STAG 2017 European Youth Championships   Seeded no. one in the Junior Boy’s Doubles Event Cristian PLETEA of Romania and Denis IVONIN of Russia will play in tomorrow’s semi final of the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships. In quarters they prevailed against Matteo MUTTI and Carlo ROSSI of Italy 3:0   In semis PLETEA and IVONIN will meet Istvan MOLNAR of Hungary and Andrei PUTUNTICA of Moldova. This combination overcame Jiri MARTINKO and Jan VALENTA of Czech Republic in four games.   “There are no words I can describe the feeling. It is our first European Championships that we play together and we reached the semis” said Andrei PUTUNTICA.   Patrik JUHASZ and Norbert NAGY of Hungary beat YANG Xinyu and WANG Chenxi of Azerbaijan after fierce battle in five games whilst Simon SODERLUND of Sweden and Cedric MEISSNER of Germany beat Rares SIPOS of Romania and Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece   “It is my first European Youth Championships. It is also first time that we are playing together. The fact that we have a medal is a great thing ” said Cedric MEISSNER.   SODERLUND added: “We changed the direction of the receive in each set. They failed to adjust their game. “     Hungarian pairings were forced to go full distance.   “It is always hard to play against players from China. It is the second time that we play together but it is first European Championships. Our opponents were very strong to the forehand. There were no pressure on us ” Patrik JUHASZ.   In Junior Girls doubles semi final Izabela LUPULESKU and Sabina SURJAN of Serbia will meet NING Jing and CHEN Xingtai of Azerbaijan. Serbia’s players prevailed against Lucie GAUTHIER and Nolwenn FORT of France 3:2.   “When we saw French girls beating top seeds Adina DIACONU and Andreea DRAGOMAN we knew wehad our chance. We were still under influence of defeat in singles where we both lost 3:4 but we kept going and fighting. We won two opening games; our adversaries recovered to level and even had 9:7 but we did not panicked. We stood on our path ” explained Izabela LUPULESKU.   Azerbaijan’s pairings beat Julia SLAZAK and Agata ZAKRZEWSKA of Poland 3:2. In the lower half of the draw Maria YOVKOVA of Bulgaria and Fanni HARASZTOVICH of Hungary overcame Leili MOSTAFAVI and Romane LE SCOUR of France 3:1.   “We were calm and active throughout the match. The second game we lost because of lack of focus. We blocked French forehand ” said Fanni HARASZTOVICH who paired with YOVKOVA for a first time.   Luisa SAGER and Jennie WOLF of Germany succeeded against Simay KULAKCEKEN of Turkey and Mihaela PLAEASU of Romania

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships   Top seeds in Cadet Boys Doubles Event Vladimir SIDORENKO and Maksim GREBNEV of Russia secured the place at the medal rostrum at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Portugal. In the quarterfinal they overcame Olav KOSOLOSKY and Adrien RASSENFOSSE of Belgium 3:1.   Today they will meet Jules CAVAILLE and Myshaal SABHI of France. French pairings overcame Heorhi KUNATS and Mikhail TSYHANOUSKI of Belarus. In the lower half of the draw Bilal HAMACHE and Dorian ZHENG of France beat Samuel KULCZYCKI and Maciej KUBIK of Poland 3:0.   “At the beginning we were nervous because we played for the medal. We suffered by their hands in the past. We were excited and we screamed after each point. Polish players always wanted to flip the ball so we adjust our service to block that. We won a lot of points with the service game ” said Bilal HAMACHE.   French pairings will meet Truls MOREGARDH and Martin FRIIS of Sweden. Daniel RINDERER and Felix WETZEL of Germany lost their encounter in quarters 3:2.   “We were 0:2 down because we gave our adversaries chance to attack. In the third game we were ready to recover and to change the course of the match. Tactically we forced them to play our game ” said MOREGARDH.   The places at the medal rostrum in cadet Girl’s Doubles Event will be distributed between Russia Germany and Turkey. Russia has representatives in both semis. Ekaterina ZIRONOVA and Elizabet ABRAAMIAN of Russia beat Adriana Elena ZAHARIA and Luciana Camelia MITROFAN of Romania in straight games. Today they will meet Sophia KLEE and Anastasia BONDAREVA of Germany who prevailed against Şükran CANGIR and Betul TOZ of Turkey by same margin.   “We won opening game but we were in reverse in the next one. However we managed to win by narrow margin. We put a lot of rotation to our first ball to angels and direct to body of our adversaries. Their service was long and we faced difficulties to answer that ball “ said BONDAREVA.   Arina SLAUTINA and Nataliya MALININA of Russia beat Darya KISEL and Ulyana AKLHOUSKAYA of Belarus and they will play against Ozge YILMAZ and Ece HARAC of Turkey. Turkish pairings overcame Jamila LAURENTI of Italy and Natalia BRINZA of Moldova 3:1.   “We are so happy now we have a medal. We played to the forehand of both our adversaries since both had defense rubbers on the backhands ” said Ozge YILMAZ.    

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes   In the second Round of the Junior Girls Singles Event at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes on her first exit to the table top seeded Adina DIACONU of Romania easily prevailed against Martina NINO of Italy (3 4 5 10). In the second match she repeated the result. Reigning Junior Girls Singles Champion overcame DENG Simeng of Azerbaijan (6 2 10 11).   On the lower half of the draw Maria TAILAKOVA of Russia showed no mercy against Katarina STRAZAR of Slovenia (4 7 5 5) before she overcame Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia (10 8 4 6).   For other member of the Russia’s gold winning team it was different scenario. Tijana JOKIC of Serbia beat Daria SHANDRINA of Russia.   “When I saw the draw I was so angry. I am good against players with aggressive style and I could not believe I will have to play against defense again. I promised myself I would not let her beat me twice. I played point for point; I did not let the one I lost affect my confidence and focus. Eventually I prevailed “ said JOKIC who failed to repeat the success in the next round against Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania (6 7 8 5).   For Anastasia KOLISH it was another easy win in the second round. She overcame Slovenia’s Aleksandra VOVK (-14 7 6 5 8). However in next stage she needed six games to overcame Julia SLAYAK of Poland (10 5 11 -11 -6 6).   “The opening game was very close – 50:50. I made a lot of mistakes because of lack of focus that is why I lost it. After that I was much determent. My tactics was to short the service and to attack to the middle when the opportunity occurs. Most of the time it was successful ” said KOLISH after victory over VOVK.   In the second Round of the Cadet Girls Singles Event Ekaterina ZIRONOVA added another straight games victory to her record. She beat Emilija RILSKYTE of Lithuania (9 6 4 7) whilst at the bottom of the draw Elena ZAHARIA of Romania overcame Viola PHAN of Hungary in same impressive style (5 4 8 6). After a fierce battle top seeded ZIRONOVA lost against Anastasia BONDAREVA  of Germany in six games (10 -10 7 -8 12 10).   ZIRONOVA is safely through to the Round of 16 in cadet Girls Doubles Event. With Elizabeta ABRAAMIAN she overcame Carina ENGLUND and Kaarina SAARIALHO of Finland (1 5 3). Seeded no. two Jamila LAURENTI and Natalia BRINZA overcame Denisa URITU and Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania (10 6 4).

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships   In the Junior Boy’s Singles Event at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships Bulgaria’s Stefan TODOROV caused the major upset by beating Like SAVILL of England in the second round (8 -6 9 9 12). TODOROV is currently ranked at the position no. 115 at the European Rankings whilst SAVILL is Europe’s no 35. He continued with the good results and reached the Round of 16 after victory over Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK of Austria (5 -10 -7 -2 6 7 10).   “It was tough game. I started the game thinking I will be better then him. It meant I needed to be focused on each ball and every ball had to be errorless. I tried to block the game with the short services and to be first to attack. I was playing to his forehand. Sometimes I will make a longer service to his left and I made a lot of variation on that service. Unfortunately this tactics did not work at the beginning but at the end it paid off ” said Stefan after first victory.   Favorites were free yesterday and today they came fresh from the break. At least no. one seed Cristian PLETEA of Romania who beat Finn VETVIK of Norway in the opening round and against Antonino AMATO of Italy in next. His compatriot Rares SIPOS who prevailed against WALASZEK of Poland before he beat JHoan MASIP of Spain.   Iannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece joined them after victory over Mislav MARTINEK of Croatia.   “I did not have any problems at all. So far it was good season for me. I was at the World Championships this year with senior team and it helped me gain the experience ” said SGOUROPOULOS who overcame Laurens DEVOS of Belgium in evening program.     Jonathan THIMON of Sweden already cased the upset yesterday by beaten Istvan MOLNAR of Hungary but today he proved it did not come as an accident. He reached the third round by beating Greece’s representative Georgios STAMATOUROS (-7 -6 10 3 9 3).   “I was under stress at the beginning because my adversary put so many balls at the table. I was losing 0:2. When I recovered in third game I felt my adversary started to lose his steam and it boosted my confidence. From that moment on I just kept attacking “ said THIMON.   In next Round he suffered by the hands of Denis IVONIN of Russia.    Carlo ROSSI of Italy beat the member of thegold medal winning team Tobias HIPPLER of Germany.   “I feel so good. This year was not easy for me I did not have good results as I used. Beating the champion now will help me. When I played I think of my family ” said ROSSI.” I was more active then my adversary. In easch game I tried something new and fought for each point. “   Top seed in Cadet Boys Singles Event Vladimir SIDORENKO easily prevailed in his second round match against Romania’s Andrei TOMICA of Romania. In next reigning European champions beat Elias HARDMEIER of Switzerland.   At the start of the day Tiago LI of Portugal beat Alessandro CICCHITTI of Italy but he was stretched to full distance. LI recovered from two games to null in reverse.   “Playing in front of the home crowd put an extra pressure on me. Few times during the match I was very nervous. In some moments I was to passive but I managed to win ” said LI.   The joy did not last for long. In next round LI suffered by the hands of Myshaal SABHI of France.   In the second Round Felix WETZEL of Germany beat Amau PONS of Spain in six games (-4 -10 7 9 7 2) before he sealed the faith of Tomas MARTINKO of Czech Republic.   “I was two null down because I was struggling to put a spin on the ball. I did not give up and at the start of the third game I attacked with more spin to his forehand and to the middle ” said WETZEL after the match against PONS.   Lode HULSHOF from Netherlands beat Matteo GULADI of Italy to reach the third Round (3 -8 10 9 -3 -6 8).   “This is good victory for me because I am lower ranked player compering my adversary. I was 3:1 up because I was very aggressive and on semi long play I was very strong. From 3:1 to 3:3 I lost my focus and I was only putting the balls on the table waiting for Matteo’s error. Unfortunately he did not made any mistakes so I had to change something. On the decisive game I won because I was only focused on that was going on the table ” said HULSHOF who suffered in the next round by the hands of Gleb IVANOV of Russia.   Truls MOREGARDH beat Maciej KUBIK of Poland and Emir CULPEDIN of Romania on his way to best 16 tonight.

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships   In the semi final of the Cadet Mixed Doubles tomorrow at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes will play Vladimir SIDORENKO and Ekaterina ZIRONOVA of Russia against Martin FRIIS and Rebecca MUSKANTOR of Sweden whilst in other match Vladislav MAKAROV and Nataliya MALININA of Russia will meet Daniel RINDERER and Anastasia BONDAREVA of Germany.   In the quarterfinal SIDORENKO and ZIRONOVA beat Felix WETZEL and Sophia KLEE of Germany (8 -11 6 7).   “We had a good start but they recovered in second game. In the third game the coach had to call for time out because they were getting close after our advantage. After that we changed the tactics with more rotation on attacks “said SIDORENKO.   FRIIS and MUSKANTOR overcame Tiago LI of Portugal and Kornelija RILISKYTE of Lithuania (-9 10 8 6).   “In the beginning we were playing on Tiago’s backhand and he is very strong there. We changed it on the second game and took the control of the match ” said MUSKANTOR.   MAKAROV and MALININA overcame Csaba ANDRAS of Hungary and Elena – Adriana ZAHARIA of Romania (-3 7 7 11) whilst RINDERER and BONDAREVA beat Ivor BAN and Hana ARAPOVIC of Croatia (-5 10 9 5).

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships   In the evening hours of the 8th day of the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes four Mixed Doubles in junior category secured medals. Tomorrow at the penultimate phase Cristian PLETEA and Adina DIACONU of Romania will play against Denis IVONIN and Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia WHILST Nikita ARTEMENKO and Anna KRASIKOVA of Russia will meet Jules ROLLAND and Lucie GAUTHIER of France.   In the quarterfinal PLETEA and DIACONU easily prevailed against YANG Xinyu and DENG Simeng of Azerbaijan (5 11 4).   “Before the match we did not know what to expect from them. We tried to play to the middle and forehand since are really strong at the backhand. The second game that we 13:11 since they started to build their confidence. We halted them on time ” said PLETEA.   IVONIN and TAILAKOVA were under little pressure against Carlo ROSSI of Italy and Sabina SURJAN of Serbia (9 -6 11 10).   “In the previous round we were not good as today. In this match we finally settled into the rhythm together. ROSI was more dangerous then Sabina so we had to attack him and to block his forehand and play the ball short” said TAILAKOVA.”Sabina was not very strong today on top spin but we had to be cautious because on short ball she had good control.”   ARTEMENKO and KRASIKOVA overcame Nikita ARTEMENKO and Anna KRASIKOVA of Russia (12 6 -8 9) and ROLLAND and GAUTHIER beat Kamil NALEPA and Julia SLAZAK of Poland (6 10 8).    

Warsaw Poland from 8th to 10th October 2017   The European Table Tennis Union in cooperation with the Polish Table Tennis Association invites all European coaches to a Conference which will be held in Warsaw Poland from 8th to 10th October 2017.   The Coaching Conference is part of the ETTU Development Program and it is primarily intended for all European coaches but coaches from other continents are welcome too.   Topics are: „The Road To The Advanced Table Tennis” – (4 hours) “Analysis Of Six Stages Of The Development Of Table Tennis” – (4 hours) – Li Xiaodong „Japanese Way Of Teaching The Technique“ – (4 hours) „The Newest Situation Of The Plastic Balls)“ – (4 hours) – Watanabe Riki   Lecturers are: Li Xiaodong (CHN) & Watanabe Riki (JPN)   Further details of participation in the Coaching Conference entry deadline and prices will be communicated soon.   Contact: Zita PIDL – ETTU Project Coordinator (zpidl.ettu@gmail.com)

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships   Favorites easily prevailed in their opening matches at the Round of 128 in Junior Girls Singles Event at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships. However few matches went full distance as a warm up for fierce battles we are about to see in following days.   DENG Simeng the member of the Azerbaijan’s bronze medal winning team was stretched to full distance in the duel against Maja GJELLE of Norway (-5 -5 7 8 -9 8 4) . Yoeke GUNSING of Netherlands also forced Morgane GUIDON of Belgium to full seven games (-7 -10 5 -9 6 7 3). Hungarian Orsolya FEHER put Romania’s Mihaela PLEASU on test before she lost (-16 8 -6 10 9 -10 9).   For Andrea PAVLOVIC of Croatia it was an easy day. She overcame Emilia MANUKYAN of Italy (8 4 6 -10 6).   “Last year I reached second Round too and I hope in Portugal I will progress further. I did not expect any difficulties in the match against MANUKYAN it was only important to stay focused ” said PAVLOVIC.   Portugal’s Alexandra PISCO beat Nazakat GARAYEVA of Azerbaijan 4:2 (-8 -10 7 12 6 6).   “I was two games null in reverse because my adversary had more aggressive approach. I was serving long balls and allowed GARAYEVA to attack me. After second game I talked with my coach we changed the tactics. I started to service short balls and opened more angles. I blocked her game “ said PISCO.   Europe’s cadet no. 27 Maelys DAHY of Belgium suffered by the hands of Europe’s no. 46 Ioana SINGEORZAN of Romania (-7 9 8 -9 8 3); Valentina RONCALLO of Italy beat no. 33 Vitalina BRINZA of Moldova in straight games (6 7 2 6) whilst Ivet ILIEVA of Bulgaria prevailed against no. 32 Anna MIKLUKHA of Ukraine (9 -9 -6 8 1 -9 7).   Patricia SANTOS of Portugal beat Vasiliki ILIOPOULOU of Greece in straight games to move to the second round (5 5 6 4).   “I succeeded for a first time the first round of the European Youth Championships. Last year I also played. It is nice feeling to beat someone in straight games. I used a lot of variation of my service and managed to put a lot of balls on table. It is good to win here in Portugal ” said SANTOS.   Top seeds in Junior Girls Doubles Event Adina DIACONU and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romania overcame Marina ÑIGUEZ and Alba FERNANDEZ of Spain in first round (6 -10 8 9). In the lower half of the draw no. two seeds Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia and Kristina KAZANTSEVA of Russia are out. Mihaela PLEASY of Romania and Simay KULAKCEKEN of Turkey beat them in four games (9 9 -9 3).  

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes Whilst the top seeds still has some time off the Round of 128 already brought few upsets in the Junior Boys Singles Event at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes. Jonathan THIMON of Sweden succeeded against Istvan MOLNAR of Hungary 4:3 (-4 13 -6 -10 9 10 12). THIMON is currently ranked at the position no 127 at European Junior rankings whilst Molnar is no. 29. No. 23 Andreas DILLING of Denmark also suffered defeat by the hands of no.104 Jakub ZELINKA of Slovakia – 4:2 (9 7 7 -9 -6 9). “At the first place I had to convince myself I could beat him. I had to believe and to built my self-confidence. I played more aggressive then him and my service game was better which allowed me to attack faster ” said ZELINKA.   In the Round of 64 of Junior Boys Doubles Event top seeds Cristian PLETEA of Romania and Denis IVONIN of Russia easily prevailed against Aleksa GACEV and Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia (7 7 7). In the other half of the draw Rares SIPOS of Romania and Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece overcame Joan MASIP and Javier SORIA of Spain (13 6 8). Italy’s Antonino AMATO and Daniele PINTO overcame Cedric TSCHANZ and Pedro OSIRO of Switzerland after they were two games down (-9 -11 8 4 9).   “At the beginning despite we were very focused the pairings that supposed to be weaker took control of the match. It proved once again there are no favorites here. We did some mistakes on easy balls and we had to do something to return into the game. We cheered each other to bring the winning spirit back ” said PINTO. “We put more rotation on the first ball and we block the game of our adversaries and we came back.”   In cadet Boys Singles Event Edward WESSHAGEN of Sweden beat European no. 23 Owen CATHCART of Ireland in five games (6 6 12 -4 8) whilst Elias HARDMEIER of Switzerland overcame no. 35 Gerasimos CHATZILYGEROUDIS of Greece in full seven games (5 8 -12 -8 3 -6 8).   Tiago LI of Portugal overcame Erik HUZSVAR of Hungary (-10 7 4 0 9).   “I lost the opening game because I played too risky. After that I started to play more safe to control the game and I put more rotation to the ball” said LI.

STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes Whilst the top seeds still has some time off the Round of 128 already brought few upsets in the Junior Boys Singles Event at the STAG 2017 European Youth Championships in Guimaraes. Jonathan THIMON of Sweden succeeded against Istvan MOLNAR of Hungary 4:3 (-4 13 -6 -10 9 10 12). THIMON is currently ranked at the position no 127 at European Junior rankings whilst Molnar is no. 29. No. 23 Andreas DILLING of Denmark also suffered defeat by the hands of no.104 Jakub ZELINKA of Slovakia – 4:2 (9 7 7 -9 -6 9). “At the first place I had to convince myself I could beat him. I had to believe and to built my self-confidence. I played more aggressive then him and my service game was better which allowed me to attack faster ” said ZELINKA.   In the Round of 64 of Junior Boys Doubles Event top seeds Cristian PLETEA of Romania and Denis IVONIN of Russia easily prevailed against Aleksa GACEV and Dimitrije LEVAJAC of Serbia (7 7 7). In the other half of the draw Rares SIPOS of Romania and Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece overcame Joan MASIP and Javier SORIA of Spain (13 6 8). Italy’s Antonino AMATO and Daniele PINTO overcame Cedric TSCHANZ and Pedro OSIRO of Switzerland after they were two games down (-9 -11 8 4 9).   “At the beginning despite we were very focused the pairings that supposed to be weaker took control of the match. It proved once again there are no favorites here. We did some mistakes on easy balls and we had to do something to return into the game. We cheered each other to bring the winning spirit back ” said PINTO. “We put more rotation on the first ball and we block the game of our adversaries and we came back.”   In cadet Boys Singles Event Edward WESSHAGEN of Sweden beat European no. 23 Owen CATHCART of Ireland in five games (6 6 12 -4 8) whilst Elias HARDMEIER of Switzerland overcame no. 35 Gerasimos CHATZILYGEROUDIS of Greece in full seven games (5 8 -12 -8 3 -6 8).   Tiago LI of Portugal overcame Erik HUZSVAR of Hungary (-10 7 4 0 9).   “I lost the opening game because I played too risky. After that I started to play more safe to control the game and I put more rotation to the ball” said LI.