ETTU Executive Board is pleased to announce the Committee Chairs for season 2016-2018. The list of Committee member will be available next week. Newly appointed Umpires and Referees Committee Chair is Isabelle BEUMIER of Belgium. The five remaining Chairs will repeat their mandates. Technical Committee Chairman is Oivind ERIKSEN of Norway Ranking Committee Chairman is Igor HELLER of Netherlands Youth Committee Chairwoman is Sandra DEATON of England Veterans Committee Chairman is Dr. Zdenko KRIZ of Slovakia and ParaTT Committee Chairman is Georgios SELINIOTAKIS of Greece.
MADARASZ withstood the pressure to book her place in main draw
2016 LEBHERR ITTF European Championships The qualification stages of the 2016 LEBHERR ITTF European Championships concluded today. From tomorrow the top seeds will join 32 qualifiers in both Men’s and Women’s Singles Event. Aliaksandr KHANIN of Belarus created few upsets on his way to the main draw of the Men Singles Event. In the qualifications he beat all four adversaries and from position no. three in his qualification Group he advanced to Round of 64. Leonardo MUTTI of Italy also succeeded to the top after he accounted for top seeded Daniel HABESOHN of Austria. Still junior Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece booked his place in the main draw. He lost only one duel; against Zolt PETE of Serbia after seven game. Latter he beat both Niagol STOYANOV of Italy and Abdullah YIGENLER of Turkey. Young Darko JORGIC of Slovenia also progressed to the next stage from the top position. All top seeds in their respective groups in the Women’s Singles Qualifications progressed to the main draw from a top position. The only exception is the Group 19. Kelly SIBELY was not able to justify her status – she was not playing. Ganna GAPONOVA of Ukraine lost only one game in her four matches Galia DVORAK of Spain was equally impressive whilst Britt EERLAND of Netherlands was under severe test against Natalya ALEKSYEYENKO of Russia. The player ranked only at the position no. four in the Group stretched Dutch representative to the full distance. Dora MADARASZ of Hungary also struggled against Manca FAJMUT of Slovenia but host nation supporters will have the opportunity see her in action in the main draw tomorrow. After the play off matches Stephanie LOEUILLETTE of France Mateja JEGER of Croatia Leila OLIVEIRA of Portugal and Manca FAJMUT of Slovenia also secured their places in the main draw.
Top 16 Cup – two days knock out tournament
ETTU Ordinary Congress ETTU Ordinary Congress at today’s Meeting in Budapest accepted the new proposition related to European competitions. One of the competitions affected by the new rules was Europe Top 16 Cup. The new rules will have effect from March 1st 2017. ETTU President Ronald KRAMER had a meeting with the top European players earlier this year in Portugal and yesterday in Budapest. Some of their suggestions were considered and accepted and they are implemented in the new regulations. According to new regulations the tournament will be played each year in February over a period of two days instead of the three. All matches will be best of seven games. The competition will be played in a knock out basis and in addition the losers of the semi finals will play a match to determine places 3 and 4. All participants shall receive prize money unless they withdraw before fully completing their matches; the total prize money and distribution to be determined by the Executive Board.
Ronald KRAMER will lead ETTU in next four years
ETTU Ordinary Congress Ronald KRAMER (Netherlands) was re-elected President of the European Table Tennis Union at the ETTU Ordinary Congress Meeting staged on the occasion of the LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships in Budapest Hungary on 19th October. KRAMER was re-elected to the position of the President by acclamation. “Thank you for the support in the years to come ” stated KRAMER. Deputy President Ivo Goran MUNIVRANA’s position in ETTU was also confirmed for next four year; on position of Vice-President for Finances stays Dorte DARFELT; both by acclamation. The newly elected members of the Executive Board are Portugal’s Pedro MOURA and Romania’s Cristinel ROMANESCU. Heike AHLERT of Germany Nikolas ENDAL of Czech Republic and Sonja GREFBERG of Finland were re-elected at today’s meeting. Newly elected European representatives in the ITTF Board of Directors are Heike AHLERT Dorte DARFELT Sandra DEATON Sonja GREFBERG Zdenko KRIŽ Jörgen PERSSON Cristinel ROMANESCU. 2016 Badges of Honour were awarded to Louise ADAM (France) Vladimir BELOGLAZOV (Russia) Oivind ERIKSEN (Norway) Svetlana FEDEROVA (Russia) Viljar KASEMAA (Estonia) Emmanuel KOLIBADIS (Greece) Istvan KORPA (Germany) LI Jiao (Netherlands) Arne MADSEN (Denmark) NI Xialian (Luxembourg) Cristinel ROMANESCU (Romania) Karlheinz SCHREINER (Germany) Branko ZBUTEGA (Serbia) Milorad TRPKOVSKI (Serbia). FLTT President André HARTMANN presented the progress of the preparation for the European Championships 2017 to be staged in Luxembourg. The Championships will be held from 13th to17th September 2017 at the d’Coque indoor arena in Kirchberg in the City of Luxembourg.
Emotional meeting with the history
European Table Tennis Hall of Fame In special and emotional gathering during the 2016 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Budapest with the attendance of numerous guests and officials the new inductees in the European Table Tennis Hall of Fame were announced. The names of Jean-Michel SAIVE Bohumil VANA Fred PERRY Zarko DOLINAR Hans ALSÉR Agnes SIMON Diane SCHÖLER Marie KETTNEROVA and Anna SIPOS were added to the list of the players who made the history of the table tennis. The special guests the Hungarian Team World Champions of 1979 István JÓNYER Tibor KLAMPÁR and Gábor GERGELY graced the celebration with their presence; the special moment was when Eva KÓCZIÁN the oldest living female European World Champion winner of the very first European Championships that has been organized in 1958 in Budapest joined the celebration. “At my age I am not able to do many things but I am looking for every opportunity to go to see the tournaments in Hungary. Unfortunately I had not stayed in the table tennis after I finished the playing career due the family reasons ” said KÓCZIÁN. Radivoj HUDETZ Chair of the ETTHoF Steering and Awards Panel reminded everyone that Hungary is the cradle of table tennis. “Hungary made the history of table tennis with their great achievement and I am happy that we are here today ” said HUDETZ. ”It has been a year since we started the Project of ETTHoF and we made a nice progress. We also have big plans for future.” Bettine VRIESEKOOP HoF member since 2015 Tamara BOROS HoF member since 2015 Jean-Michel SAIVE HoF inductee of 2016 and Jörgen PERSSON HoF member since 2015 all accepted the invitation and came to the meeting. “ I concluded my career at age of 40 in 2000. I like to play time after time but I am not involved professionally in table tennis” said VRIESEKOOP. Tamara BOROS on the other side is still very active in the sport. “I am trying to share my knowledge and experience and to help young athletes to become a better players.” Jean-Michel SAIVE is also very active but he is very much involved in managing aspects of sport. “I am enjoying my work for Olympic Committee but I am also almost two and the half years the Sport director in French speaking part of the federation. I am trying to contribute to the sport in a different way.” PERSSON is in Hungary for another important reason. He will attend tomorrow’s Congress as a candidate for a position of a Member of the ITTF BOD. “Few days ago I was chosen to be the Ambassador for the World Championships that will be held in my home city Halmstad ” said PERSSON who also helps OVTCHAROV with his coaching knowledge. The gathering finished with the photo session in front of big panel in the hall with the pictures of all current members of the HoF. More details you can find here
The City of Cluj – Napoca will host 2018 European Youth Championships
In their meeting on October 18th ETTU Executive Board received two presentation bids from the Czech Republic and Romania Associations. Both were on the highest quality and it gave the EB a hard task to decide who will host the European Youth Championships 2018. “We decided to honour Romanian Table Tennis Federation. The strong points were the quality of the facilities the venues and the hotel as well as the quality of the city ” said ETTU President Ronald KRAMER. The City of Cluj – Napoca will host the EYC in July 2018. “We wish to thank Czech Federation for a very good presentation of Ostrava and we are looking forward to future cooperation ” said KRAMER. The Romanian Federation President Cristinel ROMANESCU proudly announced: “It is a dream come true. We will prove we can organize the big event. In the last decade our players clinched so many gold and silver medals at the European Championships and now finally they will be able to do it in front of the home crowd. It will be the last year in youth category for DRAGOMAN SIPOS and PLETEA and a perfect moment for all of us to enjoy their triumph at home. I would like to thank ETTU and the EB for supporting us. In addition it will be the celebration of the centennial of our State Unity. We have so many reasons to look forward to the EYC 2018 ” said ROMANESCU.
Impressive TV-coverage of the 2016 LIEBHER ITTF European Championships
The TV-images from the 2016 LIEBHER ITTF European Championships in Budapest will go to 138 countries around the world thanks to Eurosport. The TV-coverage of the 2016 ETTC is impressive since there are three pan- territorial networks covering the ETTC. Sixty-four (64) countries across Europe can watch the ETTC on Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2. beIN Middle East Coverage within the Middle-East towards twenty countries in the region. Star-Times Africa Towards the entire Sub-African continent and fifty two countries. South East Asia: Thailand and Vietnam receiving the signal from 2016 LIEBHER ITTF European Championships In addition LAOLA1.tv will be covering the event on a daily basis with extensive live streams and highlight videos. LAOLA1.tv will be covering all matches from tables 1 to 4 via live streams and video on demand. The international online sports TV will also present highlight clips from the LIEBHERR ITTF European Table Tennis Championships featuring „Top Rallies“ „Top Hits“ and the „Point of the Day“ – to name but a few. LAOLA1 premium members will be able to follow the table tennis matches from Budapest on the move on their smartphones tablets or via Smart TV.
Budapest attracted crème de la crème
LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships Table tennis and fencing are the most successful sports in Hungary and the opportunity to organize the LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships Hungarian Table Tennis Association saw as a milestone for the whole table tennis society in Hungary. In the eve of the opening ceremony in the beautiful Tuskecsarnok the organisers held the press conference. Hosts Roland NÁTRÁN the President of MOATSZ and Dr. Miklós STOCKER Secretary General alongside Ronald KRAMER President of ETTU and Judit FARAGÓ ITTF CEO addressed to the press. Péter ARANYOSI head coach of Hungarian Men’s Table Tennis team and titleholder Elizabeta SAMARA also attended the conference. “From 1958 Hungary has a major role in table tennis not only with results but also as a great organisers. I hope that our return here after 34 years will give a big boost to the sport. I am very happy that Hungarian Federation took up the challenge to organize first individual Championships after we had the combine one in the Ekaterinburg last year. I am very confident they will stood up to this challenge successfully ” said KRAMER. Roland NÁTRÁN MOATSZ President said: “We had to wait 34 years to organise this big event. We have nine out of ten best players from the European Rankings in Men’s and Women’s Event. Our goal is to present the best possible table tennis in order to attract the attention and to entertain our spectators. We want to present the spirit of table tennis in best possible way. “ President NÁTRÁN expected 6 or 7.000 spectators in the hall. MOATSZ offered tickets on special prices for clubs students and senior citizens and special discount for train travelers. Judit FARAGÓ ITTF CEO had an extra pleasure. “It is my privilege and great pleasure to welcome you my home town. I was not born on 1958 to see what happened then but in 1982 I supported our national team. I remember the atmosphere and excitement from that period and great joy that followed the success. I hope the new spectators this week in the hall will share the same spirit and determination we felt 34 years ago ” said FARAGO. Miklós STOCKER Dr. MOATSZ Secretary General presented some of the figures from the 2016 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships. “In next six days 254 competitors from 44 countries will play here; with 60 umpires on duty. All of this will not be possible without the great support from the City of Budapest Hungarian Government our supply pool and sponsors ” reminded STOCKER. Women Singles champion Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania said she is feeling ready. “I am not suffering from the jet leg at all. I came from USA recently but now I feel fine and I am ready for the challenge here.” Peter TÉGLÁS did not want to put the pressure on his team. “We are ready and so far on the first day our women team recorded all victories. We hope it will stay that way.”
PATTANTYUS succeeded in tough opening
LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships The leading name in the men’s team of Hungary at the LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships Adam PATTANTYUS had a rough start against Omri BEN ARI of Israel in the opening round of the Men’s Singles Event. Eventually he had won in six games. “We met for a first time but I studied and analyzed his game. Still I did some mistakes at the beginning. I went back because I expected he would play differently on his spins. I had to move much more then I planed. I did not “feel“ the distance correctly. The service game was a problem for me at the beginning but when I started to feel the ball it got better. “ Adam was two games to three in reverse before he managed to recover. “I managed to regain mu focus. I visualized the problem correct it in my mind and tried to do it better.” Asked about his goal in Budapest PATTANTYUS said. “Let’s go one step in the time. First I want to finish the Group stage successfully. If I reach into Round of 32 it will be good achievement but if I managed to reach the Round of 16 it will be big success.” Adam said he is very happy to play in front “his” crowd. “It is a good feeling and when I hear “C’mon” from the stands coming from the kids it is great inspiration for me. It helps me clear my mind and ease the pressure.”
takes up where they left
LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships In Belgrade 2007 the curtains were closed for Mixed Doubles Event as a part of the “big” tournament. Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC of Serbia and Ruta PASKAUSKIENE of Lithuania left the stage as the last European champions. However the Event latter continued the life of its own as separate Championships but with fewer countries on the entries lists. In a meanwhile the format of the Continental gathering changed. The Championships was divided to Individual and Teams Event and nine years latter we have the Mixed Doubles Event back on schedule once again at the LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships. KARAKASEVIC and PASKAUSKINE take up where they left in Belgrade. They are the top seeds and strong contenders for the medal. “Our partnership is very long. We won first European gold in 2000 in Bremen. Year latter we were second in Zagreb before we clinched the gold in Denmark and Belgrade. After that we won gold and silver at the separate Mixed Doubles Championships …” reflects KARAKASEVIC. How you feel to play again alongside KARAKASEVIC we asked Ruta. “We have been playing for so long together. We know each other very well and we do not have to put any extra effort to adjust our game. We had a long break because KARAKASEVIC was injured. Last year at the World Championships we finally teamed up but I was not very happy how we played. Now this is our Championships I expect it will be better.” To make sure it will be before the Championships Ruta spent a week in Serbia on preparation with both Serbia’s national teams. “For a first time I am without my coach mother here. She told me I have to bring medal home ” admitted with the smile Ruta. PASKAUSKIENE explained why she is alone in Budapest. “I think it is time to say Goodbye. I know I have told you that last year but now it is the time for my retirement. Never say never…but now I am close.” Same words came from KARAKASEVIC. “Today I am four days away from my final match for the national team. I want to leave Budapest with the medal. I play good in singles but my chances are in Mixed Doubles and Men’s Doubles. With both Bojan TOKIC and Ruta I already proved we can reach the medal. I am optimist we can do it again.” The preliminary round of Mixed Doubles Event starts tonight at 9 PM local time.
