Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum China Open   At the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum China Open the top three players in the world MA Long FAN Zhendong and XU Xin did not turn up for their round of 16 matches on 23 June 2017 which resulted in the trio forfeiting their matches.   The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has received a preliminary statement from the Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) and a public apology from the Chinese Table Tennis Team.   In the coming days the ITTF has requested a detailed report from the CTTA and also from the ITTF officials on site outlining in more detail as to why the three players failed to turn up for their round of 16 matches.   The ITTF World Tour is one of ITTF’s most prestigious products with millions of fans and countless partners following around the globe with anticipation to watch the world’s best players in action.   For this reason the ITTF is taking this matter extremely seriously as this has damaged the image and the integrity of table tennis globally. Right now all potential sanctions are on the table and the ITTF will continue its investigation before any decisions are made.   The ITTF will also work closely with its Athletes’ Commission to try and get a better understanding as to why this incident happened and provide education and guidance to the players to ensure such an incident does not happen again in the future.   The ITTF is looking forward to four fantastic finals today in Chengdu China: Women’s Doubles Final: DING Ning & LIU Shiwen (CHN) v CHEN Meng & ZHU Yuling (CHN) which is a repeat of the 2017 World Championships Final Men’s Doubles Final: Tomokazu HARIMOTO & Yuto KIZUKURI (JPN) v Jin UEDA & Maharu YOSHIMURA (JPN) 13-year-old HARIMOTO going for his first senior doubles title Women’s Singles Final: DING Ning (CHN) v SUN Yingsha (CHN) the World and Olympic Champion DING Ning v the star of the future 16-year-old SUN. Men’s Singles Final: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) v Timo BOLL (GER) a battle of good friends and National Team Mates. 

Timeline of Events by ITTF   Follow the breaking story surrounding Ma Long Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour China Open.   Tuesday 20th June   Chinese Table Tennis Association (CTTA) announce coaching restructure of national team. Head Coach Liu Guoliang is promoted to Vice President of CTTA. Thursday 22nd June   Day One of the Seamaster 2017 China Open in Chengdu. Friday 23rd June   14:40 Men’s Doubles matches commence on Day Two of Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour China Open. Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin compete and win their quarter-final doubles match.   16:00 Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin compete and lose their semi-final match in the Men’s Doubles event.   19:00 Players and coaches from China’s men’s team post to their Weibo accounts: “At this moment we have no desire to fight……all because we miss you Liu Guoliang!”   19:40 Ma Long does not show for his second round Men’s Singles match. No contact can be made with Ma Long to determine his whereabouts. The crowd at the China Open begin chanting Liu Guoliang’s name.   20:25 Fan Zhendong does not show for his second round Men’s Singles match.   21:10 Xu Xin does not show for his second round Men’s Singles match. Ma Long Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin can not be contacted via their phones and have left the official hotel.   22:00 Liu Guoliang is the top trending sport’s hashtag on Chinese social media.   22:30 Players’ and coaches’ previous Weibo posts removed.   23:00 Chinese Sports Administration release a statement condemning the actions of the athletes and coaches calling upon CTTA to investigate and deal with the incident severely.   The ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT : “The ITTF is very disappointed”   The ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated on the matter: “The ITTF is very disappointed that the three best players in the world have forfeited their matches at such a big event. We will be working with our friends at CTTA to investigate this serious matter to work out our course of action. In the meantime we still have world class players competing in the competition and it will be a great last two days of the China Open.”   A statement from the Chinese Sports Administration:   http://www.sport.gov.cn/n316/n337/c811984/content.html   “During the 2017 ITTF World Tour China Open in Chengdu 2 coaches and 3 athletes from the Chinese Table Tennis national team forfeited the competition without permission resulting in very negative social influences.   The General Administration of Sports of China’s news spokesperson states that the act of forfeiting without authorisation and leaving without notice during a major international tournament shows no regard for neither the athlete’s ethical code & code of conduct nor for the interest and glory of the country it is also disrespectful to the opponent and the spectators. This kind of behaviour is wrong and we are strongly against it.   We require the sports teams & athletes to be always put patriotism & collectivism as the first priority at all times having a strong ideology strict discipline and sports level is equally important. The General Administration of Sports of China has tasked the Chinese Table Tennis Association to investigate the incident and deal with the incident severely.”        

European Universities Table Tennis Championship in Olomouc   The Team’s Event at the European Universities Table Tennis Championship in Olomouc concluded. The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych from Poland clinched the title in Women category gold medal will travel to Kazan Innovative University from Russia. Winning teams justified their rankings – both were top seeds . They both didn´t lose any match in the tournament and well deservedly celebrated the gold.   Table tennis from Technical University of Ostrava achieved big success. They advanced to the final in which they lost after a big battle against the big favorite of the tournament from Walbrzych.   The men from Technical University of Ostrava were the best among Czech university teams. Ostrava composed of Ondrej BAJGER Michal BENES Roman REZETKA gained silver medal and in comparison to previous academic championship they improved by four places.   “We did not expect easy victory “ admitted Michal BENES after the semifinal match. “After an embarrassed beginning we gradually got calmer. Mainly Ondra played excellent. The final will be hard. Poles from Walbrzych are really great. We played against them last year at the Universiade in Zagreb. We lost 0:3 had not many chances and also they played without FERTIKOWSKY. The Polish team is surely the favorite of the final match. We will fight and we will see if it´s enough“ adds Michal BENES.   In the second semifinal athletes from Polish Superleague FLORAS CHODORSKI and FERIKOWSKI encountered with strong team from Magnitogorsk whose star is GERASSIMENKO. This duel was called as final before final by some participants. But the result finished clearly in favor of The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych.   In the final match the players from Technical University of Ostrava kept up bravely with the favorite from Walbrzych. After great performance of Ondrej BAJGER who gained two points in the decisive match Pawel FERTIKOWSKI beat Michal BENES to secure tight victory of The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych.   “It was enormously hard match. Czech boys put us under severe pressure. We beat them easily 3:0 at the Universiade one year ago. Today our team was stronger than in Zagreb and still it was a big battle. All the singles were so close. I am happy we finally succeeded but it was not easy at all.“ summarized Tomasz DURAJCZYK the coach of Walbrzychu.   The women teams event was dominated by Kazan Innovative University. Table tennis players from the Russian university won against University of Paris 13 in the semifinal and also against ¬Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa in the final 3:0 in both matches. Anna BLAZHKOVA Ekaterina GUSEVA and Svetlana MOKHNACHEVA were excellent having gone through the tournament without any problems.   Out of the two Czech universities in the women category University of Economics Prague was doing the best. Prague finished on the shared 7th place position Palacký University Olomouc took 9th place after the final win against University of Porto.   Teams competition – Results: Men’s – semifinal Technical University of Ostrava (CZECH REPUBLIC) – Kozminski University (POLAND) 3:0 Michal Benes – Antoni Witkowski 3:0 (6 8 7) Ondrej Bajger – Tomasz Wisniewski 3:0 (12 10 6) Roman Rezetka – Pavel Koziel 3:0 (4 10 5). The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych (POLAND) – Magnitogorsk State Technical University 3:0 Robert Floras – Ilya Zhidkov 3:0 (5 5 6) Pawel Fertikowski – Kirill Gerassimenko 3:2 (9 -8 6 -5 10) Piotr Chodorski – Bekulan Zhamal 3:0 (6 10 4).  Final The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych – Technical University of Ostrava 3:2 Robert Floras – Michal Benes 3:1 (-8 8 8 5) Pawel Fertikowski – Ondrej Bajger 0:3 (-5 -10 -15) Piotr Chodorski – Roman Rezetka 3:1 (6 4 -9 6) Robert Floras – Ondrej Bajger 0:3 (-7 -9 -9) Pawel Fertikowski – Michal Benes 3:1 (6 8 -8 6). 5th – 8th place: Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences (FINLAND) – University of Nottingham (UNITED KINGDOM) 3:2 Rzeszow University of Technology (POLAND) – Saarland University (GERMANY) 3:0. 9th – 12th place: University of Poitiers (FRANCE) – Istanbul Aydin University (TURKEY) 3:2 Stockholm School of Economics (SWEDEN) – University of Zurich (SWITZERLAND) 2:3. 13th – 16th place: VU University of Amsterdam (NETHERLANDS) – University of Gothenburg (SWEDEN) 1:3 Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NORWAY) – Marmara University (TURKEY) 2:3. 17th – 20th place: University Palacky Olomouc – University Of Western Brittany 1:3 University of Porto – Nottingham Trent University 3:1.   Women’s – semifinal Kazan Innovative University (RUSSIA) – University of Paris 13 (FRANCE) 3:0 Anna Blazhko – Qiwen Xiao 3:1 (7 -7 10 9) Ekaterina Guseva – Qwen Geronimi 3:2 (6 -6 9 -6 4) Svetlana Mokhnacheva – Kadidiatou Gouressy 3:0 (6 11 3). ¬Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa (POLAND) – University of Nottingham (UNITED KINGDOM) 3:1 Katarzyna Slifirzyk – Liu Haoyu 3:2 (13 9 -4 -7 9) Roksana Zalomska – Maria Tsaptsinos 3:1 (3 11 -9 8) Kinga Falarz  – Yolanda King 1:3 (-10 12 -6 -10) Roksana Zalomska – Liu Haoyu 3:2 (11 -5 6 -5 9). Final ¬Jan Dlugosz University in Czestochowa (POLAND) – Kazan Innovative University (RUSSIA) 0:3 Roksana Zalomska – Ekaterina Guseva 1:3 (-5 -11 3 -9) Katarzyna Slifirzyk – Anna Blazhko 1:3 (7 -9 -4 -6) Kinga Falarz – Svetlana Mokhnacheva 0:3 (-6 -8 7 -5). 5th – 8th place University of Economics Prague (CZECH REPUBLIC) – University of Bordeaux (FRANCE) 1:3 Kozminski University (POLAND) – University School of Physical Education in Wroclaw (POLAND) 3:2. 9th – 12th place University Palacky Olomouc – University of Porto 3:0 Karolina Mynarova – Sara Costa 3:0 (6 4 9) Aneta Kucerova – Margarida Ribeiro 3:0 (6 1 5) Andrea Danova – Ines Texeira 3:0 (5 4 8).  University of Amsterdam – University of Hamburk 0:3. Complete result of European Universities Table Tennis Championship in Olomouc here: http://tabletennis2017.eusa.eu/results  

The Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum China Open that begins action today 22 June to 15 June 2017 promises to be a star-studded event with the world’s top table tennis players on show.   Less than a month after the conclusion of the Liebherr 2017 World Table Tennis Championships the world’s best table tennis stars are back in action on the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour with all the top 5 Men’s & Women’s players in the world fighting for Gold in Chengdu China.   Reigning World & Olympic Champion MA Long (CHN) who just won his 24th World Tour Men’s Singles title last week at the LION Japan Open in Tokyo head the Men’s seeding followed by FAN Zhendong (CHN) XU Xin (CHN) ZHANG Jike (CHN) & Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) who completes the top 5 names on the Men’s ranking.   The 2016 China Open champion FAN Zhendong will be eager to get revenge for his agonizing defeat in the World Championships final and also last week at the Japan Open.   In Women’s Singles world number one DING Ning (CHN) will be leading the charge for Gold trailing closely by LIU Shiwen (CHN) ZHU Yuling (CHN) Singapore’s FENG Tianwei as well as CHEN Meng (CHN) in the contest for the Women’s Singles crown.   The top 5 female stars will have to look out for SUN Yingsha (CHN) who shocked the world to claim the LION Japan Open title on her senior debut last week upsetting FENG & CHEN en route to making the unbelievable feat.   The unranked 16-year-old will be aiming to continue her amazing performance in Tokyo to cause some more shock results on home soil for a chance at another Gold medal.   Today sees some interesting matchups to put the China Open off to an exciting start. 41-year-old Vladimir SAMSONOV who holds the current record of most World Tour titles of 26 will face off 13-year-old Tomokazu HARIMOTO (JPN) who’s fresh from his World Championships streak of victories to reach quarterfinals on debut. It will sure be match not to miss to find out who will win in this clash of generations.   Fans can also expect more shocks & surprises in Chengdu which already saw China’s LIANG Jingkun & World Championships quarterfinalist LIN Gaoyuan (CHN) being shocked out of the tournament early in the qualifications by Chinese Taipei’s PENG Wang-Wei & LAM Sui Hang (HKG).   The 2017 China Open is the third platinum event of the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour which features 12 events across the world in 2017 plus a World Tour Grand Finals which only the top 16 male and female players from the 12 World Tour events qualify for.   The events are split into two tiers Regular and Platinum. The six ITTF World Tour Platinum events will have higher prize money and be of a higher level organisation which will ensure the attendance of the world’s best players resulting in more international exposure for the hosts.   

European Universities Championship in Olomouc   For the second time in history the Czech Republic hosts the European Universities Table Tennis Championship. The premiere took place in 2007 in Ostrava now the venue is the Olomouc Sports Hall of Palacký University and the date is 20th to 25th June.   Olomouc will play university students from all corners of Europe. The entries has been eventually closed at twenty men´s and twelve women´s teams.   “I am very pleased by the interest shown from Universities across the whole Europe. In the men´s category we even had to reject few contestants“ said Vít RATAJSKÝ Chairman of the Commission of Table Tennis of the Czech Association of University Sports (ČAUS) unsuccessfully hiding his satisfaction over the number of participants.   The biggest foreign team is coming from Poland where the university sport and table tennis in particular is extremely popular. In the Polish team we can find very famous names already engaged in the national team. Olomouc will welcome Piotr CHODORSKI Robert FLORAS Pawel FERTIKOWSKI and Sandra WABIKOVÁ. Traditionally high quality is linked to the university teams from Russia or Turkey. The long list will not miss the defenders of titles in singles from EUC 2015 in Geneva Czech Michal BENES and Anna BLAZHKO from Russia.   Academic table tennis enjoys more popularity among young people throughout the world. For example the EUC winners list includes table tennis players who are rank among the top hundred in the World. The most famous is Kirill SKACKOV Russia who clinched six medals for Orenburg State University four of them were gold.   The last European Universities Championship held in Geneva in 2015 ended up with a great success of the Czech universities table tennis. Michal BENEŠ won in Switzerland two gold medals when he triumphed in men´s singles and together with Ondřej BAJGER he won also the title in doubles. The collection of “Czech” medals was eventually supplemented with BAJGER’S bronze in singles. The 8th European Universities Championship in Olomouc will introduce four Czech universities: the host – Palacký University in Olomouc and Technical University of Ostrava will introduce themselves in the men´s category while women´s competitions will be attended by table tennis players from Palacký University in Olomouc and University of Economics Prague.   “In the Czech Republic in recent years the interest in university table tennis has increased. That is good news. I´m glad that it is also manifested in the number of applications from the Czech Republic to the European Universities Championship in Olomouc “ says Vít RATAJSKÝ who is at the top of the organisational committee of the European Universities Championship the organisation of which guarantees Palacký University in Olomouc.   The programme of the 8th EUC in Olomouc consists of six events. The first three days of the tournament will belong to teams on Saturday and Sunday on program are – men´s singles women´s singles men´s doubles and women´s doubles.   Schedule of the European Universities Championship 2017 in Olomouc Wednesday 21 June Opening ceremony Introductory team competitions Thursday 22 June Team Competitions (continued) Friday 23 June Team Competitions (finals) Saturday 24 June Individual & Doubles Events Sunday 25 June Individual & Doubles Events Award and Closing ceremony   History   2007 – Ostrava 2008 – Latina (Italy) 2009 – Niš (Serbia) 2010 – Kazan (Russia) 2011 – Madeira (Portugal) 2013 – Zonguldak (Turkey) 2015 – Geneva (Switzerland).   Events and Title holders   Men´s Team: Rzeszow University of Technology (Poland). Women´s Team: Institute of Economics Management and Law Kazan (Russia). Men’s Singles:  Michal BENES (Technical University of Ostrava). Women’s Singles: Anna BLAZHKO (Institute of Economics Mgmt and Law Kazan – Russia). Men’s Doubles: Bajger / Benes (Technical University of Ostrava). Women’s Doubles: Lebedeva / Blazhkova (LAW Kazan – Russia).   For complete information on the 8th European Universities Championship in table tennis in Olomouc see: http://tabletennis2017.eusa.eu/