The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced the launch of the ITTF Administration Course the first certified educational course of the ITTF that is undertaken online.   The course is targeted at administrators within all Table Tennis Associations and will help to provide the skills and knowledge on how to better administrate their association. The key areas of learning are Governance Finance Working with Partners Human Resources Organising Competitions Marketing & Promotion and Values.   ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT who is excited about the launch of the course “With the release of the ITTF Administration Course ITTF is again fuelling the development of table tennis and empowering all National Associations as part of ITTF DNA “Developing National Associations”. With ITTF soon to have every country on earth as a member the first International Sports Federation to achieve this milestone our focus turns to increasing the quality and technical capacities of our National Associations and this administration course is a big step in the right direction. We congratulate our Development Department on another great initiative for our sport.”   The course can be found online at ITTF.com/DNA and is free for everybody. The course is available in English French Spanish and Arabic.   ITTF Deputy CEO Glenn TEPPER who is responsible for ITTF’s Development Education & Training Departments added: “The ITTF has till now focused on Coach Umpire and Referee education as well as player development pathways. The next challenge was to work on administration as the backbone to the success of all programs through ITTF DNA “Developing National Associations” and we are very proud to release this self-paced online administration course in four languages that can be done as a whole or targeted to the needs of the individuals within each association’s administration. Special congratulations to Michael Brown who worked tirelessly on this project for the last two years using IOC and World best practises   For this course ITTF is proud to partner with Stag as the official partner of the ITTF Administration Course who will provide incentives for National Associations to encourage their executive and members in general to complete the course. An equipment package will be provided to the first National Association to have 10 50 and 100 users complete the entire course. Each National Association can only win one of these equipment packages which include 6 tables and nets 80 rackets and 8 gross of balls.   In addition to the incentives for National Associations ITTF are providing memorabilia prizes to each individual who is first to complete each of the seven modules as well as the first individual to complete the entire course. Once again each individual is only entitled to one of these prizes with a total of eight prizes on offer.   The mastermind behind the course the ITTF & Africa-Oceania Development Co-ordinator Michael BROWN concluded: “The concept for the ITTF Administration Course began with structuring the course as a face-to-face learning with a manual as the key resource. However halfway through preparing the content for the course and the way in which various improvements are being made in the technology world it was decided to move the course to an online portal. These seven key learning areas are what helps to form a well-structured Table Tennis Association and through undertaking the learning from this course I am confident that associations around the world can take their administration to a more professional level.”    

Kalinikos KREANGA has signed an agreement for next season with the Dutch national champion Enjoy & Deploy Taverzo. The Greek player known for his famous backhand has an impressive palmares and participated in the Olympic Games in 1996 2000 2004 2008 and 2012. He moved from the French Pro A   With semi-finals and finals at the highest level KREANGA’s best position in the world ranking was number 7 . The player born in Romania (1972) started playing table tennis at the age of 7 and like Dutch technical director Paul HALDAN went to another European country to live and play table tennis. He was warmly welcomed in Greece and to date he is proud of wearing the Greek colors. Together with his friend Gionis Panagiotis he won the silver medal at the European Teams Championships in 2013.   “I am proud of the fact that at the age of 39 I won the European Top 12 in 2011. In 2003 I gained bronze at the World Championships of course all the attention was paid to winner Werner SCHLAGER but it was my best Performance ever and after me only Michael MAZE and Timo BOLL have won a bronze medal at the World Championships as Europeans ” said KREANGA.   Kalinikos Kreanga will be in Zoetermeer together with Dorian NICOLLE (France) Jakub FOLWARSKI (Poland) and Stephan TROMER the team in the championships division and the ETTU cup.   Team Manager Ruud van Graafeiland: “Of course I am proud that we are not only a strong team. Every player has a very attractive style which makes it pleasure to watch the game. When we made a contact with Kalinikos everything indicated that we are talking to each other at the right moment. We were not strangers because we met with his friends Gionis Konstantinos Angelakis and Greek coach Kostas VATSAKLIS. Earlier this year our club hosted the match between the Greek and Dutch Men National teams. We noticed the disappointment of the crowd during this match that the well respected and legendary KREANGA did not play at that time. With this agreement all these people will get more than one opportunity to watch Kalinikos KREANGA Dorian NICOLLE Stephan TROMER and the defensive style of Jakub FOLWARSKI.”   Kalinikos Kreanga: “I am happy to join Enjoy & Deploy Taverzo and look forward to meet the Dutch league and people.”  

Member National Associations of the European Table Tennis Union are invited to nominate 1 or 2 candidates for the position of member of the Athletes Commission (2017-2021)   The election for the ETTU Athletes Commission will take place in September 2017 during the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Championships (Luxembourg LUX) and the European Para TT Regional Championships (Lasko SLO).   “The ETTU Executive Board is continuously working to become a more professional and up-to-date organization. In doing so we need close cooperation with the athletes who participate in our events. To this end the Athletes Commission is a very important body in the decision making processes in our Union. We need to be aware of athletes’ concerns and ideas and we need their support for our proposals. Their role in creating the future look of the events work on improvement of the playing conditions giving their opinion on rule changes etc. is crucial. Luckily in Europe there are many players with great credentials great pedigree and those who command the greatest of respect and we are inviting their Federations to come forward with these important nominations ” said ETTU President Ronald KRAMER.     The Commission is composed of 5 members elected for a 4 years renewable term (2017-2021). 4 athletes from 4 member Associations are elected during the European Championships and 1 athlete who may be from any member Association is elected during the European Para TT Regional Championships   National Associations are invited to nominate 1 or 2 candidates aged 16 years or more at the time of voting in September 2017 who have participated in European Championships or European Para TT Championships during the past 4 years (2013-2017) and have not been sanctioned for a doping offence   A candidate will be at least 16 years of age at the time of the election has never been sanctioned for a doping offence has participated at previous European Championships or European Para TT Regional Championships during the past 4 years and will participate in the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Championships (Luxembourg LUX) or European Para TT Regional Championships (Lasko SLO)   Nominees must be nominated by their National Association. The eligibility of each candidate is decided and confirmed by the ETTU Executive Board. Each nomination shall include a candidature form duly signed by the candidate and the President of the National Association with a candidate’s biographical details personal statement and a recent passport photograph   Nominations are to be sent as email attachment to the ETTU Secretariat: Pierre Kass ettu@pt.lu and Richard Scruton rcsettu@pt.lu not later than Wednesday 12th July 2017   The list of candidates will be published not later than Monday 31st July 2017 together with details of the voting procedure   All athletes participating in the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF European Championships and the European Para TT Regional Championships have the right to vote. One male and one female athlete who obtain the highest number of votes are elected to the Commission; thereafter 2 more athletes who obtain the highest number of votes are elected to the Commission; the Para TT athlete who obtains the highest number of votes is elected to the Commission at the European Para TT Regional Championships   The Athletes Commission chair shall be proposed by the Commission to the Executive Board. The Athletes Commission chair is a co-opted member of the Executive Board   Athletes Commission (2013-2017) Chair: Petr Korbel (CZE) Members: Adrian Crisan (ROU) Matilda Ekholm (SWE) Christophe Legout (FRA) Jose Manuel Ruiz (ESP)

A milestone achieved in Slovakia as Bratislava hosts the first ever Para World Team Championships from 17-20 May.  Total of 255 players made up of 116 teams from 34 countries will participate in the Para World Team Championships including Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Gold medalist Fabien Lamirault and Stephane Molliens from France alongside Ukraine’s pair of Viktor Didukh and Maksym Nikolenko. An hour long opening ceremony was held in Slovnaft Arena to welcome the officials and players and was declared open by Thomas Weikert ITTF President. “It is a good idea to host the tournament in the beautiful city of Bratislava. All athletes present are an inspiration not only to me but to millions around the world.” Athletes will fight for 11 Gold medals in a span of 4 days. Watch the action LIVE on www.metoo.sk from 17 May 9am (GMT +2) onwards. 

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) continues its pledge to assist the development of its continents by signing a Strategic Commercial Agreement with ITTF-North America. This new Strategic Commercial Agreement adds to a similar deal signed with ITTF-Oceania last month and will be the framework for future agreements with the rest of ITTF’s continents with whom the ITTF are already in discussion.  The deal involves the ITTF investing significant financial and human resources into the region to assist its commercial growth and the popularity of the sport in the region which has an enormous amount of potential for table tennis.  ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated: “Due to having great commercial results since we took back the marketing rights at the start of 2017 we are continuing to work with our continental partners to look at how to grow all of our commercial businesses and at the same time grow the sport globally. North America is a place that the ITTF has always seen as a big potential growth market so we are very excited to have this opportunity to work hand in hand with ITTF-North America to make this happen.”  ITTF-North America President Tony KIESENHOFER added: “This strategic investment offers ITTF-North America the opportunity to build a sustainable organization that will focus on bringing regular international events to North America such as regular ITTF World Tour events with qualified staff to implement these events at a professional level.”  “Further the increased capacity resulting from this agreement provides an opportunity for ITTF-North America to found a professional league in North America which in turn will inspire and offer professional opportunities to the next generation of North American table tennis athletes.”  “Last but not least the professional structure that will result from this investment allows ITTF-North America to collaborate with its member associations on a successful grassroots development strategy.”  “I am thrilled that the current ITTF leadership is investing the funds that the ITTF gained by taking back some commercial rights from TMS in the continents. We understand that such an agreement will be on offer for all continental federations and I encourage my colleagues in other continents to take advantage of this opportunity and bring our sport Table Tennis to the highest international level.”  ITTF Marketing & Commercial Director Steve DAINTON concluded: “We are all excited about these Strategic Commercial Agreements as they are a perfect way for the ITTF to work closely with our Continental partners to commercialize our sport in all regions. That being said these agreements are an investment from the ITTF and we will be expecting a return in the future so we all need to work hard together to produce the results that we know are possible.”  This is a milestone moment in the history for table tennis within North America that will create opportunities and benefits for both ITTF-North America ITTF and table tennis in general.

For the 5th consecutive time EnjoyDeploy Taverzo has become National champion of the Netherlands. Although Enjoy & Deploy Taverzo was the best team during the regular season the team did face tough resistance during the play offs. In the semifinal Scylla forced them into the decisive match in a best of three whilst the final was decided in a single match in a true thriller against Itass DTK’70.   In the final the reigning champion had a difficult afternoon mainly due to DTK’70 player Nathan van der LEE’S formidable opening game. Borna KOVAC took the challenge and managed to win DTK’70 leader Barry Wijers. When youngster Roel BOGIE lost his game against Koen HAGERAATS Martin KHATCHANOV had to win Barry WIJERS to tie the score again. After WIJERS managed to win the third set by winning 6 points in a row from 10-6 to 10-12 the team DTK’70 team needed only one set for the win. However Martin KHATCHANOV stood up and defeated Wijers winning the 4th and 5th set and tied the score.   The final match between Borna KOVAC and Nathan van der LEE needed a fifth decisive set as well. The Croatian player Borna KOVAC started well with a 5-2 lead and suddenly looking at a 5-8 score to level at 8-8. From that moment on the players tied the score in this exciting end of the match. KOVAC missed two match points and Nathan van der Lee was unable to claim the national title with a match point at 11-12. Eventually KOVAC took his third championships point. For Enjoy & Deploy Taverzo it is the fifth national championship in a row in the Netherlands.   Martin Khatchanov–Nathan van der Lee 2-3 (8-16 9-11 11-5 8-11 8-11) Borna Kovac–Barry Wijers 3-1 (11-8 8-11 11-6 11-5) Roel Bogie–Koen Hageraats 0-3 (3-11 6-11 1-11) Martin Khatchanov – Barry Wijers  3-2   (13-11 6-11 10-12 11-5 11-7) Borna Kovac–Nathan van der Lee 3-2 (11-8 6-11 13-11 9-11 14-12)