2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open in Warsaw Japan’s Jun MIZUTANI beat Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV in the final of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open in Warsaw. The second seed he beat OVTCHAROV the top seed in the Men’s Singles final to reserve the top step of the medal podium (7-11 11-9 11-5 11-4 9-11 11-6). Japan’s Miu HIRANO won the Women’s Singles title. The no.11 seed she beat Singapore’s YU Mengyu the no.15 seed to arrest the title (12-10 11-9 12-10 11-7).That is her first ever ITTF World Tour Women’s Singles title in her second such final. Korea’s JEON Jihee and YU Mengyu won the Women’s Doubles title. Occupying the top seeded position they beat the combination of the host nation’s LI Qian and LI Jie of the Netherlands (11-4 12-10 11-7) to arrest the title. For LI Jie and LI Qian bronze medallists at the Qoros 2015 World Championships in Suzhou it was the second time that they had reached an ITTF World Tour Women’s Doubles final and the second time they had suffered defeat. The one previous occasion was last year in Austria when beaten by Germany’s Petrissa SOLJA and SHAN Xiaona. Japan’s Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA claimed the title. They overcame colleagues Koki NIWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA (16-14 11-8 11-8) in the Men’s Doubles Event.
Bastian STEGER beat Marcos FREITAS
2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open in Warsaw Bastian STEGER of Germany upset the ranking order and beat Portugal’s Marcos FREITAS on his way to the semi final of the Men’s Singles Event at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open in Warsaw. He succeeded in full seven games thriller and tomorrow he will meet Dimitrij OVTCHAROV the no. one seed. OVTCHAROV overcame Kohei SAMBE of Japan in five games to book his semi final place. Netherlands’ Li Jiao the no.15 seed booked her place among top four players in the Women’s Singles event. She beat quarterfinal’s surprise winner Germany’s Sabine WINTER to secure her passage to the penultimate round. In the semi final LI will meet Miu HIARANO of Japan after she overcame her compatriot Hitomo SATO. Germany’s HAN Ying the no.4 seed lost against Kasumi ISHIKAWA of Japan. The winners of the bronze medal at the World Championships in Doubles LI Jie of Netherlands and LI Qian of Poland reached the final of the Women’s Doubles Event. They overcame Yui HAMAMOTO and Hina HAYATA of Japan in the semis. In the final Dutch Polosh combination will meet Korea’s JEON Jihee and YANG Haeun. In the Men’s Doubles final Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA of Japan will meet compatriots Koki NIWA and Maharu YOSHIMURA. Denmark’s WANG Zhixu emerged as the surprise winner of the Under 21 Men’s Singles event. It was his first such title as for Japan’s Miyu KATO the player to secure the top step of the podium in the Under 21 Women’s Singles event; it was the second time she had won and the second time this year.
SHAN Xiaona loses to Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA
The Day 4 of 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open (Major) in Warsaw The top seed in the Men`s Singles Event Dimitrij OVTCHAROV had an easy job in the first two rounds. German beat host Marek BADOWSKI and Hungarian Adam PATTANTYUS respectively both in straight games while no. 5 seed Marcos FREITAS reached third round after hard clash with Japanese Kazuhiro YOSHIMURA. Portuguese defeated Vitor ISHIY from Brazil in the opening round of the main draw. The 2011 Polish Open winner and no.6 seed this time Korea`s LEE Sangsu surprisingly lost to Russian Kirill SKACHKOV who was required to play in the qualification. European won 4:2 (12:10 11:7 8:11 11:5 8:11 11:6). Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO caused the biggest upset in the Round of 64 as he beat the no. 3 seed Japanese Koki NIWA in six games – 4:2 (11:9 11:7 6:11 11:8 9:11 12:10). But Ukrainian didn’t manage to stay in the winning course and lost to Czech Republic`s Tomas KONECNY after full seven games – 4:3 (11:9 11:3 7:11 11:5 5:11 11:13 11:3). Actual world`s no. 108 at the ITTF Women`s Ranking List Maria XIAO confirmed her winning streak from the qualification stage beating no. 22 seed Irene IVANCAN. After first two sets the score was leveled but Spanish player found a right play against German defender the 2011 European individual runner-up and won next three games in a row – 4:1 (11:7 8:11 13:11 12:10 11:5). The no. 7 seed Germany`s Petrissa SOLJA kept her good shape from the recent 2016 European Olympic Qualification in Halmstad defeating Luxembourg`s Sarah DE NUTTE 4:2 (9:11 11:8 11:9 11:7 8:11 11:8). The 22-year-old had a bad start in the Round of 32 as Nanthana KOMWONG took the opening set but in the next four SOLJA was unstoppable. Sabine WINTER is one of the heroes of the Day 4. She played 13 sets in two matches first against Yu AMANO 4:3 (11:5 11:6 8:11 11:4 7:11 9:11 11:5) then against Korea`s YANG Haeun 4:2 (11:6 12:14 12:10 3:11 11:6 11:9). German women now stands in front of one harder hurdle named LI Jie from Netherlands. Host Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA reached the Round of 16 as she overcame SHAN Xiaona in five games. A half Round of 16 participants are Europeans but three Top 8 places are already secured for the Old Continent because six out of them will play one against another: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) – Lubomir JANCARIK (Czech Republic) Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) – BAI He (Slovakia) Tomas KONECNY (Czech Republic) – Bastian STEGER (Germany). Other two are Robert FLORAS (Poland) and Joao GERALDO (Portugal) who will challenge the no. 2 seed Japanese Jun MIZUTANI. Italian pair Marco RECH DALDOSSO / Niagol STOYANOV is unique European representative among the best four men`s doubles. Regarding women`s competition LI Jie (Netherlands) and LI Qian (Poland) managed to progress to the semi-final.
Seven French players reached main draw in Warsaw
The Day 2 of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open (Major) Second day of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open (Major) in Warsaw was very successful for the French players who secured seven spots in the main draw via qualification stage. They are Benjamin BROSSIER (Group 7) Andrea LANDRIEU (Group 10) Tristan FLORE (Group 15) Quentin ROBINOT (Group 16) Antoine HACHARD (Group 18) Alexandre CASSIN (Group 29) and Can AKKUZY (Group 40). One of them Andrea LANDRIEU beat Zoran PRIMORAC in the Group 10 after full seven games 4:3 (14:12 3:11 8:11 11:13 11:5 11:6 12:10). The 20-year-old will meet Jens LUNDQVIST in the Round of 64. In the Group 23 Fabian AKERSTROM from Sweden overcame Benedikt DUDA in one of the most thrilling encounters of the day 4:3 (11:5 8:11 11:9 4:11 12:10 6:11 13:11). Romanian Hunor SZOCS progressed to the main draw after two hard games. First in the decisive match of the group stage he eliminated LAM Siu Hang from Hong Kong 4:3 (4:11 11:6 11:2 5:11 17:15 10:12 11:7) then he defeated Yuto KIZUKURI (Japan) in the Pre-rounds phase 4:2 (11:5 11:9 7:11 11:9 9:11 13:11). The winner of the Group 21 host player Marek BADOWSKI will face the top seed and actual European champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV. After the group stage in the Women`s Singles Event 18 European players out of 26 groups booked their places in the main draw. They are Kristin SILBEREISEN (GER) Stephanie LOEUILLETTE (FRA) Carole GRUNDISCH (FRA) Hana MATELOVA (CZE) Alina ARLOUSKAYA (BLR) Yana NOSKOVA (RUS) Kinga STEFANSKA (POL) Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (LTU) Renata STRBIKOVA (CZE) Antonina SAVELYEVA (RUS) Galia DVORAK (ESP) Petra LOVAS (HUN) Maria XIAO (ESP) Olga BARANOVA (RUS) Alexandra PRIVALOVA (BLR) Sarah DE NUTTE (LUX) Pauline CHASSELIN (FRA) Nadine BOLLMEIER (GER).
Stephanie LOEUILLETTE beat Viktoria PAVLOVICH
The 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open (Major) Warsaw World`s no. 235 the 23-year-old Stephanie LOEUILLETTE from France created one of biggest upsets in the opening day of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Polish Open (Major) in Warsaw. She beat no. 71 Viktoria PAVLOVICH (Byelorussia) former individual European champion from 2010 (Ostrava) and 2012 (Herning) – 4:3 (11:3 5:11 10:12 11:9 7:11 11:7 11:6). LOEUILLETTE secured top spot in the Group 3 as she overcame MAK Tze Wing from Hong Kong 4:0 (11:5 11:6 12:10 11:7) Players who have 1-0 score after the first day in the group stage of Women`s Singles Event are: Kristin SILBEREISEN (Group 2) Carole GRUNDISCH (Group 5) Hana MATELOVA (Group 6) Yana NOSKOVA (Group 8) Eva ODOROVA (Group 9) Irina CIOBANU (Group 10) Yulia PROKHOROVA Kinga STEFANSKA (Group 11) Ruta PASKAUSKIENE Andrea TODOROVIC (Group 12) Renata STRBIKOVA (Group 13) Camelia POSTOACA Antonina SAVELYEVA (Group 14) Galia DVORAK Marie MIGOT (Group 15) Elena TROSHNEVA (Group 16) Petra LOVAS Alex GALIC (Group 17) Klaudia KUSINSKA (Group 19) Maria XIAO Natalia BAJOR (Group 19) Olga BARANOVA (Group 20) Alexandra PRIVALOVA (Group 21) Sarah DE NUTTE Rachel MORET (Group 22) Szandra PERGEL Pauline CHASSELIN (Group 23) Nadine BOLLMEIER (Group 24) MA Wenting (Group 26). Regarding the Men`s competition host Marek BADOWSKI won both his encounters in the Group 21 against Samuel WALKER (England) 4:3 (8:11 11:6 11:6 13:11 7:11 7:11 12:10) and Florent LAMBIET (Belgium) 4:1 (11:9 7:11 11:8 11:5 11:8).WALKER is the actual runner-up of the 2016 England National Championship and a member of England`s national team which won bronze medal at the 2016 World Team Championships in Malaysia. Men`s Qualifications consists 40 groups with three or four players. This stage will be concluded tomorrow.
ITTF Opens up Bidding for Revamped 2017 ITTF World Tour
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has opened bids for the new and improved 2017 ITTF World Tour. The revamped and restructured ITTF World Tour will have a new look and image in 2017 to make the tour a much more attractive proposition to countries and cities to promote themselves globally through table tennis. ITTF’s President Thomas WEIKERT stated: “The ITTF World Tour has been a very valuable property since its inception in 1996. However the ITTF believed it was time to shake up the World Tour to make it more commercially viable for potential hosts and to increase the overall economic situation of the tour. We believe the changes implemented will take the already successful ITTF World Tour to the next level.” There are 12 ITTF World Tour events available for bidding in 2017 which are split into two tiers. Six ITTF World Tour Platinum events which is the new top tier of the World Tour and six regular ITTF World Tour events. The six ITTF World Tour Platinum events will have higher prize money and be of a higher level event which will ensure the world’s best players’ attendance resulting in more international exposure for the hosts. The current third tier of the ITTF World Tour the ITTF World Tour Challenge series will be removed from the ITTF World Tour for 2017 and form a new property called the ITTF Challenge Series which will be the development tour of the ITTF. The ITTF World Tour has consistently been a great avenue for countries and cities to gain global reach promotion and recognition as the below figures portray: 20 TV broadcasters in 80 countries with a potential reach of over 550 million; 405 hours of the World Tour broadcasted including 62.5 hours on China’s national broadcaster CCTV reaching 157 million people in total; US$2.2 million in TV media value for the city of Berlin at the 2016 ITTF World Tour German Open; 16 million video views of 2015 ITTF World Tour online videos; Connection to ITTF’s 1.3 million social media fans; 21% of the global population is interested in Table Tennis. To become a part of the world’s biggest table tennis tour which is only going to get bigger go to ITTFWorldTour.com to find out more information and submit your bid. For more information on the ITTF Challenge Series go to ITTFChallengeSeries.com. Bids close 31 May 2016 so be quick not to miss out!
Outstanding record for LIU JIa
Austrian National Chanmpionships 18 years after her first singles title in Vienna LIU Jia wins her 15th title in Women’s Singles again in the same city. In the final she beat LI Qiangbing. Dominique PLATTNER clinched his first title in Men’s Singles. He beat Simon PFEFFER in the final. After 12 titles with LIU Jia in Mixed Doubles since 1999 Bernhard KINZ-PRESSLMAYER wins again the title in same Event. This time with 16 year old Lena PROMBERGER. They beat in the final LI Qiangbing and Dominique PLATTNER. For the first time in his career Bernhard KINZ-PRESSLMAYER also wins the title in Men’s Doubles with Simon PFEFFER. In the final they overcame Dominik HABESOHN and Mathias HABESOHN 3:0. In Women’s Doubles LI Qiangbing wins the title with Jessica ZLATILOVA. Silver Medal goes to Victoria EHN and Melanie LUGINGER. Men’s Singles 1. Dominique PLATTNER (Oberösterreich) 2. Simon PFEFFER (Oberösterreich) 3. Christoph SIMONER (Steiermark) 3. Bernhard KINZ-PRESSLMAYER (Oberösterreich) Women’s Singles 1. LIU Jia (Oberösterreich) 2. LI Qiangbing (Kärnten) 3. Karoline MISCHEK (Wien) 3. Victoria EHN (Burgenland) Men’s Doubles 1. Bernhard KINZ-PRESSLMAYER / Simon PFEFFER (Oberösterreich) 2. Dominik HABESOHN / Mathias HABESOHN (Niederösterreich / Burgenland) 3. Dominique PLATTNER / Martin STORF (Oberösterreich) 3. Alexander CHEN / Andreas LEVENKO (Deutschland / Niederösterreich) Women’s Doubles 1. LI Qiangbing / Jessica ZLATILOVA (Kärnten / Niederösterreich) 2. Victoria EHN / Melanie LUGINGER (Burgenland / Salzburg) 3. Monika JURIC / Claudia SCHÄTZER (Burgenland / Steiermark) 3. Ines DIENDORFER / Lisa STORER (Niederösterreich / Steiermark) Mixed Doubels 1. Lena PROMBERGER / Bernhard KINZ-PRESSLMAYER (Oberösterreich) 2. LI Qiangbing / Dominique PLATTNER (Kärnten / Oberösterreich) 3. Victoria EHN / Martin HEIMBERGER (Burgenland / Steiermark) 3. Jessica ZLATILOVA / Alexander CHEN (Niederösterreich / Deutschland)
Titles for Stéphane OUAICHE et YANG Xiao Xin
French National Championships Stéphane OUAICHE and YANG Xiao Xin are the new French champions. They clinched the titles in Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the National Championships held last weekend in Brest. Since the 2016 ITTF Europe qualifications has been held at the same time in Halmstad . the leading names were absent from the scene in France. Men’s Singles 1. Stéphane OUAICHE 2. Romain LORENTZ 3. Quentin ROBINOT 3. Adrien MATTENET Women’s Singles 1. YANG Xiao Xin 2. YUAN Jia Nan 3. Laura GASNIER 3. LIU Yu Hua Men’s Doubles 1. S. OUAICHE / A. SALIFOU 2. B. BROSSIER / A. HACHARD 3. A. CASSIN / R. RUIZ 3. Q. ROBINOT / T. Le BRETON Women’s Doubles 1. YANG X. / A. Le LANNIC 2. A. DESSAINT / YUAN J. 3. P.CHASSELIN / A. ZARIF 3. O.GUISNEL / M. MIGOT
SOLJA and GROTH youngest players with Olympic berth
Figures of 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament Petrissa SOLJA (Germany) and Jonathan GROTH (Denmark) are the youngest qualifiers at the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament– that is just one of figures on the event held last week in Swedish city of Halmstad. Both are 22-year-old. In total 151 players fought for the place at the 2016 Rio Olympics 78 men and 73 women. Halmstad event provided 20 tickets to Rio for 13 different NOC’s: 3 for Germany Portugal and Sweden 2 for Russia and 1 for Poland Turkey Austria Netherlands Greece Slovenia Denmark France and Bulgaria. Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA (POL) KOU Lei (UKR) and Daniel GORAK (POL) have played most matches: 11. Host player LI Fen (39-year-old) and Greek Panagiotis GIONIS (36) are the oldest qualifiers in women`s and men`s singles events respectively. During five days 406 matches have played 61 of them going to the full distance of 7 games. All players produced 2034 games and 37283 points.
The Stans Stunned Hong Kong En Route to Rio Olympic Games
Kazakhstan’s Kirill GERASSIMENKO and Uzbekistan’s Zokhid KENJAEV have thrilled the local crowd in Hong Kong at the ITTF-Asia Olympic Qualification Tournament with the stunning performance to secure direct qualification to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games later this year. By qualifying GERASSIMENKO has also made history to become Kazakhstan’s first male athlete to play in the Olympic Games table tennis event. Current ranked 195 in the world he achieved this feat by upsetting local favorite JIANG Tianyi in four straight games (11-9 11-4 11-8 13-11) in front of the home crowd. “It still feels unbelievable now that I’m going to be the first male athlete to represent my country in table tennis at the Olympic Games! I still don’t understand what happened or what I did to win ” shared the elated 19-year-old. GERASSIMENKO who also played in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing added that “When I was leading 10-8 in the last game I felt like I’m in a dream like I’m already in Rio and lost my focus. After he catch up to 10-10 I told myself that I need to concentrate! “I will be preparing every day till the Olympic Games and I hope to just show my game there and do my best. I must just show my game if I do that I think I can play well.” Hong Kong’s HO Kwan Kit faced off KENJAEV in the finals of Draw D in the second stage at the qualifications tournament. Despite being the highest ranked among players participating in stage 2 Ho struggled against KENJAEV losing 2-11 in the first game much to the astonishment of the crowd watching the match live. The pair pulled out several amazing rallies during the match and HO was able to recover from his earlier loss to win 4-1 (2-11 11-7 11-7 11-8 12-10) to claim a qualifier spot. Still suffering from his back injury from the first day of the qualification tournament India’s Sharath Kamal ACHANTA came back from 1-3 in his decisive match against Iran’s Noshad ALAMIYAN to prevail 4-3 (12-14 11-6 3-11 7-11 11-4 11-7 11-6). ALAMIYAN too managed to clear his path to Rio eliminating JIANG 4-1 in the later stage. Chinese Taipei’s CHEN Chien-An secured an important victory for his team beating Thailand’s rising star Padasak TANVIRIYAVECHAKUL 4-2 (11-6 11-6 10-12 13-15 15-13 11-7). Should the Chinese Taipei team’s top player CHUANG Chih-Yuan world number six qualify through the world rankings to Rio the team will qualify to play in the team’s event as well at the Olympic Games. TANVIRIYAVECHAKUL and KENJAEV played a nail biting final match of the day to conclude the sixth ticket to Rio in the Men’s event. It was JENJAEV who eventually prevailed to take home the ticket for Uzbekistan defeating the Thai 4-3 (9-11 13-11 11-13 7-11 11-7 13-11 11-4). In the Women’s side Korea DPR’s defenders RI Myong Sun and KIM Song I proved themselves as they cruised past Mouma DAS (India) and Lilis INDRIANI (Indonesia) respectively in 4 straight games and book their spots at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games singles event. Rising power in Asian table tennis scene Thailand secured two qualification positions today as well. Nanthana KOMWONG will be heading to Rio in August together with 2015 South East Asian Games women’s singles champion Suthasini SAWETTABUT after the duo beat Philippines’ Ian LARIBA and Uzbekistan’s Rimma GUFRANOVA in the groups’ final matches. After losing to Korea DPR’s RI DAS was able to overcome the challenge of GUFRANOVA 4-1 to join teammate Manika BATRA who qualified earlier through stage 1 of the tournament. Philippines’ LARIBA managed to seize the final qualifier spot up for grabs in Hong Kong by beating INDRIANI in the decisive match for the last ticket to Rio. With all 11 men’s and women’s qualifiers being confirmed at the 2016 ITTF-Asia Olympic Qualification Tournament the losers of the second stage of the event will have to fight for the reserves positions tomorrow at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. List of Stage Two Qualifiers: Women RI Myong Sun – Korea DPR Suthasini SAWETTABUT – Thailand KIM Song I – Korea DPR Nanthana KOMWONG – Thailand Mouma DAS – India Ian LARIBA – Philippines Men Kirill GERASSIMENKO – Kazakhstan Sharath Kamal ACHANTA – India CHEN Chien-An – Chinese Taipei HO Kwan Kit – Hong Kong Noshad ALAMIYAN – Iran Zokhid KENJAEV – Uzbekistan List of Stage One Qualifiers (Concluded on 14 April 2016): Women East Asia: LI Xiaoxia – China South East Asia: FENG Tianwei – Singapore South Asia: Manika BATRA – India West Asia: Mariana SAHAKIAN – Lebanon Middle Asia: Neda SHAHSAVARI – Iran Men East Asia: MA Long – China South East Asia: CHEN Feng – Singapore South Asia: Soumyajit GHOSH – India West Asia: LI Ping – Qatar Middle Asia: Nima ALAMIAN – Iran
