LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF-European Table Tennis Championships In preparation of the LIEBHERR 2017 ITTF-European Table Tennis Championships (Luxembourg from 13th to 17th September) Competition Manager Didier LEROY and ETTU’s Secretary General Richard SCRUTON paid an inspection visit to Luxembourg on January 11th. ETTU President Ronald KRAMER who was in Luxembourg at the time joined part of the programme and visited the venue d’Coque where the championships will take place. “This is a very cleverly designed venue and without doubt fully adaptable for hosting our table tennis Team Championships in a successful way. The whole building is rather big but very friendly even cosy at the same time: I am really impressed!” said President KRAMER. Competition Manager Didier LEROY was pleased to inform us that the organizing committee is already well prepared 8 months before the event. “The team is really motivated to deliver a successful event. They got already experience after having hosted two European Olympic Qualification. The venue D’ Coque is very well equipped with all the facilities needed for the participants as well as for the spectators.” In addition for spectators the venue has easy access with public transport. “For the participants the playing conditions will be great with an improved lighting system in the Arena. There will be three Show Courts out of 16 Tables and the practice hall is within the same building ” stated Competition Manager LEROY. The draw will take place on Wednesday 12th July.
Borussia wins 25th German Cup in front of 3 100 spectators
Dusseldorf`s side beat Saarbrucken 3:0 in the final match held in Ulm Borussia Dusseldorf wins 25th German Cup in their history as they beat FC Saarbrucken 3:0 in the final match of the Final 4 held at Ratiopharm-Arena in the city of Ulm in front of 3 100 spectators. In the semi-final games Borussia and Saarbrucken defeated TV Hilpoltstein and Post SV Mühlhausen respectively. The most successful both German and European club confirmed its reputation in Ulm. Borussia beat both its opponents in straight games to record its 67th title in total counting all major competitions. Now they have 10 TTCLM crowns 4 ETTU Cups 28 German League and 25 German Cup. Timo BOLL overcame former Borussia`s player Patrick BAUM in the opening clash of the final playing very confident in all three games. In the next two matches two newcomers in the Danny HEISTER`s side were successful: first Stefan FEGERL defeated Bojan TOKIC then Kristian KARLSSON prevailed against Tiago APOLONIA. Final 4 of German Cup Ulm January 15th Semi-finals TV HILPOLTSTEIN – BORUSSIA DÜSSELDORF 0:3 1.FC SAARBRÜCKEN – POST SV MÜHLHAUSEN 3:0 Final 1.FC SAARBRÜCKEN – BORUSSIA DÜSSELDORF 0:3 Patrick BAUM – Timo BOLL 0:3 (9:11 8:11 4:11) Bojan TOKIC – Stefan FEGERL 1:3 (4:11 11:6 4:11 6:11) Tiago APOLONIA – Kristian KARLSSON 1:3 (11:5 5:11 8:11 10:12)
Borussia Dusseldorf clear favorite for the German Cup title
This Sunday Final 4 of Men`s German Cup will be held in Ulm As usual in the first days of new year Final 4 of Men`s German Cup will be held at one prestigious hall. This time Ratiopharm-Arena in the city of Ulm with capacity about 6 000 will host four clubs this Sunday (January 15th): Borussia Dusseldorf 1 FC Saarbrucken TT TV 1879 Hilpoltstein and Post SV Mühlhausen. Semi-final pairs are: TV 1879 Hilpoltstein – Borussia Dusseldorf Post SV Mühlhausen – FC Saarbrucken. Both games start at 11:00 whilst the final match is scheduled for 15:00. Borussia is a clear favorite and last year`s champion of German Cup while the 2014 winner Saarbrucken is considered as a main challenger. Dusselrorf`s side targets 67th title in its history counting all competitions. They are among others record holders with 24 titles of German Cup.
Panagiotis GIONIS replaced STEGER
Player from Germany was forced to withdraw due the injury Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece will play at the as ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup from 3rd to 5th February in the city of Antibes. Due the injury Bastian STEGER of Germany has cancelled his participation. “I will travell to France as a substitute but I am ready. I was the first player below the line and I expected there will be some cancelations “ explained GIONIS. “ I will do my best to qulify for the World Cup because last time i did not make it; so now I want to succeed.” The 2013 European Championships Men`s Singles bronze medalist GIONIS was third at the 2015 Euro Top-16. He was the member of the Greek team at the Olympic Games four times 16 times he played at the World Championships and 15 times at European Championships . This year GIONIS moved to Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki. “It is a new challenge for me to play in Poland. In the TT Champions League I had a very good performance in the group with six victories and one defeat. In Polish league we are second but due some injury I failed to play at the top of my game. Generally the season after Olympics is never easy. The body and the head is not tuned as good as I want and as it should be. It will not stop me to try my best on every tournament with my club and national team.” Top 16 invited men are Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus Timo BOLL of Germany Marcos FREITAS of Portugal Simon GAUZY of France Stefan FEGERL of Austria Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden Andrej GACINA of Russia Mattias KARLSSON of Sweden Emmanuel LEBESSON of France KOU Lei of Ukraine Joao MONTEIRO of Portugal Alexander SHIBAEV of Russia and Jonathan GROTH of Denmark. In Women’s Event will play HU Melek of Turkey Petrissa SOLJA of Germany Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania LIU Jia of Austria LI Jie of Netherlands LI Qian of Poland Georgina POTA of Hungary Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden Sabine WINTER of Germany Polina MIKHAILOVA of Russia Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN of Romania Sofia POCANOVA of Austria Viktoria PAVLOVICH of Belarus Tetyana BILENKO of Ukraine Kristin SILBEREISEN of Germany and Stephanie LOEUILLETTE of France. In Portugal’s Gondomar last year Dimitrij OVTCHAROV clinched the title for the second time in the row – third in his career. He beat Joao MONTEIRO in the final. SHEN Yanfei of Spain who retired from the international career this year was the winner of the Women’s Event. European singles Champion HU Melek was second.
In February Hungary hosts traditional tournament in Memory of Janos MOLNAR
Organised by the Hungarian Table Tennis Association in association with the BVSC Budapest Table Tennis Club the 22nd International Open Championships in memory of Janos Molnar will be staged from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th February 2017. The competition is open to all national associations regional delegations and clubs. Tragically on Sunday 5th February 1995 Hungary’s very promising Janos Molnar was killed in a car accident en route to a national ranking tournament; he was only 13 years old at the time. Following the death of Janos Molnar an international tournament was staged in his memory in 1996; the event has now become an annual fixture on the international calendar. Four age groups are staged Junior Boys’ Singles (born after 01.01.1999) Cadet Boys’ Singles (born after 01.01.2002) Mini Cadet Boys’ Singles No. 1 (born after 01.01.2004) Mini Cadet Boys’ Singles No. 2 (born between 01.01.2005 and 31.12.2005) and Mini Cadet Boys’ Singles No. 3 (born after 01.01.2006). Each competition will be organized in two stages. The first stage will be organized on a group basis. The second stage will be organized on a knock-out basis. Joola equipment will used throughout. The closing date for entries is Friday 20th January 2016 For further information and to whom all replies should be addressed: BVSC Budapest Szônyi út 2. H–1142 Budapest Hungary Tel – Office: (+36-1)-468-2976 or Tel – Mobile: (+36-30)-580-2519 E-mail: tabletennisworldfestival@t-online.hu Website: bvsctt.hu
ITTF Secures World Tour Title Sponsorship & Strategic Partnership with Seamaster
The International Table Tennis Federation has agreed a four-year sponsorship and strategic partnership deal with Seamaster for the ITTF World Tour. The deal starts in 2017 and runs up until 2020 which means that the world’s premier table tennis tour will be known in 2017 as the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour. ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated: “ITTF welcomes Seamaster with open arms to the ITTF World Tour. Seamaster has been involved in recent ITTF events and we believe they are a great fit for the established ITTF World Tour. This new partnership with Seamaster will allow the ITTF to push the World Tour to new unseen heights to give our players the best possible conditions to excel as well as conducting some social initiatives around the world.” Seamaster a Chinese shipping company is no stranger to table tennis sponsorship previously being the title sponsor of the 2016 ITTF Women’s World Cup 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals and the 2016 ITTF Star Awards. On the groundbreaking deal Chairman of Seamaster Mr Frank JI stated: “Seamaster sees a lot of value and potential in the ITTF and its table tennis products. We are very excited to have secured the title sponsorship rights for such a prestigious property like the ITTF World Tour. We are looking forward to working together with the ITTF to improve the ITTF World Tour to make it bigger and better than ever before as well as working with the ITTF on some Development programs.” As mentioned by Mr WEIKERT as part of the agreement Seamaster will work closely with the ITTF to develop all facets of the ITTF World Tour including prize money sports presentation fan experience and the global promotion of the tour. ITTF Marketing & Commercial Director Steve DAINTON who took over the running of ITTF’s commercial rights since the ITTF took the rights back in-house on 1 January 2017 stated: “It’s a fantastic start for ITTF after just taking the rights in-house. But more importantly it’s remarkable to work with a company like Seamaster who sees the potential in table tennis. This deal will allow ITTF’s commercial operations to grow at a faster rate and ensure our World Tour events become stronger. We are looking forward to a fruitful and exciting journey working with Seamaster on this large project.” The Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour which has already received a branding facelift includes 12 events across the world in 2017 plus a World Tour Grand Finals which only the top 16 male and female 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. The six cities that have won the right to host a 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum event are: Doha Qatar: 23-26 February 2017 Tokyo Japan: 16-18 June 2017 Chengdu China: 22-25 June 2017 Brisbane Australia: 4-7 July 2017 Linz Austria: 1-3 September 2017 Magdeburg Germany 10-12 November 2017 The regular ITTF World Tour events are: Budapest Hungary: 19-22 January 2017 New Delhi India: 16-19 February 2017 Incheon Korea: 20-23 April 2017 Olomouc Czech Republic: 24-27 August 2017 Panagyurishte Bulgaria: 7-10 September 2017 Stockholm Sweden: 16-19 November 2017 2017 is the 21st year of the ITTF World Tour which started back in 1996 in England originally named as the ‘Pro Tour’ with the purpose of bringing more money into the sport and more competition for professional players.
French Riviera awaits the best
Players invited for the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup The French Riviera the city of Antibes and the club of Antibes Juan les Pins will host the most prestigues European event this year. Best player will gather once again to fight for the honours in the competition that lasts from 1971; firstly as Top 12 now as ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup. The Azur Arena beautiful 5.200 seats hall will open the doors for Continental elite during the three days competition from 3rd to 5th February. The invitations are already sent to the best. Top 16 invited men are Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus Timo BOLL of Germany Marcos FREITAS of Portugal Simon GAUZY of France Stefan FEGERL of Austria Bastian STEGER of Germany Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden Andrej GACINA of Russia Mattias KARLSSON of Sweden Emmanuel LEBESSON of France KOU Lei of Ukraine Joao MONTEIRO of Portugal Alexander SHIBAEV of Russia and Jonathan GROTH of Denmark. In Women’s Event will play HU Melek of Turkey Petrissa SOLJA of Germany Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania LIU Jia of Austria LI Jie of Netherlands LI Qian of Poland Georgina POTA of Hungary Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden Sabine WINTER of Germany Polina MIKHAILOVA of Russia Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN of Romania Sofia POCANOVA of Austria Viktoria PAVLOVICH of Belarus Tetyana BILENKO of Ukraine Kristin SILBEREISEN of Germany and Stephanie LOEUILLETTE of France. In Portugal’s Gondomar last year Dimitrij OVTCHAROV clinched the title for the second time in the row – third in his career. He beat Joao MONTEIRO in the final. SHEN Yanfei of Spain who retired from the international career this year was the winner of the Women’s Event. European singles Champion HU Melek was second. You can visit the official web page Here And you can download the Media Guide here
Super clash with “hidden cards” in front of 1 100 fans
Borussia Dusseldorf beat TTF LIEBHERR Ochsenhausen 3:2 in Bundesliga`s match but they will meet twice soon in the TTCLM quarter-finals Sold out ARAG CenterCourt has witnessed an amazing clash of Bundesliga Round 10 between Borussia Dusseldorf and TTF LIEBHERR Ochsenhausen in front of 1 100 spectators. Host side won 3:2 after three hours and 45 minutes thanks to 19-year-old Swede Anton KALLBERG who got two points. “This was a great victory and a really great performance for the whole team especially for Anton. I already noticed during training that he did a lot of things well and that’s why I wanted to give him the chance to play this time” stated for Borussia`s website its coach Danny HEISTER. Daniel ZWICKL sport manager of Ochsenhausen explained that it was just first out of three matches in four weeks between these two sides: “Both teams have not played in their best line-ups but we have fought and given everything. Two more games in the Champions League will be held between us and Düsseldorf as Timo BOLL will play surely. That will be a huge challenge but we are looking forward to it”. Ochsenhausen`s president Kristijan PEJINOVIC commented on his club’s website that „he is not surprised that Borussia played without BOLL” adding that “both teams played with hidden cards”. Two strong players from both sides missed this clash: Timo BOLL and Stefan FEGERL in Borussia`s team and Hugo CALDERANO and Yuto MURAMATSU in the opposite side. Ochsenhausen will host Borussia in the first leg of the 2016/17 TTCLM quarter-finals on January 27th whilst the returning match will be held on February 10th. These teams met in the 2009 TTCLM final as Timo BOLL & Co. lifted the trophy. Borussia is current leader of Bundesliga with 8-1 score followed by Ochsenhausen Fulda and Saarbrucken (all three 7-3). Bundesliga Round 10 Borussia Düsseldorf – TTF LIEBHERR Ochsenhausen 3:2 Kristian KARLSSON – Jakub DYJAS 2:3 (11:9 11:9 12:14 11:13 4:11) Anton KÄLLBERG – Simon GAUZY 3:1 (13:11 8:11 11:8 11:7) Kamal Sharath ACHANTA – Joao GERALDO 3:1 (11:9 11:7 7:11 11:8) Kristian KARLSSON – Simon GAUZY 2:3 (11:6 5:11 7:11 14:12 5:11) Anton KÄLLBERG – Jakub DYJAS 3:1 (10:12 11:8 11:8 11:5)
TTC Berlin Eastside defends German Cup title
The Final 4 of Women`s German Cup was held in Hannover TTC Berlin Eastside successfully defended its title of German Cup as they beat TTG Bingen/Münster-Sarmsheim 3:1 in the final clash held in Hannover the host of the German Cup Final 4. Berlin defended earlier in the semi-final SV DJK Kolbermoor 3:0 whilst Bingen/Münster-Sarmsheim overcame TV Busenbach 3:1. Berlin showed a good team work in the final game as each player in the line-up contributed with one point. SHAN Xiaona beat in the opener 49-year old DING Yaping in four games while Hana MATELOVA leveled the score against Petrissa SOLJA after full five sets. In the next two matches Georgina POTA and Petrissa SOLJA beat WAN Yuan and DING Yaping respectively. It was Berlin`s 10th trophy in the last five years and fourth consecutive German Cup. Since 2012 they have won beside four German Cups (2014 2015 2016 2017) three ECLW crowns (2012 2014 2016) and three Bundesliga`s titles (2014 2015 2016). The 2016/17 German Cup final TTG BINGEN/MÜNSTER-SARMSHEIM – TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE 1:3 DING Yaping – SHAN Xiaona 1:3 (12:10 7:11 8:11 3:11) Hana MATELOVA – Petrissa SOLJA 3:2 (9:11 11:2 10:12 12:10 11:7) WAN Yuan – Georgina POTA 1:3 (10:12 11:9 6:11 8:11) DING Yaping – Petrissa SOLJA 0:3 (11:13 5:11 8:11) Semi-finals TV BUSENBACH – TTG BINGEN/MÜNSTER-SARMSHEIM 1:3 SV DJK KOLBERMOOR – TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE 0:3
HU Melek one step to World`s Top 10
New ITTF World Ranking list is released The 2016 Women`s European Champion and current Euro Top-16 runner up HU Melek from Turkey made two more steps up on the January`s ITTF World Ranking list becoming world`s No. 11. This is her best ever position. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) and Timo BOLL (GER) are continuing as No. 6 No. 8 and No. 11 respectively. Both Olympic and World champion MA Long from China firmly holds the top spot. HAN Ying from Germany world No. 7 is still best ranked women`s player from the Old Continent. ITTF World Ranking list Men`s Top 10 1 (1) MA Long (CHN) 3430 2 (2) FAN Zhendong (CHN) 3272 3 (3) XU Xin (CHN) 3177 4 (4) ZHANG Jike (CHN) 3082 5 (5) Jun MIZUTANI (JPN) 2982 6 (6) Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) 2913 7 (7) WONG Chun Ting (HKG) 2834 8 (8) Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) 2751 9 (10) JEOUNG Youngsik (KOR) 2729 10 (9) CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE) 2708 Europeans from No. 11 to No. 50: 11 (11) Timo BOLL (GER) 13 (12) Marcos FREITAS (POR) 14 (16) Simon GAUZY (FRA) 19 (20) Stefan FEGERL (AUT) 22 (22) Bastian STEGER (GER) 22 (22) Tiago APOLONIA (POR) 24 (24) Kristian KARLSSON (SWE) 25 (25) Andrej GACINA (CRO) 29 (28) Mattias KARLSSON (SWE) 30 (30) Emmanuel LEBESSON (FRA) 31 (32) KOU Lei (UKR) 32 (33) Joao MONTEIRO (POR) 33 (34) Alexander SHIBAEV (RUS) 35 (36) Jonathan GROTH (DEN) 35 (37) Panagiotis GIONIS (GRE) 37 (38) Par GERELL (SWE) 40 (40) Paul DRINKHALL (ENG) 41 (42) Jakub DYJAS (POL) 42 (43) Benedikt DUDA (GER) 43 (49) Bojan TOKIC (SLO) 43 (44) Robert GARDOS (AUT) 46 (47) Liam PITCHFORD (ENG). ITTF World Ranking list Women`s Top 10 1 (1) DING Ning (CHN) 3474 2 (2) LIU Shiwen (CHN) 3385 3 (4) ZHU Yuling (CHN) 3233 4 (5) Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) 3163 5 (6) FENG Tianwei (SGP) 3132 6 (7) CHENG I-Ching (TPE) 3106 7 (8) HAN Ying (GER) 3080 8 (9) Mima ITO (JPN) 3001 9 (11) Miu HIRANO (JPN) 2952 10 (10) CHEN Meng (CHN) 2940 Europeans from No. 11 to No. 50: 11 (13) HU Melek (TUR) 15 (18) Petrissa SOLJA (GER) 17 (21) LIU Jia (AUT) 20 (20) Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU) 21 (22) SHAN Xiaona (GER) 25 (27) LI Jie (NED) 29 (32) FU Yu (POR) 33 (38) LI Qian (POL) 34 (39) Georgina POTA (HUN) 35 (40) Matilda EKHOLM (SWE) 39 (45) Sabine WINTER (GER) 41 (47) SHEN Yanfei (ESP) 42 (48) Polina MIKHAILOVA (RUS) 43 (49) LI Fen (SWE) 44 (50) Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN (ROU) 46 (53) Sofia POLCANOVA (AUT) 47 (54) Viktoria PAVLOVICH (BLR) 49 (56) Tetyana BILENKO (UKR) 50 (57) Kristin SILBEREISEN (GER).
