2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open   Mattias KARLSSON’S victory over top seed Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (12-10 8-11 11-5 7-11 11-8 11-7) was top rated upset in the semi final of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open but he failed to repeat the success in the final. Japan’s Yuya OSHIMA clinched the Men’s Singles title (8-11 11-7 8-11 11-7 8-11 11-13). However Swede set new standards in his career by reaching first ever final.   Prior to the 2016 Swedish Open Dimitrij OVTCHAROV had been involved in 19 ITTF World Tour semi-finals encounters with 11 of those matches resulting in success for the German player. This was the first time that Dimitrij OVTCHAROV had met Mattias KARLSSON on the World Tour stage. Seeded 15 places above his opponent Dimitrij OVTCHAROV went into the tie as the favourite to progress from the last four but it was Sweden’s KARLSSON who emerged victoriously.   European champion HU Melek of Turkey succeded against no. two seed HAN Ying of Germany in the penultimate stage (11-8 14-16 11-9 8-11 7-11 11-9 11-9) but it was no. one seed Kasumi ISHIKAWA of Japan who secured the title in Stochlom (12-10 11-4 11-6 11-13 11-5).   In the final of the Men’s Doubles Event Hugo CALDERANO and Gustavo TSUBOI of Japan beat Antoine HACHARD and Stephane OUAICHE of France (12-10 12-10 11-7) whilst in Women’s Doubles Taipei’s CHENG I-Ching and LEE I-Chen overcame JEON Jihee and YANG Haeun of Korea.  

2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open in Stockholm   After success against the third seed Koki NIWA of Japan in the Third round of the Men’s Singles Event at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open in Stockholm the number 16 seed Mattias KARLSSON added another victory to his account to book the place in the penultimate stage. In quarterfinal Mattias KARLSSON of Sweden withstood the spirited comeback of Dane Jonathan GROTH to progress to the final day of the tournament (2-11 6-11 5-11 11-9 11-5 11-7 9-11).   Top seeded Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany needed five games to beat Lim PITCHFORD of England on his way to semis (14-12 11-6 7-11 11-3 16-14).   For the place in the final of the Women’s Singles Event HAN Ying of Germany seeded no. two will play against European champion HU Melek of Turkey. In the quarter final duels HAN prevailed against Miyu KATO of Japan in straight games (9-11 2-11 9-11 6-11) whilst HU Melk needed full seven to beat Korea’s JEON Jihee (11-5 11-6 7-11 7-11 11-8 9-11 11-6). In other semi final duel CHENG I-Ching of Taipei will meet Kasumi IHIKAWA of Japan. Japan’ s player beat LI Qian today in full distance thriller (11-4 7-11 11-5 4-11 6-11 11-9 11-1).  

2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open   Top seed player in the Men’s Singles Event at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany was stretched to full distance in the second Round of the Event before he emerged successfully to the round of 16.   The player who required qualifications to get to the main draw seeded only at the position no. 43 Noshad ALAMIYAN of Iran already eliminated Germany’s Patrick FRANZISKA but failed to create top rated upset in the duel against World’s no. 6 (8-11 11-5 11-1 8-11 11-6 8-11 11-7).   Portugal’s Joao MONTEIRO beat Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden in straight games (11-9 12-10 11-8 13-110 whilst Liam PITCHFORD of England needed two more against Hugo CALDERANO of Brazil (2-11 8-11 11-4 11-7 6-11 7-11). In straight games Dane Jonathan GROTH beat Elias RANEFUR of Sweden (5-11 8-11 7-11 6-11) but Mattias KARLSSON overcame Florent LAMBIET of Belgium (11-7 11-7 11-5 11-5) to give joy to home supporters. No. two seed Marcos FREITAS of Portugal also safely moved to the next stage after encounter against Martin ALLEGRO of Belgium (6-11 8-11 11-9 11-13 8-11) but his compatriot no 5 seed Tiago APOLONIA is out. Stephane OUAICHE of France prevailed in their second round duel (11-5 9-11 11-5 15-13 11-8).   The top seeds in the Women’s Single Event successfully emerged to the third round of of the competition. Japan’s Kasumi ISHIKAWA faced tough challenge against compatriot Honoka HASHIMOTO and needed full seven games to won second round duel (9-11 7-11 11-7 11-13 11-7 11-9 11-7) but at the lower half of the draw Germany’s HAN Ying left the arena after just four games against Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden (6-11 2-11 5-11 6-11).   Poland’s LI Qian succeded against Japan’s Hitomi SATO (11-4 9-11 10-12 6-11 5-11) Germany’s SHAN Xiaona went full distance against Thailand’s Suthasini SAWETTABUT (11-7 5-11 5-11 11-7 12-10 5-11 9-11) Bernadette SZOCS of Romania beat Britt EERLAND of Netherlands (11-6 11-7 13-11 11-9) whilst European Champion HU Melek of Turkey overcame YANG Xiaoxin of Monaco (6-11 11-4 9-11 8-11 11-4 8-11).  

2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open   The preliminary stage at the Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Swedish Open is over. After two days of firece battles 32 qualifiers booked their places in the main draw.   Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV seeded no. 1 in Stockholm will meet Viktor BRODD of Sweden. BRODD beat the odds and secured the top position in his Group after victory over Padasak TANVIRIYAVECHAKUL of Thailand. He also succeeded against Sultan ALKHAMIS of Saudi Arabia.   It was reverse scenario for other host nation representative. Anton KALLBERG placed at the top of his qulification gropu failed to justify his position. Marek BADOWSKI of Poland beat Anton and progeressed futher to meet Yuya OSHIMA of Japan tomorrow.   Samuel NOVOTA of Slovakia David MCBEATH of England Martin ALLEGRO of Belgium Elias RANEFUR of Sweden also secured their positions in the main draw despite the lower seeding positions.   In Women’s Singles Event top seeded Kasumi ISHIKAVA of Japan will play against Serbia’s Andrea TODOROVIC. One of the suprises in the qualification stage was caused by Daria TRIGOLOS of Belarus who overcame XIAO Maria of Spain to book her place in the main draw.

Chinese shipping company Seamaster have secured a naming sponsor deal together with Qatar for the 2016 ITTF Star Awards & 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals to be held in Doha Qatar.   The premier year-ending events will now be called the Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF Star Awards which will be held on 8 December and Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals which will take place from 8-11 December.   Commenting on the deal ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT stated: “The ITTF is very happy that Seamaster has come on board for our two prestigious end-of-year events. Seamaster is becoming a very valuable partner for the ITTF after also sponsoring the successful Women’s World Cup earlier this year in USA.”   In addition to being the title sponsor at the 2016 ITTF Star Awards Seamaster is also sponsoring the ITTF Star Point award and Breakthrough Star at the table tennis’ night of nights which celebrates the world’s best table tennis players for their achievements in 2016.   Seamaster Chairman Frank JI stated: “Being the title sponsor of these massive events is a fantastic opportunity for not only Seamaster to promote its brand internally but also my other investments the T2 Asia-Pacific Table Tennis League Table Tennis X (TTX) and the Monday Club. I look forward to working with the ITTF to build further opportunities for table tennis business in the future.”   Qatar Table Tennis Association President & ITTF Deputy President Khalil AL MOHANNADI added: “We are thrilled to have such a big company like Seamaster to be involved with our two events in Doha. It’s with great pleasure that for Qatar we are able to secure some support and also to secure such high level events with the long term and massive support of our Olympic Committee and government.”   The Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals is the season ending finale of the 2016 ITTF World Tour which had 20 stops in 2016. Only the top 16 men and women with the most points from the 20 World Tour events qualify for the $500 000 event ensuring only the best table tennis players will be making the trip to Qatar.   To apply for media accreditation to the Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals click here:http://bit.ly/2fq8a46.

2016 ITTF World Tour Hybiome Austrian Open   Denmark’s Jonathan GROTH and Germany’s Patrick FRANZISKA have been awarded the Men’s Doubles title at the 2016 ITTF World Tour Hybiome Austrian Open in Linz following their 3-0 victory (11-4 11-6 11-7) over the Chinese duo of FANG Yinchi and ZHU Cheng in the final.   Recently crowned European Champions in Budapest and champions from the 2016 Zagreb Open has impressive row.   “Just 3 weeks after we won Europeans Championship we secured our second World Tour title! We have now won 3 out of 4 tournaments we have played together! Thanks to Linus MERNSTEN Jörg ROSSKOPF and Kamal ACHANTA for coaching ” said GROTH.   The partnership of FANG Yinchi and ZHU Cheng went into the final with a surprise win against Korea Republic’s KIM Minhyeok and PARK Ganghyeon in the quarter-finals before picking up a semi-finals victory over Austria’s CHEN Weixing and Germany’s Ruwen FILUS. But FANG and ZHU would face a difficult challenge ahead with the prospect of facing the current European champions up next for them in the final.   One of the standout aspects of the final was the difference in the level of control with GROTH and FRANZISKA playing the steadier table tennis of the two pairs which reflected in the end score; GROTH and FRANZISKA never looked like ending up on the wrong side of the result and when the combination registered two more ends to their names the straight games triumph was achieved (11-4 11-6 11-7).

2016 ITTF World Tour Hybiome Austrian Open   Seeded only at the position no. 32 at the beginning of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Hybiome Austrian Open in Linz Benedikt DUDA of Germany beat the odds and reached the penultimate stage of the Men’s Singles Event. In the quarterfinal he beat Sharath Kamal ACHANTA of India in five games (9-11 9-11 11-6 7-11 4-11).   DUDА was the only player representing Europe to survive quarterfinal stage. His compatriot Ricardo WALTHER suffered by the hands of Kenta MATSUDAIRA of Japan after seven games thriller (11-6 11-5 9-11 7-11 6-11 11-2 11-6). Hugo CALDERANO of Brazil beat Ruwen FILUS of Germany (5-11 11-9 9-11 11-13 8-11) whilst Yuto MURAMATSU of Japan overcame KOU Lei of Ukraine (7-11 8-11 7-11 11-9 4-11).   Both European representatives in the semifinal of the Women’s’ Singles Event concluded the tournament today. Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania suffered by the hands of Honoka HASHIMOTO of Japan 2:4 (11-9 11-6 6-11 4-11 5-11 7-11) whilst Ito MIMA of Japan halted fantastic progress of Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria 1:4 (8-11 11-7 4-11 5-11 8-11). Yui HAMAMOTO of Japan who beat top seeded CHENG I-Ching of Taipei in the previous round progressed further to the semis. She accounted for SUH Hyowon of Korea 4:2 (12-10 11-7 8-11 6-11 13-11 13-11). In penultimate stage she will meet CHOI Hyojoo of Korea. CHOI beat Suthasini SAWETTABUT of Thailand in straight games (11-8 12-10 11-6 14-12).