. He was just 14-year-old when he debuted for Sweden`s club Eslovs Ai Bordtennis. Six weeks ago he recorded his very first TTCLM win against Chartres` Romain LORENTZ.   “Before the tournament it felt good in practice and in Champions league so I knew if I would play as good as I did there I could beat very good players!” explained Truls.   In Italy he was required to play the qualification stage to reach the main draw.   “The qualification helped me a lot with the draw because I played more matches before the toughest duels” said Truls who beat Andres MARTINEZ of Chile and Leandro FUENTES of Argentina in straight games in the Group stage.   It proved right because from the early stage of the main draw Truls faced great challenge. He was stretched to full distance by France`s Leo DE NORDEST.   “The first round against Leo was very tough! I was nervous and didn’t play so good. At the end I was very happy to win that match!”   Next in line was American player Kanak JHA followed by Japan’s Yuto KIZUKURI the no.2 seed: “Kanak was very tough because he played very safe but I had good tactics in the end. Against KIZUKURI I had an unbelievable match and everything was good.”   Success gave him more power so he exploded against China’s XU Haidong. He beat him in straight games: “Xu was not so tough because I played good and had good tactics again. He didn’t play so strong.”   In semis it was time for another notable name to leave the arena defeated. NIU Guankai the no.3 seed stretched Truls to full seven games before Swede succeeded to the final: “Niu was very good. He played so safe and had a lot quality in his game. But I played really well!”   Against the top seeded XUE Fei Truls showed no fear. “XU was too good this time. He responded to my service game very good and then it was big problem for me. But if I could take first or second game it would be an another match.”   There will not be a lot of time for rest for Truls before holidays.   “ I have three League matches before Christmas ” said MOREGARD.

2017 World Junior Table Tennis Championships   China has reinstated its supremacy at the 2017 World Junior Table Tennis Championships sweeping all seven titles (Boys’ Singles Girls’ Singles Boys’ Doubles Girls’ Doubles Mixed Doubles Boys’ Team and Girls’ Team) available after winning only the Girls’ Singles title at the last edition of the event in 2016.   Top seed in the Boys’ Singles XUE Fei was the star player of the team in Riva del Garda Italy winning four titles for the Chinese team – Boys’ Singles Doubles Team as well as the Mixed Doubles crown.   XUE had to face off surprise finalist Truls MOREGARD (SWE) who fought his way from the qualification stage eliminating XUE’s teammates XU Haidong (CHN) and NIU Guankai (CHN) en route to the final.   The fearless MOREGARD challenged the top seed in the final hurdle to Gold but the far more experienced XUE proved too strong for the 15-year-old Swedish dominating the match 4-1 (11-9 12-10 11-4 9-11 11-8) to seal the victory.   “I’m very happy to claim this title. I lost the final in 2015 so this is a form of affirmation. Especially also because we lost the title last year so I was also determined to win the title back for the team ” stated XUE after securing the title to end his trip to Italy.   Ranked number 9 on the senior’s World Ranking SUN Yingsha (CHN) was unstoppable in the Girls’ Singles Final against two-time World Junior Champion WANG Manyu (CHN). The dynamic duo treated the local crowd to a world class table tennis thriller with fast and furious rallies. It was the 16-year-old SUN who prevailed to take the match 14-12 in the decider to win the close encounter 4-3 (6-11 11-8 11-8 12-14 8-11 11-6 14-12).   “This is my first World Junior Championships and she has won twice already so I came into the final with the mindset to challenge her ” shared SUN. “We both played our best level today we know each other very well and actually I wasn’t confident in the seventh game because she’s such a tough opponent to beat. She’s always able to withstand the pressure to come back and this is something that I’m still lacking in. But when I was 11-12 down in the decider I was still determined to fight back and win this title.”   SUN and WANG faced each other again in an all-Chinese Girls’ Doubles final with SUN partnering with SHI Xunyao to recover from 2-3 games down to beat WANG and QIAN Tianyi 4-3 (7-11 14-12 11-4 8-11 10-12 11-9 11-9) to claim their first World Junior Championships title together.   Despite losing the first game 12-14 to the Korean duo of BAEK Hogyun and AN Jaehyun the Chinese pairing of XUE and WANG Chuqin were quick to bounce back taking the next four games to win 4-1 (10-12 11-8 11-5 11-5 11-5) in the Boys’ Doubles Final.   XUE joined forces with WANG Manyu to defeat Korean pair KIM Jiho and AN Jaehyun 4-1 (11-8 11-5 14-12 8-11 11-8) in the Mixed Doubles Final to add on to China’s title haul in Riva del Garda Italy.   Earlier on 29 November 2017 China has already claimed both the Girls’ and Boys’ Team titles.   With the conclusion of the 2017 World Junior Table Tennis Championships all eyes now turn to the US$1 000 000 Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals to be held in Astana Kazakhstan from 14 – 17 December 2017.

China`s XUE Fei no. 1 seed won gold in the Boys Singles final at the 2017 ITTF World Junior Championships in Riva del Garda Italy. MOREGARD upset XUE’s compatriot NIU Guankai the no.3 seed in the semi-final   Sweden`s rising star 15-year-old Truls MOREGARD has accomplished a great achievement winning silver medal in the Boys Singles event at the 2017 ITTF World Junior Championships in Riva del Garda Italy. Starting from the qualifications three days ago he managed to progress to the gold medal contest held today where he was beaten by no. 1 seed China`s XUE Fei in five games – 4:1 (11:9 12:10 11:4 9:11 11:8)   MOREGARD won seven consecutive matches in his thrilling campaign. Yesterday he beat the odds twice to reserve the semi-final berth of the Junior Boys Singles contest but today (Dec 3rd) he made one step towards. He upset China’s NIU Guankai the no.3 seed in exciting seven games 4:3 (13:11 10:12 11:6 4:11 6:11 11:5 11:5)   “It’s unbelievable but I’m so happy right now! We are both 15 we had a very good match it’s very safe we played very good both of us didn’t miss so we had some amazing rallies. I had better tactics than him in the end I’m really happy right now. I have no fear in the match he had all the pressure. I’m not seeded in this tournament and I know I can play very good so I just played my game and I know I could win. A resurgence in Sweden you never know this but I hope so. I play a little bit like WALDNER with my backhand. I have good mentality. I have lost many close matches in the year but now I have learnt from these and now I win this ” stated Truls MOREGARD for ITTF website after his semi-final win.   The runner-up of the Cadet Boys Singles at the 2016 European Youth Championships has been commenced from the qualifications here winning both group phase matches in straight games. He faced huge task in the very beginning of the main draw being extended to full distance by France`s Leo DE NORDEST. Sweden`s boy reversed the score from 1:3 to 4:3 in that clash having one more encounter in seven sets in the Round 2 against American player Kanak JHA.   Quarter-final game sent a clear message to his opponents that MOREGARD has a special mission in Riva del Garda as he eliminated Japan`s Yuto KIZUKURI the no.2 seed. He continued his winning streak against China`s XU Haidong in straight sets.   MOREGARD rewrites the record books last year as he became a youngest ever Table Tennis Champions League participant. He was just 14-year-old when he debuted for Sweden`s club Eslovs Ai Bordtennis. Six weeks ago he recorded his very first TTCLM win against Chartres` Romain LORENTZ.   Two top seeds met in the all-Chinese gold medal contest of the Junior Girls Singles. No. 1 SIN Yungsha (China) beat no. 2 WANG Manyu (China) after full seven games as the ultimate one was decided by a narrow margin (14:12).   Junior Boys Singles   Semi-finals XUE Fei (China) – WANG Chuqin (China) 4:0 (11:9 11:9 11:3 11:7) Truls MOREGARDH (Sweden) – NIU Guankai (China) 4:3 (13:11 10:12 11:6 4:11 6:11 11:5 11:8)   Final XUE Fei (China) – Truls MOREGARDH (Sweden) 4:1 (11:9 12:10 11:4 9:11 11:8)     Junior Girls Singles   Semi-finals SIN Yungsha (China) – QIAN Tianyi (China) 4:3 (8:11 11:8 7:11 2:11 11:4 11:3 11:7) WANG Manyu (China) – Miyu KATO (Japan) 4:1 (10:12 11:5 12:10 11:7 11:9)   Final SIN Yungsha (China) – WANG Manyu (China) 4:3 (6:11 11:8 11:8 12:14 8:11 11:6 14:12)