The 2016/17 runner-up KTS Tarnobrzeg tops the list while reigning champion Berlin will be No. 2 this time Just announced 2017/18 European Champions League Women seeding list shows some big changes comparing with the last year. Reigning champion and No. 1 seed in last three seasons TTC Berlin Eastside now starts as No. 2 while actual runner-up KTS Tarnobrzeg will take the highest starting place. Berlin strengthened its squad with actual No. 28 TIE Yana from Hong Kong having now four Top 32 players from ITTF World Ranking list (SHAN Xiaona No. 18 Petrissa SOLJA No. 27 Georgina POTA No. 32). Tarnobrzeg signed former individual European champion and current bronze medalist from 2016 European Championships Elizabeta SAMARA ( No. 30) while super defensive trio continues: HAN Ying (No. 9) LI Qian (No. 38) Viktoria PAVLOVICH (No. 59). Third seeded Croatian Dr. CASL is returning to the ECLW with a very ambitious team composed by three world class players: LI Jie (No. 15) DOO Hoi Kem (No. 17) and FU Yu (No. 36). Two out of them won medals at the LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships: FU was runner-up LI took bronze. Actual individual champion of Old Continent HU Melek will lead again Bursa’s side who signed two strong players Singapore’s ZENG Jian and Russia’s Yana NOSKOVA. Bursa won 2016/17 ETTU Cup. Hungarian Szekszard (No. 5 seed) signed former Fenarbahce’s player CHENG I-Ching (actual world No. 8) currently best ranked player of the 2017/18 ECLW. She will be supported by three well know faces in this competition Polina MIKHAILOVA (No. 61) Dora MADARASZ (No. 90) and former European champion in singles event Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (No. 108). These five participants for sure have biggest possible ambitions. Linz AG Froschberg will be No. 10 seed. Linz’s leading player for years LIU Jia decided to continue her career in Germany. The 2017/18 ECLW seeding list 1 KTS TARNOBRZEG (POL) 8469 2 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE (GER) 8392 3 Dr. CASL (CRO) 8372 4 BURSA BÜYÜKSEHIR BELEDIYESPOR (TUR) 7985 5 SZEKSZARD AC (HUN) 7883 6 UCAM CARTAGENA TM (ESP) 7727 7 CP LYSSOIS LILLE METROPOLE (FRA) 7589 8 TT SAINT-QUENTINOIS (FRA) 7546 9 ALCL TT GRAND QUEVILLY (FRA) 7372 10 LINZ AG FROSCHBERG (AUT) 7203 11 SKST MART HODONIN – STAVOIMPEX (CZE) 6873 12 TUS BAD DRIBURG (GER) 6600
Helsingborg saluted 32 new champions
European Veterans Championships The ultimate day at the European Veterans Championships brought battles for the titles in Sweden. Beautiful Helsingborg Arena was fully packed whilst the all action was moved to the main hall. After another fantastic week of table tennis new 32 European Champions were crowned. The competition was fierce since more than 2.100 players participated in last seven days. Medals were presented by ETTU President Ronald KRAMER STTA President Petra SÖRLING Chairman ETTU Veterans Committee Zdenko KRIZ Deputy Mair of Helsingborg Inger NILSSON Honorary member STTA Hans WESTLING BTK Rekord President Lena MALMSTEN Dep. Chairman of ETTU Veterans Committee Günter KLUGMANN Board Members of BTK Rekord Thomas DAHL and Alf ERICSSON. You can see the full list of the medal winners below. Medal winners Men’s Singles over 40 Gold: Magnus MÅNSSON SWE Silver: Marcin KUSIŃSKI POL Bronze: Viktor VASYLEVSKYI UKR Mikael MATTIASSON SWE Men’s Singles over 50 Gold: Miroslav CECAVA CZE Silver: Yi DING AUT Bronze: Carsten EGEHOLT DEN Franz KRAUS-GÜNTNER AUT Men’s Singles over 60 Gold: Béla FRANK HUN Silver: Rein LINDMÄE EST Bronze: Leonid SEGAL UKR Rolf EBERHARDT GER Men’s Singles over 65 Gold: Claus PEDERSEN DEN Silver: Göran SKOGSBERG SWE Bronze: Feliks KAPLAN RUS Franz-Josef Hürmann HÜRMANN GER Men’s Singles over 70 Gold: Rudolf STEINER GER Silver: Nosratallah SAFAI SWE Bronze: Niels RAMBERG DEN Wilfried LIECK GER Men’s Singles over 75 Gold: Siegfried LEMKE GER Silver: Uwe WIENPRECHT GER Bronze: Anatoly ZUBRIN RUS Horst LANGER GER Men’s Singles over 80 Gold: Ramesh BHALLA ENG Silver: Kai MERIMAA FIN Bronze: Peter Dr. STOLZENBURG GER József MAYER HUN Men’s Singles over 85 Gold: Georg KARLSSON SWE Silver: Uno HEDIN SWE Bronze: Geofrey BAX ENG Rolf GROß GER Men’s Doubles over 40 Gold: Uwe BERTRAM GER Viktor VASYLEVSKYI UKR Silver: Eric DURAND FRA Christian IBENFELDT NOR Bronze: Andrei GRACHEV RUS Iliya TIMAN ISR Gábor DOHNÁL HUN József NYÍRŐ HUN Men’s Doubles over 50 Gold: Yury ILLARIONOV RUS Igor ROLDUGIN RUS Silver: Andreas FEJER-KONNERT GER Sandor VARGA HUN Bronze: Guido HEHMANN GER Klaus HELLMANN GER Jonny ÅKESSON SWE Glenn DAVIDSSON SWE Men’s Doubles over 60 Gold: Jürgen HECHT GER Manfred NIESWAND GER Silver: Rein LINDMÄE EST Leonid SEGAL UKR Bronze: Hannu SIHVO FIN Vladimir TUDVASEV RUS Martti AUTIO FIN Risto PITKÄNEN FIN Men’s Doubles over 65 Gold: Povilas Petras BAGUZIS LTU Feliks KAPLAN RUS Silver: Matti LAPPALAINEN FIN Jouko MANNI FIN Bronze: Arvi GRAPENHED SWE Göran SKOGSBERG SWE Dieter JÜRGENS GER Gerd WERNER GER Men’s Doubles over 70 Gold: Milos MATEJICEK CZE Karel SEKANINA CZE Silver: Erling Børge NIELSEN DEN Niels RAMBERG DEN Bronze: Roland STEPHAN GER René THEILLOUT GER Dietmar DIESING GER Rudolf STEINER GER Men’s Doubles over 75 Gold: LEMKE Siegfried GER Uwe WIENPRECHT GER Silver: Jan-Eric OLOFSSON SWE Bo TORINSSON SWE Bronze: Peter KELB GER Josef MERK GER Helmut KRETZER GER Dieter LIPPELT GER Men’s Doubles over 80 Gold: Konrad STEINKÄMPER GER Peter Dr.STOLZENBURG GER Silver: Josef SEIDL CZE Horst HEDRICH GER Bronze: Klaus KNOTH GER Hans-Hermann SCHUMANN GER Klaus KRÜGER GER Richard LUBER GER Men’s Doubles over 85 Gold: Lumir RUZHA CZE Rolf GROß GER Silver: Uno HEDIN SWE Georg KARLSSON SWE Bronze: Heiner KOULA GER Friedrich RÖSSLER GER Claude DECRET FRA Henri YAHIEL FRA Women’s Singles over 40 Gold: Cécile OZER BEL Silver: Libuse HORAKOVA CZE Bronze: Sanja CLEMENTS ENG Sylvie PLAISANT FRA Women’s Singles over 50 Gold: Barbro WIKTORSSON SWE Silver: Yue Xia WANG FRIDÉN SWE Bronze: Marta DAUBNEROVA SVK Maria VINTILA TIFACHI ESP Women’s Singles over 60 Gold: Larisa ANDREEVA RUS Silver: Elle ÕUN EST Bronze: Helga SPERKA AUT Françoise GUILLOTEAU FRA Women’s Singles over 65 Gold: Gittan RÅDBERG GUSTAVII SWE Silver: Monika HUßMANN GER Bronze: Penelope PERRY ENG Hildegard GEORGI GER Women’s Singles over 70 Gold: Ursula KRUEGER GER Silver: Jutta BARON GER Bronze: Mare KABRITS EST Gizella ZACHER HUN Women’s Singles over 75 Gold: Margaret DIGNUM ENG Silver: Sally BAX ENG Bronze: Carol JUDSON ENG Ingrid KÜHN GER Women’s Singles over 80 Gold: Marianne BLASBERG GER Silver: Sigrid MATTHIAS GER Bronze: Nicole PILLIERE FRA Betty BIRD ENG Women’s Singles over 85 Gold: Eeva ERIKSSON FIN Silver: Martha WILLKE GER Bronze: Inge BAUER GER Birte HAUTH DEN Women’s Doubles over 40 Gold: Magali CHARLIER BEL Cécile OZER BEL Silver: Elena CHUNIKHINA RUS Larisa LAVRUKHINA RUS Bronze: Ingrid JACOBS BEL Anja VAN DEN BERGHE BEL Sylvia MESSER GER Ina JOZEPSONE LAT Women’s Doubles over 50 Gold: Ulrika HANSSON SWE Barbro WIKTORSSON SWE Silver: Maria VINTILA TIFACHI ESP Maria GAFTEA ROU Bronze: Gerti DIETRICH GER Sabine HÄNERT GER Katarina ÅMARK SWE Lena JOHNSSON SWE Women’s Doubles over 60 Gold: Susanne PEDERSEN DEN Larisa ANDREEVA RUS Silver: Heike BORCHARDT GER Carmen Dr. PETRY GER Bronze: Carol ECKERSLEY ENG Penelope PERRY ENG Eliane CHARBONNEAU FRA Françoise GUILLOTEAU FRA Women’s Doubles over 65 Gold: Marianne KERWAT GER Ursula KRUEGER GER Silver: Irma BARILLON GER Gittan RÅDBERG GUSTAVII SWE Bronze: Teresa DEVANEY IRL Larisa ILINSKAIA RUS Barbara BROMBOSZCZ POL Natalia LEZINA RUS Women’s Doubles over 70 Gold: Mare KABRITS EST Marita NEIDERT SWE Silver: Emma KUROVA RUS Liudmila TRANKVILEVSKAYA RUS Bronze: Jutta BARON GER Gudrun ENGEL GER Istvánné JÓNYER HUN Gizella ZACHER HUN Women’s Doubles over 75 Gold: Michèle DE SANTA BARBARA FRA Claudette TREINEN FRA Silver: Sally BAX ENG Carol JUDSON ENG Bronze: Renate METGE GER Heidi WUNNER GER Karin NIEMEYER GER Hannelore STRECKER GER Women’s Doubles over 80 Gold: Betty BIRD ENG Jean WHITE ENG Silver: Marianne BLASBERG GER Erika BRÜGGEN GER Bronze: Regina ISERN GER Erika ZIEGLER GER Irene HECQ BEL Nicole PILLIERE FRA Women’s Doubles over 85 Gold: Eeva ERIKSSON FIN Ragnhild LUNDBERG SWE Silver: Eliska KREJCOVA CZE Birte HAUTH DEN Bronze: Inge BAUER GER Margit MIERSCH GER
Helsingborg saluted 32 new champions
European Veterans Championships The ultimate day at the European Veterans Championships brought battles for the titles in Sweden. Beautiful Helsingborg Arena was fully packed whilst the all action was moved to the main hall. After another fantastic week of table tennis new 32 European Champions were crowned. The competition was fierce since more than 2.100 players participated in last seven days. Medals were presented by ETTU President Ronald KRAMER STTA President Petra SÖRLING Chairman ETTU Veterans Committee Zdenko KRIZ Deputy Mair of Helsingborg Inger NILSSON Honorary member STTA Hans WESTLING BTK Rekord President Lena MALMSTEN Dep. Chairman of ETTU Veterans Committee Günter KLUGMANN Board Members of BTK Rekord Thomas DAHL and Alf ERICSSON. You can see the full list of the medal winners below. Medal winners Men’s Singles over 40 Gold: Magnus MÅNSSON SWE Silver: Marcin KUSIŃSKI POL Bronze: Viktor VASYLEVSKYI UKR Mikael MATTIASSON SWE Men’s Singles over 50 Gold: Miroslav CECAVA CZE Silver: Yi DING AUT Bronze: Carsten EGEHOLT DEN Franz KRAUS-GÜNTNER AUT Men’s Singles over 60 Gold: Béla FRANK HUN Silver: Rein LINDMÄE EST Bronze: Leonid SEGAL UKR Rolf EBERHARDT GER Men’s Singles over 65 Gold: Claus PEDERSEN DEN Silver: Göran SKOGSBERG SWE Bronze: Feliks KAPLAN RUS Franz-Josef Hürmann HÜRMANN GER Men’s Singles over 70 Gold: Rudolf STEINER GER Silver: Nosratallah SAFAI SWE Bronze: Niels RAMBERG DEN Wilfried LIECK GER Men’s Singles over 75 Gold: Siegfried LEMKE GER Silver: Uwe WIENPRECHT GER Bronze: Anatoly ZUBRIN RUS Horst LANGER GER Men’s Singles over 80 Gold: Ramesh BHALLA ENG Silver: Kai MERIMAA FIN Bronze: Peter Dr. STOLZENBURG GER József MAYER HUN Men’s Singles over 85 Gold: Georg KARLSSON SWE Silver: Uno HEDIN SWE Bronze: Geofrey BAX ENG Rolf GROß GER Men’s Doubles over 40 Gold: Uwe BERTRAM GER Viktor VASYLEVSKYI UKR Silver: Eric DURAND FRA Christian IBENFELDT NOR Bronze: Andrei GRACHEV RUS Iliya TIMAN ISR Gábor DOHNÁL HUN József NYÍRŐ HUN Men’s Doubles over 50 Gold: Yury ILLARIONOV RUS Igor ROLDUGIN RUS Silver: Andreas FEJER-KONNERT GER Sandor VARGA HUN Bronze: Guido HEHMANN GER Klaus HELLMANN GER Jonny ÅKESSON SWE Glenn DAVIDSSON SWE Men’s Doubles over 60 Gold: Jürgen HECHT GER Manfred NIESWAND GER Silver: Rein LINDMÄE EST Leonid SEGAL UKR Bronze: Hannu SIHVO FIN Vladimir TUDVASEV RUS Martti AUTIO FIN Risto PITKÄNEN FIN Men’s Doubles over 65 Gold: Povilas Petras BAGUZIS LTU Feliks KAPLAN RUS Silver: Matti LAPPALAINEN FIN Jouko MANNI FIN Bronze: Arvi GRAPENHED SWE Göran SKOGSBERG SWE Dieter JÜRGENS GER Gerd WERNER GER Men’s Doubles over 70 Gold: Milos MATEJICEK CZE Karel SEKANINA CZE Silver: Erling Børge NIELSEN DEN Niels RAMBERG DEN Bronze: Roland STEPHAN GER René THEILLOUT GER Dietmar DIESING GER Rudolf STEINER GER Men’s Doubles over 75 Gold: LEMKE Siegfried GER Uwe WIENPRECHT GER Silver: Jan-Eric OLOFSSON SWE Bo TORINSSON SWE Bronze: Peter KELB GER Josef MERK GER Helmut KRETZER GER Dieter LIPPELT GER Men’s Doubles over 80 Gold: Konrad STEINKÄMPER GER Peter Dr.STOLZENBURG GER Silver: Josef SEIDL CZE Horst HEDRICH GER Bronze: Klaus KNOTH GER Hans-Hermann SCHUMANN GER Klaus KRÜGER GER Richard LUBER GER Men’s Doubles over 85 Gold: Lumir RUZHA CZE Rolf GROß GER Silver: Uno HEDIN SWE Georg KARLSSON SWE Bronze: Heiner KOULA GER Friedrich RÖSSLER GER Claude DECRET FRA Henri YAHIEL FRA Women’s Singles over 40 Gold: Cécile OZER BEL Silver: Libuse HORAKOVA CZE Bronze: Sanja CLEMENTS ENG Sylvie PLAISANT FRA Women’s Singles over 50 Gold: Barbro WIKTORSSON SWE Silver: Yue Xia WANG FRIDÉN SWE Bronze: Marta DAUBNEROVA SVK Maria VINTILA TIFACHI ESP Women’s Singles over 60 Gold: Larisa ANDREEVA RUS Silver: Elle ÕUN EST Bronze: Helga SPERKA AUT Françoise GUILLOTEAU FRA Women’s Singles over 65 Gold: Gittan RÅDBERG GUSTAVII SWE Silver: Monika HUßMANN GER Bronze: Penelope PERRY ENG Hildegard GEORGI GER Women’s Singles over 70 Gold: Ursula KRUEGER GER Silver: Jutta BARON GER Bronze: Mare KABRITS EST Gizella ZACHER HUN Women’s Singles over 75 Gold: Margaret DIGNUM ENG Silver: Sally BAX ENG Bronze: Carol JUDSON ENG Ingrid KÜHN GER Women’s Singles over 80 Gold: Marianne BLASBERG GER Silver: Sigrid MATTHIAS GER Bronze: Nicole PILLIERE FRA Betty BIRD ENG Women’s Singles over 85 Gold: Eeva ERIKSSON FIN Silver: Martha WILLKE GER Bronze: Inge BAUER GER Birte HAUTH DEN Women’s Doubles over 40 Gold: Magali CHARLIER BEL Cécile OZER BEL Silver: Elena CHUNIKHINA RUS Larisa LAVRUKHINA RUS Bronze: Ingrid JACOBS BEL Anja VAN DEN BERGHE BEL Sylvia MESSER GER Ina JOZEPSONE LAT Women’s Doubles over 50 Gold: Ulrika HANSSON SWE Barbro WIKTORSSON SWE Silver: Maria VINTILA TIFACHI ESP Maria GAFTEA ROU Bronze: Gerti DIETRICH GER Sabine HÄNERT GER Katarina ÅMARK SWE Lena JOHNSSON SWE Women’s Doubles over 60 Gold: Susanne PEDERSEN DEN Larisa ANDREEVA RUS Silver: Heike BORCHARDT GER Carmen Dr. PETRY GER Bronze: Carol ECKERSLEY ENG Penelope PERRY ENG Eliane CHARBONNEAU FRA Françoise GUILLOTEAU FRA Women’s Doubles over 65 Gold: Marianne KERWAT GER Ursula KRUEGER GER Silver: Irma BARILLON GER Gittan RÅDBERG GUSTAVII SWE Bronze: Teresa DEVANEY IRL Larisa ILINSKAIA RUS Barbara BROMBOSZCZ POL Natalia LEZINA RUS Women’s Doubles over 70 Gold: Mare KABRITS EST Marita NEIDERT SWE Silver: Emma KUROVA RUS Liudmila TRANKVILEVSKAYA RUS Bronze: Jutta BARON GER Gudrun ENGEL GER Istvánné JÓNYER HUN Gizella ZACHER HUN Women’s Doubles over 75 Gold: Michèle DE SANTA BARBARA FRA Claudette TREINEN FRA Silver: Sally BAX ENG Carol JUDSON ENG Bronze: Renate METGE GER Heidi WUNNER GER Karin NIEMEYER GER Hannelore STRECKER GER Women’s Doubles over 80 Gold: Betty BIRD ENG Jean WHITE ENG Silver: Marianne BLASBERG GER Erika BRÜGGEN GER Bronze: Regina ISERN GER Erika ZIEGLER GER Irene HECQ BEL Nicole PILLIERE FRA Women’s Doubles over 85 Gold: Eeva ERIKSSON FIN Ragnhild LUNDBERG SWE Silver: Eliska KREJCOVA CZE Birte HAUTH DEN Bronze: Inge BAUER GER Margit MIERSCH GER
Edvard VECKO is playing at the Veterans Championships for 33 years
First European Veterans Championships gold medalists – Edvard VECKO of Slovenia at age of 72 is still active. He is on duty in Helsinborg. VECKO was the member of the Yugoslav national team at the European Championships in Berlin. He won silver medal in doubles with Istvan KORPA and the Yugoslav team became European Champions. At the European Championships 1964 in Malmö Yugoslavia took a silver medal in team and in 1968 Edvard VECKO became European Champion in doubles with Anton STIPANCIC. Between 1962 and 1969 VECKO played 140 international team matches for the national team. He participated four times in the World Championships and four times at the European Championships. In the autumn of 1970 Edvard VECKO started as a national team coach in Austria. He also has been engaged in few German clubs in the Bundesliga. He is playing at the Veterans Championships for 33 years. At the EVC he has won three gold medals title in Singles 50 in 1995 and 1997 and title in Doubles 50 in 1995. Vecko also clinched gold medal at WVC. In 1986 he took gold in both singles 40 and doubles 40 and he also has a silver medal from 2009 in singles 65. “The reason I am coming back here is the play the atmosphere the sound of the ball hitting the table. When you are sick and tired it gives you strength. I am enjoying every moment of the competition ” said VECKO. Can you compare the today’s table tennis with the one from the past? “I think we are making the full circle. With new bigger balls the game is slower and it came back down to the table again ” explain VECKO.
RADBERG radiate with energy at the European Veterans Championships
In Women’s Singles 65 at the European Veterans Championships Gittan RADBERG of Sweden reached the semi final. In the main draw she beat Carol COWIE of England. Helga VASEMÄGI of Estonia and Marianne KERWAT of Germany. She radiate with the enthusiasm and energy although she admitted that she hate to be in the hall. “I hate all those waiting. I love action and I love to play. I would also like little bit more action at the table. Stronger competition would not hurt. I need younger opponents ” said RADBERG. On her way to the Round of 32 Gittan RADBERG GUSTAVII beat Margaret CLEARY 3:0 Annemarie FALKOWSKI of Germany 3:1 and Susan BODY 3:0. RADBERG is among top four most successful Sweden’s female players of all time and among top 14 men. She earned that position by reaching the quarterfinal of the World Championships in 1971 and Swedish open Singles Event two years later. Overall she won 13 gold 13 silver and 15 bronze medals at the Swedish Championships. “I did not make a break. I started to play at the Veterans Championships from 40 Category. I do not play very often but I practice on regular basis. I spend my time on training at least two times per week. I also play for the club Vargon and I play with men.“ Even surgeries could not stop her. She had one on the right shoulder came back and played in Alicante at the Veterans Championships last year before she had another surgery on the left shoulder. “I am fine now. I had to make a pause but now I am back.” What is the main reason to stay in table tennis? “Friends of course ” stated RADBERG.
ROBLES and DVORAK crowned Spanish champions in Almería
During the 10 days more than 1.200 players competed in the Palace of Mediterranean Games for the titles at the Spanish Championships. In Men’s Singles Álvaro ROBLES clinched the title after victory over the 10 times champion Carlos MACHADO (11-3 11-7 9-11 11-8 11-7). Endika DIEZ and Miguel Ángel VÍLCHEZ won the bronze medal. In the Women’s Singles final Galia DVORAK secured the trophy for the fifth occasion. Galia DVORAK overcame Sofia Xuan-ZHANG (9-11 11-7 11-8 11-7) to take the crown. Both María XIAO and Sara RAMÍREZ won the bronze medal but they clinched the Women’s Doubles competition with the gold medal. In the Men’s Doubles tournament Álvaro ROBLES combining well with Endika DIEZ defeat Marc DURÁN and Oriol MONZÓ in the final. In Team’s Event DKV Borges Vall prevailed against UCAM Cartagena by a 3-1 whilst Suris Calella claimed the Women’s Team trophy for the second time following its 3-1 success over Girbau Vic TT.
Team PERSSON beat Team JJ to match t2apac’s biggest winning margin
For a while it looked like Team PERSSON would record the biggest winning margin of T2 Asia Pacific Table Tennis League (T2APAC) thus far but Team JJ have WU Yang to thank for pulling back five games to give final 17-11 a measure of respectability. While Team PERSSON recorded the highest number of games won (17) their six-game winning margin could only match what Team MAZE recorded against Team ROSSI earlier in the day (15-9) at the purpose-built T2Cavern at Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios. Team JJ were edged 14-13 by Team MAZE in their opening fixture on Wednesday and against the formidable Team PERSSON captain Jiang Jialiang needed all the luck to fall his way. The former five-time world champion won the opening toss after calling red and made the bold move to send out Taiwan’s current world number 10 Chuang Chih-Yuan. CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE) vs JOO Saehyuk (KOR) 1-4 Matilda ECKHOLM (SWE) vs DING Ning (CHN) 0-4 Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN) vs Mattias KARLSSON (SWE) 3-2 JEON Ji-hee (KOR) vs Bernadette SZOCS (ROM) 1-3 Vladimir SAMSONOV (BEL) vs Jun MIZUTANI (JPN) 1-4 WU Yang (CHN) vs Suthasini SAWETTABUT (THA) 5:0
KUCHARSKI’s premiere at the European Veterans Championships
For Poland’s Leszek KUCHARSKI (58) playing is Sweden is nothing new. He even spent one season (1989-90) playing here. He was a member of the BTK Rekord in Swedish league. He was very popular and everyone appreciated his willing to help younger players. He was famous of coming much earlier in the practice hall and spent his time practicing with the youngsters. “The reason that I came here to play for a first time at the European Veterans Championships is the location. My daughter granddaughter and ex wife lives here. I used to play for Rekord. That is why I wanted to come here ” explained KUCHARSKI. Coming back to the place where he used to play was an opportunity to see some old friends. “I am very happy to be here. It was good to see Jonny AKESSON among the others. We used to play together and we have not seen each other for 20 years. We keep the contact via Facebook but I am happy we could meet here again.” His achievements as a national team player are impressive. At the 1989 he won a silver medal in the Men’s Doubles Event at the World Championships then he clinched the silver at the European Championships three years earlier in Singles Event. In 1977 he won titles at the European Junior Championships. He played alongside Andrzej GRUBBA. In Helsinborg he reached the Round of 16 round in Men’s Singles. In the Group stage of Men’s Singles 50 KUCHARSKI beat Ralf LENZE of Germany Stefan NOVOTA of Czech Republic Leif PEKKARI of Sweden. In all three matches he succeeded in straight games. “Now the things gets little bit less comfortable ” said KUCHARSKI after victory in the first round against Thomas NILSSON of Sweden. ”I do not have much confidence since I do not practice very much.” In the Round of 32 he was under severe pressure against Igor GUDILKIN of Russia- 3:2 but he failed to beat Carsten EGEHOLT of Denmark in Round of 16. KUCHARSKI runs the private Academy in Poland and work as a personal coach. “I teach my students first they have to put in before they take out. It means talent is not sufficient; they have to work hard too. Today’s table tennis is very fast and it is all about power. There is not time to think a lot or there is no time for spectacular techniques such as we saw in WALDNER’s era.”
The 2017/18 TTCLM draw: Winners of the last six seasons in Group A
Four times winner and reigning champion Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg will face double champion AS Pontoise Cergy in group stage The draw for the 2017/18 Table Tennis Champions League Men held today (Jun 29th) in Paris gathered again the best 16 European clubs. Winners of the last six seasons will play in the same group (A). They are four times winner defending champion and No. 1 seed Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg (won TTCLM 2012 2013 2015 2017) and double champion No. 8 seed AS Pontoise Cergy (2014 2016). Their opponents in that group are former TTCLM quarter-finalist K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (No. 12) from Poland and newcomer Sporting Clube de Portugal (No. 13). Four participants who reached TTCLM semi-finals in the last five years will share Group B. The 2012 runner-up and actual No. 4 seed UMMC (new Russian champion) is named as a favorite but each club sees its chance in this well balanced group. No. 5 seed and 2012 semi-finalist from Germany Saarbrucken (in 2012 semi-final they were beaten by UMMC after very close returning game) will again target at least quarter-final but same ambitions have 2013 runner-up Chartres AS TT (France No. 10 seed) and 2016 finalist Eslövs AI BTK (Sweden No. 14). The 2009 runner-up TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (Germany No. 3 seed) and actual ETTU Cup winner Stella Sport La Romagne (France No. 7) are considered as favorites in Group C. But they must confirm it against well experienced challengers TTC Ostrava 2016 (Czech Reoublic No. 11) and SPG Walter Wels (Austria No. 15). Record holder with 10 TTCLM titles Borussia Dusseldorf two times runner-up in last three seasons (2014/15 2016/17) is the biggest name in Group D. Timo BOLL & Co. again start as No. 2 seed followed by strong Polish side TTCLM newcomer K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo (No. 6) who has world No. 7 WONG Chun Ting from Hong Kong. Other two teams in this group are former TTCLM quarter-finalist GV Hennebont (France No. 9) and Roskilde Bordtennis BTK 61 (Denmark No. 16). The draw was guided by ETTU Deputy Secretary General Pierre KASS and ETTU Ranking Committee Chairman Igor HELLER. Last season was concluded by the clash between Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg and Borussia Dusseldorf. Russian club managed to return on the top beating German side 6:2 in aggregate score (3:0 away 3:2 home). Japanese MIZUTANI finished season with a perfect 16-0 individual score. Orenburg is again stressed as clear favorite as it continues with one of the strongest ever line-ups in TTCLM: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV Jun MIZUTANI Vladimir SAMSONOV. The 2017/18 TTCLM groups (with seeding place and points) GROUP A (1) Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg (RUS) 8343 (8) AS Pontoise Cergy TT (FRA) 6946 (12) K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (POL) 6390 (13) Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) 6332 GROUP B (4) TTSC UMMC (RUS) 7225 (5) FC Saarbrücken TT (GER) 7130 (10) Chartres ASTT (FRA) 6683 (14) Eslövs AI BTK (SWE) 6329 GROUP C (3) TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (GER) 7556 (7) Stella Sport La Romagne (FRA) 6959 (11) TTC Ostrava 2016 (CZE) 6552 (15) SPG Walter Wels (AUT) 6100 GROUP D (2) Borussia Düsseldorf (GER) 7658 (6) K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo (POL) 7036 (9) GV Hennebont TT (FRA) 6908 (16) Roskilde Bordtennis BTK 61 (DEN) 5928
Two wins for Michael MAZE’S team
T2 Asia Pacific Table Tennis League The Opening Round of the T2 Asia Pacific Table Tennis League (T2APAC) continued today with Team MAZE and Team ROSSI kicking off proceedings at the purpose-built T2Cavern at Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios. Team ROSSI were keen to make amends after losing their opening fixture 14-9 to Team PERSSON and captain Jorg ROSSKOPF promptly won the opening toss before sending out Hungarian Georgina POTA to lead the charge. Team Maze meanwhile were looking to build on their opening day 14-13 victory over Team JJ and skipper Michael Maze had little hesitation tapping on Singapore star FENG Tianwei for the opening encounter. T2APAC Round 1 Match Day 2 Team MAZE vs. Team ROSSI FENG Tianwei (SGP) 2 vs. Georgina POTA (HUN) 2 Timo BOLL (GER) 3 vs. Paul DRINKHALL (ENG) 1 Hina HAYATA (JPN) 1 vs. CHENG I-Ching (TPE) 3 CHEN Chien-An (TPE) 4 vs. SHANG Kun (CHN) 0 YANG Haeun (KOR) 3 vs. Elizabeta Samara (ROM) 1 Alexandr SHIBAEV (RUS) 2 vs. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) 2 Overall Team Maze wins YESTERDAY Match Day 1 – Team Fixture 1 Team JJ vs Team MAZE Vladimir SAMSONOV (Bel) 2 Timo BOLL (Ger) 2 WU Yang (Chn) 4 FENG Tianwei (Sgp) 0 Tomokazu HARIMOTO (Jpn) 2 Aleksandr SHIBAEV (Rus) 3* JEON Jihee (Kor) 0 Hina HAYATA (Jpn) 4 CHUANG Chih-Yuan (Tpe) 3 CHEN Chien-An (Tpe) 2 Matilda EKHOLM (Swe) 2 YANG Haeun (Kor) 3* Overall Team Maze wins Match Round 1 Match Day 1 – Team Fixture 2 Team PERSSON vs Team ROSSI Suthasini SAWETTABUT (Tha) 3 vs. Elizabeta SAMARA (Rom) 1 JOO Saehyuk (Kor) 1 vs. SHANG Kun (Chn) 3* DING Ning (Chn) 2 vs. CHENG I-Ching (Tpe) 2 Jun MIZUTANI (Jpn) 2 vs. Dima OVTCHAROV (Ger) 1 Bernadette SZOCS (Rom) 2 vs. Georgina POTA (Hun) 2 Mattias KARLSSON (Swe) 4 vs. Paul DRINKHALL (Eng) 0 Overall Team PERSSON wins
