LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships   Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA created one of the biggest upsets on the fourth day of the LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships here in Düsseldorf Germany as she overcame Japan’s Hitomi SATO world no.10 and seeded no.9 in the championship.   World no. 31 Samara won in one of the most thrilling matches in full seven games 5-11 8-11 11-7 11-8 4-11 11-8 11-8.   “I did not feel the ball so well in the beginning. Getting used to pimples was hard. But after that I kept the balls safe on the table. I keep a good combination of spin and push. She was also making many mistakes today I knew that and I was waiting for that” said Elizabeta SAMARA.   Samara found her rhythm just in time winning one of the longest matches she has played in recent times especially after her knee surgery earlier this year.    

LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships   Decade after her best result at the World Championships in Zagreb 2007 Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN of Romania repeated the success. In Dusseldorf at the LEBHERR 2017 World Championships she reached the Round of 16.   “I remember that Championships well; I beat Haruna FUKUOKA and Ai FUKUHARA two Japan’s representatives in the row. It was my best Championships ” said Daniela.   Decade and one baby later she is again in the winning mode.   “I am feeling so bad when I am not with my daughter. She is two years old now and I miss her so much. However since I have to be absent from home I am trying to give mu best to spend that time by making something. I will feel even worst to leave her for few days and been unsuccessful. I am missing so many tournaments due to my maternity duties and my only chance to earn some points for the rankings is at the World and European Championships. Otherwise I will slip from the list. It will be even harder with the new rankings system.”   To reach the round of 16 Daniela needed to beat LIU Jia of Austria.   “I was afraid a little before the match. She is very experienced. I was talking to the people who played against her asked for advice. The main thing was to stay calm. She is so calm and looked relaxed that some times it enough to push you out of balance ” said Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN.

LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships   Top seeds in Men’s Doubles Event Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA of Japan are safely through to the quarterfinal. In the Round of 16 they overcame Martin ALLEGRO and Florent LAMBIET of Belgium (11-2 6-11 11-5 11-5 12-10). However at the lower half of the draw seeded at position no two Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany and Jonathan GROTH of Denmark are out.   After seven games in thrilling match Pavel PLATONOV and Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus prevailed 4:3 (11-8 8-11 11-7 11-5 4-11 9-11 11-7).   ” It was difficult. We had many chances to finish the match a little bit earlier. At 3-2 we led 8-4 and just missed too many easy points. But when it came to the seventh game we started leading and were finally able to finish the match ” said PLATONOV.   Brazilian pairings Hugo CALDERANO and Gustavo TSUBOI suffered by the hands of Russia’s Alexander SHIBAEV and Kirill SKACHKOV 2-4 (6-11 9-11 7-11 11-6 11-8 9-11).   In the quarterfinal of the Women’s Doubles Event there will be no European representatives.

Just a day after Tomas WEIKERT become elected ITTF President he and the DTTB highest officials led by President Michael GEIGER as a members of the Organising Committee welcomed IOC President Thomas BACH at the venue of the LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships. Before BACH took the tour around the venue and watched some matches IOC President made a stop and talked with JHA Kanak of USA and Romania’s Bernadette SZOCS. All three of them joined by Tomas WEIKERT played a doubles TTX match.   Journalist also had an opportunity to talk with both Presidents. Main topic was the introducing the Mixed Doubles Event at the Olympic Games.   “I just enjoyed the mixed doubles game few minutes ago. Personally I think that mixed events can give the great contribution to the development of the sport particularly the women sport. However with the program for Tokyo you have to wait eight more days. Then the IOC Executive Board will have the meeting and come out with the decision ” said BACH.   Asked for the comment of the fact that ITTF become no. one International federation with 226 members BACH said:   “It is very impressive figure but most important thing is that we see that most of them are very active. They do not exist only on paper; they are working on organising the competitions and developing the sport. ITTF is very active and doing a lot to develop the sport for the children and even if you can see the elder people like me ” joked BACH.   Asked about future actions of ITTF regarding Olympics President WEIKERT said: “Our next step is to make a chance to have the fifth event at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. Mister BACH told us that we are already very strong. The data from Rio works in our favor speaking about social media and TV. He said in Tokyo we would be even stronger. We hope we will have Mixed doubles in Japan.”  

LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships     Top European players no 5 seed Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and no.8 Timo BOLL are safely through the second round of the Men’s Singles Event at the LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships in Dusseldorf.   Timo BOLL was not under pressure in the duel against Gavin RUMGAY. Player from Scotland failed to win the game against the player who won the bronze medal at the World Championships in 2011 – 0-4 (4-11 4-11 7-11 4-11).   “It was good match for me for the first round. Now in the next stage it will be more difficult. Jakub DYJAS of Poland is very dangerous player. Two years ago we played against each other at the World Championships and despite the fact I beat him 4:2 it was very hard match ” said BOLL.   OVTHAROV against Lubomir JANCARIK had to work a little bit harder (11-9 11-5 6-11 7-11 11-5 13-11).   “I thought after second game i was safe but then he moved to another gear. He played much better. It was very close ” said OVTCHAROV.   National coach Jorg ROSSKOPF saw the good part of such match: “I think now OVTCHAROV is better prepared for the forthcoming challenges. It is good for him that he had tough match at the begining.”   Thomas POLANSKY of Czech Republic managed to put XU Xin under pressure 2-4.   “I had trouble playing openly whilst my adversary was quite aggressive. He is a young athlete that I have never played against before so it was very close match. I actually feel that his method and style is similar to Asian. The first round is just all about winning as many points as I can. By the time we got to the last game he had a chance of winning the match but did not seized the opportunity. He become nerveus especially in the second game.”  

LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships   Thomas WEIKERT (GER) has been elected as the ITTF President by the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) today in Dusseldorf Germany.   The incumbent President WEIKERT from Germany defeated Belgium’s Jean-Michel SAIVE 118 votes to 90 to extend his time as ITTF President for another four years.   “I am very happy today. I was confident that I am going to win because my team was confident. I have to thank a DTTB President and General Secretary for a great support. Despite enormous task and challenge to organise such big event their help was vital ” said President WEIKERT.” Immediately after the election Jean-Michel SAIVE congratulated me and I respect that gesture as much as I respected him as a player.”   Thomas WEIKERT who was appointed President in 2014 when then President Adham SHARARA stepped down stated: “I would like to thank my team for all the support they have given me since becoming President. Thank you to all the National Associations for their confidence in me to continue as President. I promise to keep giving my best to push the sport to new heights and achieve all my goals stated in my manifesto.”   The 55-year-old German will be joined on the ITTF Executive Committee by: Shi Zhihao (CHN) Masahiro Maehara (JPN) Petra Sorling (SWE) Nestor TENCA Bruce Burton (CAN) James MORRIS (NZL) Alaa MESHREF (EGY) Khalil AL-MOHANNADI (QAT)  

LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships   In the opening round of the Women’s Singles Event at the LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships in Dusseldorf one of the early upsets was made by Dana CECHOVA of Czech Republic. World’s no 130 overcame no. 18 seed Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden on her way to the next stage – 1:4.   “Matilda is 18th seed? I didn’t realise that! I am absolutely happy and excited to win. It was a really tough match as we are good friends… Both of us fought hard.”   Dana CECOHOVA has a special support in Dusseldorf. Her daughter is here to chear for her in Czech shirt and she ran in to player’s area after match for hug: “I enjoy playing in front of her. She always cheers and says “mummy come on and win” before the match. I am actually more relaxed when she is in the hall.”   Adina DIACONU of Romania beat Chantal MANTZ of Germany 4:2: “It was a very difficult first match playing in the big hall. I knew it would be hard as last time we played I lost. But I was more focused now on what I had to do and had very good tactics.   Top seed DING Ning of China faced no difficulties against Belarus Daria TRIGOLOS 4:0.   “I enjoyed the match with Ding Ning. In the beginning of the match I knew that will be very difficult to win even one game. During the match I didn’t think about her titles I was trying to show my best ” said Daria.    Sabine WINTER of Germany prevailed against Croatia’s Mateja JEGER 4:1.   “I was happy to have quite a clear win and that it wasn’t too much of a test for my nerves; but I hope to keep playing better.”   Sabine was “caught” on watching Chantal Mantz on court next to her: “Normally you shouldn’t watch but honestly I did have a look a couple of times but not too often!”    

LEBHERR 2017 World Championships   The Group phase of the comepetition in the Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships concluded with few surprises.   In Men’s Category already in Group 4 top seeded Cristian PLETEA of Romania failed to justified his rankings. He suffered by the hands of Nigeria’s Olajide OMOTAYO. Jan ZIBRAT of Slovenia also faced surprising defeat against Amin AHMADIAN ov Iran which cost him top position.   For Turkey’s Batuhan ULUCAK it was opposite. He progressed to the next stage despite the fact he was second in the Group. He bit top seeded David POWEL of Australia. Eric GLOD of Luxemburg prevailed against Marek BADOWSKI of Poland.   By beating higer ranked Claus NILSEN of Denmark and Alfredas UDRA of Lithiania Anastasios RINIOTIS of Greece found his way to the knock out phase from the third position in the Group. Rajko GOMMERS of Netherlands did the same by beating Ojo ONAOLAPO of Nigeria. Lionel WEBER of Switzerland beat Luka FUCEC of Croatia in seven games and booked his place in the next stage.   In Women’s Singles Event Valeria PETROVA created the upset and beat Olga KIM of Uzbekistan and Justina YEUNG of Canada to progress further. Anna KIRICHENKO of Finland follwed her with good win over Simay KULAKCEKEN of Turkey. ZHOU Chuyi of Azerbaijan proved to strong for Maria CHRISTOFORAKI of Greece