Chinese superstar ZHANG Jike has withdrawn from the Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals with an ankle injury. The injury is the same one that forced the world number four to pull out from the recent Austrian and Swedish ITTF World Tour events last month. The news has left the London 2012 Olympic Champion’s 7.6 million weibo fans devastated as they were looking forward to seeing their hero in action for the first time since September’s China Open. The reports coming out of China state that the injury occurredwhen the double World Champion was filming for a reality show where he was eventually chased after by his fans who couldn’t contain their excitement upon seeing him. This caused ZHANG to sprain his ankle and was not able to recoverin time for the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals. The injury means that the Rio 2016 Olympic Games silver medalist will have to wait another 12 months for the chance to win the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals title the one major table tennis title eluding him in his decorated career. Japan’s Koki NIWA is the the lucky player who now takes ZHANG Jike’s place at the Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals which will take place 8-11 December in Doha Qatar.
GIONIS provides important win to Bogoria
Three out of eight TTCLM Round 5 matches finished Table Tennis Champions League Men Round 5 commenced with three matches held this evening: KS UNIA AZS AWFiS GDANSK – ESLOVS AI BORDTENNIS 2:3 FC SAARBRUCKEN TISCHTENNIS – BOGORIA GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI 2:3 G.V. HENNEBONT TT – TTC OSTRAVA 2016. Current TTCLM runner-up ESLOVS AL BORDTENNIS beat away KS UNIA AZS AWFiS GDANSK as XU Hui did his job providing two points to Swedish team. In his first encounter Chinese overcame his former team mate Mattias OVERSJO in four games while in the fourth clash he prevailed against WANG Yang. The fifth duel between OVERSJO and Daniel KOSIBA was very intense and after many upside downs belonged to Eslov`s player. BOGORIA GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI needed victory in Saarbrucken in order to preserve its chances for the quarter-final and they managed it thanks to Panagiotis GIONIS who took two points. Two former players of Borussia Dusseldorf met in the decisive fifth clash as Greek who signed for Bogoria last summer beat Patrick BAUM after full five games. GIONIS overcame Bojan TOKIC in the opening game between two former individual bronze medalists from European championships while Daniel GORAK added third point on Bogoria`s account beating young Russian Andrey SEMENOV. One more match was held in the Group C as G.V. HENNEBONT TT defeated TTC OSTRAVA 2016 3:1. Now it`s clear that the Round 6 game between Bogoria and Hennebont will decide the second quarter-finalist beside Saarbrucken. CHEN Chieh-An was man of the match in Hennebont`s clash. He beat both Tomas TREGLER and Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC who lost to Quentin ROBINOT in the second game. Petr KORBEL won unique point in Ostrava`s side defeating Liam PITCHFORD. The 2016/17 TTCLM Round 5 GROUP B KS UNIA AZS AWFiS GDANSK – ESLOVS AI BORDTENNIS 2:3 WANG Yang – Daniel KOSIBA 3:0 (11:4 11:7 11:6) Mattias OVERSJO – XU Hui 1:3 (7:11 11:8 2:11 10:12) Mitsuki YOSHIDA – Robert SVENSSON 3:1 (11:9 11:4 10:12 11:9) WANG Yang – XU Hui 1:3 (11:9 4:11 7:11 5:11) Mattias OVERSJO – Daniel KOSIBA 2:3 (9:11 11:8 9:11 11:4 4:11) GROUP C FC SAARBRUCKEN TISCHTENNIS – BOGORIA GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI 2:3 Bojan TOKIC – Panagiotis GIONIS 1:3 (4:11 11:6 6:11 8:11) Patrick BAUM – Daniel GORAK 3:0 (12:10 11:9 11:4) Tiago APOLONIA – Artur MICHALCZYK 3:0 (11:3 11:3 11:1) Andrey SEMENOV – Daniel GORAK 0:3 (7:11 6:11 8:11) Patrick BAUM – Panagiotis GIONIS 2:3 (7:11 12:10 6:11 11:5 7:11) G.V. HENNEBONT TT – TTC OSTRAVA 2016 3:1 CHEN Chieh-An – Tomas TREGLER 3:2 (8:11 13:11 7:11 11:8 11:5) Quentin ROBINOT – Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC 3:2 (9:11 11:9 10:12 12:10 11:8) Liam PITCHFORD – Petr KORBEL 1:3 (10:12 11:6 5:11 8:11) CHEN Chieh-An – Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC 3:1 (12:10 11:3 6:11 11:8)
Berlin preserved unbeaten status
Opening match of the ECLW Round 5: TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE – TT SAINT QUENTIN 3:1 Reigning ECLW champion confirmed its class in the Group A winning fourth consecutive match: TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE – TT SAINT QUENTIN 3:1. It was the ultimate group stage game of German club who continue to the next level with 4-0 score. In the Round 6 December 16th French side (1-2) will fight against Hungarian Postas Sport Egyesulet (0-3) for the second spot of Group A. Georgina POTA provided two points to his side this evening. First she beat former Berlin`s Ran LI KATH after full five games concluding the entire match by the victory against ZENG Jian 3:1 (11:7 11:4 9:11 11:6). Yui HAMAMOTO added one more point on Berlin`s account while Daniela MONTEIRO-DODEAN took unique Saint-Quentin`s point overcoming Petrissa SOLJA. ECLW Round 5 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE – TT SAINT QUENTIN 3:1 Georgina POTA – Ran LI KATH 3:2 (11:7 11:8 14:16 6:11 11:8) Yui HAMAMOTO – ZENG Jian 3:0 (11:7 11:4 11:4) Petrissa SOLJA – Daniela MONTEIRO-DODEAN 0:3 (9:11 12:14 0:11) Georgina POTA – ZENG Jian 3:1 (11:7 11:4 9:11 11:6)
SHEN Yanfei says goodbye to table tennis
Pregame farewell ceremony will be held before the ECLW Round 5 match UCAM Cartagena – LINZ AG FROSCHBERG (December 2nd 19:00 CET) SHEN Yanfei already announced her retirement from table tennis two months ago during the Seamaster 2016 Women’s World Cup but her club UCAM Cartagena will organize pregame farewell ceremony just before the ECLW Round 5 game against LINZ AG FROSCHBERG this Friday December 2nd (19:00 CET). Chinese-born player has represented Spain at three Olympic Games and she was a hero of historical successes of Spanish club UCAM Cartagena. The 36-year-old SHEN led the team to the two ETTU Cup titles (2009 2010) 10 Spanish leagues and 9 Spanish cups. She is a current ITTF Europe TOP 16 winner and bronze medalist from 2006 Pro Tour Grand Finals in Hong-Kong. She also has three titles from ITTF World Tour events as well as gold medal in Women`s Doubles Event from the 2015 ITTF LIEBHERR European Championships in Ekaterinburg.
LIU Jia returns to the Linz’s line-up
ECLW Round 5 is scheduled for December 1st and 2nd as double ECLW champion travels to Spain to meet UCAM Cartagena in the Group B clash The upcoming ECLW Round 5 will give some important answers concerning the 2016/17 quarter-finalists. TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE and TT SAINT QUENTIN are opening the round this Thursday December 1st while other three matches will be held on December 2nd. “Although the result of the match in Berlin is not as important as the one on December 16th versus POSTAS SPORT EGYESÜLET SAINT-QUENTIN will play with his best possible team including Singaporean ZENG Jian Romanian Daniela MONTEIRO-DODEAN and German Ran LI KATH… who lives in Berlin! It is a real honor for us to challenge again the best European team the 2016 ECLW Champion and seeded N°1 this season” emphasized Jean-Louis POLARD TT SAINT-QUENTIN team manager. UCAM Cartagena and LINZ AG FROSCHBERG will fight for the top spot of Group B. Linz President Gunther RENNER explains situation in his club: “First we conquered Cartagena surprisingly by 3:1 then also surprisingly we had big troubles against Bad Driburg. LIU Jia could not play in Germany because she had an inflammation under her shoulder. Now she is back again that might help us to defend the lead in the Group B. After a change in the line up of LINZ AG FROSCHBERG nobody knew what to expect from us but until now Linda BERGSTRÖM ZHANG Mo and last but not least the busy (Men`s Women’s and Youth) Coach ZHANG Jie seems to be a winning selection. Traditionally we followed also this year our philosophy to work with the players in LINZ to find a better team work bring more happiness to the team and help the players to reach their peak performance at the right time”. RENNER believes that his side is able to reach the semi-final at least: “We don’t see us as defending old time records but the tradition of never withdraw of the Champions League before the semifinal is something we try to defend”. SZEKSZARD AC targets its third consecutive win in Group C playing in Turkey while BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR plays for its very first victory. Coach of Hungarian club Gyorgy SZILY stated: “Before Round 5 of ECLW match against Bursa our team feel well prepared and glad about our position in the group. We have great team spirit and in last two matches everything is up to us. If we play our level we should secure first place in the group and get ready for quarter final match in January 2017. This is first time SZEKSZARD AC has made it to next round of Champions League so we feel very excited to fight for high places this season”. Two favorites of Group D will meet in Poland where KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg (2-1 score) awaits METZ TT (2-0). This clash should decide the winner of Group D. French side won their first game 3:1. The 2016/17 ECLW Round 5 (December 1st-2nd) Group A Dec 1 18:30: TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE – TT SAINT QUENTIN Group B Dec 2 19:00: UCAM Cartagena – LINZ AG FROSCHBERG Group C Dec 2 19:00: BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR – SZEKSZARD AC Group D Dec 2 18:00: KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg – METZ TT
Hirano Aims for World Junior Championships Title in Cape Town
Sun International 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championships Japan’s Miu HIRANO who stunned the world to become the youngest ITTF World Cup Champion earlier this year is back in action to aim for another Gold to add to her collection at the Sun International 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Cape Town from today 30 Nov till 7 Dec 2016. The Sun International 2016 World Junior Table Tennis Championships which the most prestigious event for under-18 players will see the world’s best junior players from 37 countries battling for Gold in seven categories: Boys’ Team Girls’ Team Boys’ Singles Girls’ Singles Boys’ Doubles Girls’ Doubles & Mixed Doubles. HIRANO who heads the singles seeding will be joined by her teammates including youngest Olympic table tennis medalist Mima Ito to challenge the Chinese team who claimed all 7 Gold medals on offer last year in France. “Even though I won the Women’s World Cup I have to come into this tournament with a fresh mind and put that victory in the past as the players here are also the best in the world ” stated the 16-year-old. “I will be playing in all four events (Girls’ Team Girls’ Singles Girls’ Doubles & Mixed Doubles) here in Cape Town and of course I hope to win all four Gold it is going to be tough especially with the Chinese team who will be our biggest threat but we will give in our best efforts!” HIRANO’s compatriot Tomokazu HARIMOTO who had a breakthrough year in 2016 will lead the seeding in the boy’s category. The 13-year-old will have to fend off not only tough competition from his compatriots but also Korea Republic’s CHO Seungmin and the Chinese team will be fighting hard to retain all their hard earned title from Vendee last year. The local crowd will be cheering for South Africa’s number one Lekeasha JOHNSON who will be leading the South African contingent to challenge the world’s best players on home soil. The 2016 World Junior Championships will kick off with the teams’ events on 30 November with the team Champions determined on 3 December and the battle for the singles and doubles medals starting from 3 till 7 December 2016.
Borussia vs. Chartres – who will top the TTCLM Group D!
Round 5 will be held on December 1st and 2nd as ten times TTCLM champion hosts 2012/13 runner-up. Saarbrucken`s Coach Slobodan GRUJIC focused on the top spot of Group C Penultimate round of the group stage in the 2016/17 Table Tennis Champions League Men will be held this Thursday and Friday December 1-2nd as two top seeds and multiple TTCLM champions host former runner-ups: TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG– TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN (Dec 2 15:30 CET) BORUSSIA DUSSELDORF – CHARTRES ASTT (Dec 2 18:00 CET). It will be clashes for the top spot of Group A and Group D respectively. BORUSSIA DUSSELDORF (actual 4-0 score in the Group D) and CHARTRES ASTT (3-1) used to play one against another in last couple of seasons. Their battles have always been close and unpredictable even last year when German side couldn’t count on Timo BOLL who missed half of a season due to injury. Last time they met four week ago when the most decorated European club won 3:2 thanks to Timo BOLL who took two points. Borussia`s Manager Andreas PREUSS expects one more hard clash: “The match on Friday against Chartres is the decisive game to win the group. The team that will be successful in this duel will be number one. Our target is to reach the quarter finals as winner of our group. So we have to play on the highest possible level to beat Chartres as we´ve seen in France. And for sure this clash could be a match in the semis or in the finals.” Coach of Dusseldorf`s side Danny HEISTER stated: “We´ve played against Chartres several times in the last years. It has been close the most time. Sometimes we won sometimes we lost. Chartres is always hard to play. I think that or players are in a good shape at the moment and that we are motivated to win this match and to decide the group.” Borussia`s newcomer Stefan FEGERL former Niederosterreich`s player now will experience well known TTCLM rivalry: “In Chartres we won 3:2 and I´ve been successful against Robert GARDOS in the final match in five sets. This shows how close the match was. This time Kristian KARLSSON is back. He was injured in the first game and he is one important player of our team. I feel good and I hope that I can help my team to win this match.” Other Group D match will be held in Austria as SPG WALTER WELS (0-4) hosts KST ENERGA-MANEKIN TORUN (1-3). They will fight for the third spot. TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG (4-0) and TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN (3-1) will play for the top of Group A. Russian club prevailed in the first meeting winning 3:1 away. In other Group A game VAILLANTE SPORTS ANGERS TT (1-3 score) hosts ROSKILDE BORDTENNIS BTK61 (0-4) whose sport’s director Allan BENTSEN stressed: “In Roskilde we lost 0-3 in very strong style from Angers. We would like to chance that and give them a hard match specially ZHAI would like to get a revanche from first match. He showed good form against Ochsenhausen and hope to continue”. In the Group B the 2011/12 runner-up awaits double TTCLM winner and current champion: UMMC vs. AS PONTOISE CERGY. Russian club has 2-2 score while French team already booked the quarter-final spot as unique unbeaten side in this group. Their latest clash belonged to Pontoise (3:1) as Marcos FREITAS beat both leading UMMC`s players Andrej GACINA and Alexander SHIBAEV. “As soon as we saw the results of the draw we new that wouldn’t be easy. We fight for every point in the match that’s why all of our matches last around 4 hours and we will continue to do our best in order to win” said TTSC UMMC Coach Tatiana KUTERGINA. Actual TTCLM runner-up ESLOVS Al BORDTENNIS travels to Poland to play against KS UNIA AZS AWFiS GDANSK – ESLOVS AI BORDTENNIS (Dec 1 18:00 CET). Both sides have 1-2 score and chances for the second spot of Group B. Eslovs won 3:1 in their previous clash. FC SAARBRUCKEN TISCHTENNIS (4-0) hosts BOGORIA GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI (2-2) in the Group C game. German side already secured its place in the quarter-finals while Polish team needs victory. Saarbrucken Coach Slobodan GRUJIC stated: “We are awaiting Bogoria in good shape determined to defend our top spot in Group C. Concerning the strength of their team we are fully aware how hard job stands in front of us. We know that we must give our best in order to win” G.V. HENNEBONT TT (2-2) and TTC OSTRAVA 2016 (0-4) will play in France in the other Group C match. Ostrava’s Petr KORBEL believes that his side is able to reach first victory in the ongoing season: “Our situation in the group is not the optimal one. Our goal before the season started was to finish on third position at least. So against Hennebont we must win if we still want to reach it. In past games we had a lot of set-points match-points but did not use it… This must be changed if we want to be successful.” The 2016/17 TTCLM Round 5 (December 1st-2nd) GROUP A TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG– TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN (Dec 2 15:30 CET) VAILLANTE SPORTS ANGERS TT – ROSKILDE BORDTENNIS BTK61 (Dec 2 19:30 CET) GROUP B KS UNIA AZS AWFiS GDANSK – ESLOVS AI BORDTENNIS (Dec 1 18:00 CET) UMMC – AS PONTOISE CERGY (Dec 2 14:00 CET) GROUP C FC SAARBRUCKEN TISCHTENNIS – BOGORIA GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI (Dec 1 19:00 CET) G.V. HENNEBONT TT – TTC OSTRAVA 2016 (Dec 1 20:00 CET) GROUP D BORUSSIA DUSSELDORF – CHARTRES ASTT (Dec 2 18:00 CET) SPG WALTER WELS – KST ENERGA-MANEKIN TORUN (Dec 2 20:00 CET)
World youth on test in Cape Town
Sun International 2016 World Junior Championships Sun International 2016 World Junior Championships starts on Wenesday in the South African city of Cape Town. The draw for the team’s event was concluded yesterday. There will be three stages of the Team’s Event. Stage 1 and 2 will be played in a round robin basis (groups of three teams). Stage 3 will be played in a progressive knock out basis dividing the teams in three groups based on the results on Stage 1 and Stage 2. Top 8 teams are exempt from Stage 1. Top eight seeds are: Japan China Korea Republic France Hong Kong DPR Korea Romania and Taipei in Junior Boys. In Junior Girls Team’s Event top teams are: Japan China Korea Republic Romania France Hong Kong Russia and Chinese Taipei. Teams’ winners of the groups A B C D in first stage will be drawn to position 3 in groups E to H in Stage 2.
TTCLM Round 5: Orenburg hosts decisive battle of Group A
This Friday December 2nd TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG plays against TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN The best ranked TTCLM club in the ongoing season hosts the youngest team in the competition this Friday (15:30 CET) playing Round 5: TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG vs. TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN. Russian giant triple TTCLM winner already booked its place in the quarter-final with a perfect 4-0 score while the 2009 runner-up stands on 3-1. In their first meeting in Germany Orenburg won 3:1. “The main players of our team are in very good shape” stated Orenburg`s coach Valery SALABAEV speaking on Dimitrij OVTCHAROV Vladimir SAMSONOV and Jun MIZUTANI. “We are tuned to win as in the case of our success we will take the first place in the group one round before the end of the group stage. Therefore we will have the opportunity to give rest to some of the players in the last TTCLM match.” German side was beaten by Orenburg in the Round 2 but it was a hard challenge for Russian team. Three out of four matches took five games including decisive one between Simon GAUZY and Jun MIZUTANI. “It will be a big challenge to play against the by far best team in this Table Tennis Champions League. It is always an honor to play against such world class player and we will try our best. We will play point by point and we go positive for this match” stressed Sportmanager of German club Daniel ZWICKL.
Kerim KOC newly elected President in Turkey
After the 4th Ordinary General assembly Mr. Kerim KOC who got %68 of the votes has become the new Turkish Table Tennis Federation President. There were 2 nominees for the elections Mr. Kerim KOC and Dr. Oktay CIMEN who had been president for 16 years. 215 delegates voted (204 votes were valid) Kerim KOC received 138 votes and Oktay CIMEN has had 66 votes. So Mr Kerim Koc has become the new Turkish Federation president getting %67 of all valid votes. Newly elected President said; “We would like to make a new beginning with new plans. We want to work for Turkish table tennis with our best effort. We thank Mr. CIMEN for all efforts he has put so far we will joint his previous works with our efforts and improve Turkish table tennis. We’d like to utilize his experiences too. We aim to welcome all who has put effort for Turkish table tennis. Turkish table tennis will improve with our “Improvement Movement” projects.” Turkish Table Tennis Federation’s new Board Members are listed as Kerim KOÇ Ahmet Baþol HARAÇ Emin ÞEN Fatih KARACA Kenan ATALAY Melih SERIM Cemal SARUHAN Mücahit SOYAK Orhan GÜNAY Ömer VURAL Sadýk KARAYEL Savaþ ERTUFAN Süleyman GÜNDÜZ Uður BEÞOK Vahdet Vedat SOLMAZ. Samet POLAT
