Hungarian town of Kiskunfelegyhaza gathered the record number of participants at the Pre Selection Camp.From 11th to 18th August 54 players 32 boys and 22 girls from 15 European countries and 16 coaches will work together. Main coaches in charge in Camp are Ferenc KARSAI Attila HALMAI Provas MONDAL and Aleksej YEFREMOV. Players has three training sessions per day in modern city hall.
Kazakhstan will be hosting their first major table tennis event in December
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is excited to announce that the one million dollar Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals will be held in Astana Kazakhstan on 14-17 December 2017. The most lucrative table tennis event on earth the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals will welcome the top 15 Men’s and Women’s singles players and the seven top Men’s and Women’s doubles pairs from the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour plus a host player and doubles pair to compete for a record prize purse of one million dollars. Watch the welcome video here. Kazakhstan will be hosting their first ever major table tennis event with the country experiencing a surge of table tennis interest over the past few years due to success of players such as Kirill GERASSIMENKO. ITTF CEO Steve DAINTON stated: “Taking our events to more corners of the World and new markets is one of the key strategies of the ITTF for the next period. We are extremely pleased to announce a first ever major table tennis event to be held in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan. In recent years Kazakhstan has shown commitment to table tennis and recently produced some talented potential future stars non-more so than Kirill GERASSIMENKO. With a major event like this we hope that it spurs the country and the region to further develop top table tennis athletes.” The Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals is the crown jewel of the Seamaster ITTF World Tour which features 12 stops around the world with over 3 million dollars of prize money. Daniyar ABULGAZIN Secretary General of the Kazakhstan Table Tennis Federation added: “We are very pleased and honored that the 2017 World Tour Grand Finals will be held in Kazakhstan Astana. This will be the first time for Kazakhstan to host such a major table tennis event and we are all committed to ensure a bright table tennis experience for everyone who attends this prestigious event!” The Race to Astana to secure the valuable Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals places continues at the Bulgarian Open which will take place at Panagyurishte on 17-20 August 2017.
ITTF Opens Bidding Process for the 2020 World Team Table Tennis Championships
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is calling for expressions of interest to host the biggest table tennis event on earth the 2020 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships. Held since 1926 the World Table Tennis Championships is the biggest & most important table tennis event of year with high historical significance and high interest globally from players fans media and partners and now your country has the chance to host it! ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT welcomes as many different countries to show their interest in hosting this unique event: “The ITTF World Table Tennis Championships is a perfect way for countries and cities to showcase themselves to the world. The event is broadcasted in over 120 countries and is seen by over 350 million people so what better way to put yourself on the global map than through table tennis. I look forward to seeing as many countries show their interest as possible not just from our tradition hosts but new ones as well.” The World Table Tennis Championships alternate between team & individual events annually. In 2020 the world’s best teams shall convene to fight for the title of World Team Champion strong contenders include China Germany Japan Korea Republic Singapore France Brazil USA Nigeria and England to name a few. The promotional opportunities of hosting a World Table Tennis Championships is massive with your city’s landmarks on the world feed reaching over 355 million TV audiences in at least 122 countries across the world and millions more through ITTF’s 2.2 million social media fans. Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity by registering your interest to host the 2020 ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships at 2020ITTFWorlds.com. The 2020 host will follow Halmstad Sweden and Budapest Hungary who will host the 2018 and 2019 editions respectively.
International Training Camp in Linz
25th-30th March 2018 LINZ AG Froschberg invites players to International Training Camp from 25th to 30th March 2018. There will be 24 tables available for up to 96 players in two shifts in the Olympia Center LINZ. You can find the information at WWW.FROSCHBERG.AT E-Mail: youth.championships@froschberg.at
39th ITT & 19th OSTEND MASTERS 2017
The 39th ITT & 19th Ostend Masters 2017 will be held from 11th to 15th September. In the A Series will play 72 players and in B Series will be no less than 143 players. Among the invited players are Cedric NUYTINCK of Belgium Bojan TOKIC of Slovenia Bastian STEGER of Germany Robin DEVOS of Belgium KOU Lei of Ukraine Jonathan GROTH of Denmark. “After the preparation at the Ostend Tournament 2016 two our Paralympic players Laurens DEVOS and Florian Van ACKER clinched the gold medal in Rio. Both will be present this weekend. Laurens in A & double A Florian in B & A ” explained Jacques DENYS.
Six European talents in Singapore
ETTU Development Officer Neven CEGNAR guides new ETTU Development Training Camp Thanks to ETTU Development Training Camp six European talents guided by ETTU Development Officer Neven CEGNAR are practicing in excellent conditions in Singapore. They are Truls MOREGARD Vladimir SIDORENKO Cristian PLETEA Adina DIACONU Maria Tailakova and Andrea DRAGOMAN. This Camp is organized in the cooperation with STTA as 22 promising players train twice a day in two well equipped halls: STTA National Center Toa Payoh (Junior Boys) and STTA Sports School (Junior Girls). “Our aim is to have good practices as well as to make long time partnership with STTA like we did last year I Japan with JTTA” stressed Neven CEGNAR who has support of three host coaches LIU Jiayi HAO An Lin and JING Jun Hong.
Turkey won all gold medals in Podgorica
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…..
