LEBEHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships   After Olympic Games in Rio Dimitrij OVTCHAROV took some time to rest. In the first game at the 2016 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships he looked fresh and ready for the action. In the Round of 64 the top seed beat Marc DURAN of Spain in straight games.   “I enjoyed my game here in Budapest. I had a hard period before and during the Olympic Games so I needed a little break. Now I am back and I am highly motivated and ready for the challenge ” said Dimitrij.   His next adversary will be Jakub DYJAS of Poland who beat Mikhail PAYKOV of Russia.   Unexpectedly Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece needed full seven games to overcame inspired Darko JORGIC of Slovenia. KOU Lei of Ukraine succeeded in straight games against Samuel WALKER of England whilst Swede Anton KALLBERG needed two more against Adrian CRISAN of Romania. Andrej GACINA of Croatia beat Mihai BOBOCICA of Italy in five games. Hunor SZOCS created un upset by beating Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal.   Timo BOLL of Germany overcame Daniel HABESOHN of Austria in straight games.   ‘It was good for me to have match like that at the very beginning of the Championships. Short matches are something I need to get back into the game. I know the level of matches will improve and I know I can expect much harder challenges in next few days but for a start this was good. I made a break I did not practice to much; there is still big uncertainty about the level of my fitness. I do not know how far I can get. For sure I am motivated but we are still to see how my body will react. I look at this stage like one step in my come back ” said BOLL. Marcos FREITAS of Portugal beat Adam SZUDI of Portugal to join Timo BOLL in second round. Tomorrow he will meet Benedikt DUDA of Germany.   “I am not afraid of that match. FREITAS is a favorite but I will not make his life any easier tomorrow “ promised Benedikt.   Benedek OLAH of Finland also succeeded to the next round.   “I beat David SERDAROGLU of Austria but I am still very disappointment with my performance in the Mixed Doubles Event. I played with Georgina POTA for medal today. It is always when you are so close and you lose ” said OLAH and added.” However now when I reach the second round my goal is fulfilled. I did not want to lose against weaker player and now I am safe.”  

LEBEHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships   The opening day of the play in the Main Draw of the Women’s Singles Event at the LEBEHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships was successful for the no. one seed HAN Ying of Germany. She needed only four games to overcame ZHANG Xuan of Spain.   “This was my first match after the Olympic Games and it was much harder than I expected ” said HAN.”I am here for gold as many players but to have any medal in the treasury by the end of the week it would be nice.”   Georgina POTA went through agonizing seven games duel against Tin Tin HO of England.   “I always have difficulties in the opening matches. I could have been finish earlier but in the third game I lost the set after I had 10:8. It would be completely different game. Thanks to spectators they gave me extra strength to return into the match ” said POTA.   LI Jie of Netherlands overcame Manca FAJMUT of Slovenia in another straight games duel.   “Slovenian girl played very well but she kept struggling with changing the pace of the my game. It is good I had easier match at the start of the competition. I needed it because I had only one month to rest after the Olympics and my legs are still very heavy. I need few matches to get into the game ” said LI.   She will meet Szandra PERGEL of Hungary in the next round. PERGEL beat Natalia PARTYKA in five games today.   “It was not that easy as the result predicts. We know each other very well and it is very hard to play against her ” said Szandra.”Now I do not feel the pressure since I recorded the win in the main draw. I will give my best against LI.”   Daria TRIGOLOS of Belarus managed to take only one game from experienced LIU Jia of Austria. “She is still very young but already has a good feeling for the game. I am sure she will improve her rankings very soon ” said LIU Jia.   Galia DVORAK of Spain beat Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC of Poland.   “Last time I suffered defeat by her hands three years ago in the very close match. Now it was straight games victory for me. I am sure she was not on the top of her game today.”   Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania had a rough time in the match against Aneta MAKSUTI of Serbia. She was 3:1 down before she recovered to win.  

LIBEHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships   Top seeds in the Women’s Doubles Event Maria DOLGIKH and Polina MIKHAILOVA of Russia successfully emerged to the Round of 16 at the LIBEHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships. In the first round of the Event they overcame Ipek KARAHAN and Kubra TAN of Turkey.   It was easy ride for Sarah DE NUTTE and experienced NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg as well as for host nation representatives Dora MADARASZ and Szandra PERGEL. Hungary will have another player in the game tomorrow; Georgina POTA and Matilda EKHOLM beat Nicole TROSMAN of Izrael and Charlotte CAREY of Wales.   “Our goal here is top win the Championships but already in the next round we have very dangerous adversaries. We will meet Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia. We can not promise gold just very good game ” said POTA.   Not everything went smooth for favorites Sofia POLCANOVA and LI Qiangbing of Austria suffered by the hands of Oceane GUISNEL and Stephanie LOEUILLETTE.   No. two seeds SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany lost only one game against Aneta MAKSUTI and Andrea TODOROVIC of Serbia.

2016 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships   Par GERELL and Anton KALLBERG of Sweden were in in charge for the top rated upset in the Men’s Doubles Event at the 2016 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships. Gold medal winners in 2012 and silver medalists from 2013 and 2015 Robert GARDOS and Daniel HABESOHN of Austria suffered by the hands of Swedish pairings in the first round of the event.   GERELL and KALLBERG succeded in six games 8-11 9-11 11-7 11-8 11-8 11-7.   “When we saw the draw we were not afraid. We thought ‘That is it’ and we prepared for the challenge. We have not set the goals yet. It is important to go step by step ” said GERELL.   Tiago APOLONIA and Joao GERALDO had proved as a dangerous pairings at the European Games in Baku. In Budapest they withstood the pressure from Yevhen PRYSHCHEPA and Viktor YEFIMOV of Ukraine to record the opening game victory in seven games.   “There are no easy games here. You have to respect each adversary. We needed time to settle into the rhythm ” explained APOLONIA.   Vladimir SAMSONOV and Pavel PLATONOV were stretched to full distance in the opening round of the Men’s Doubles. Alexander SHIBAEV and Kirill SKACHKOV of Russia had 3:2 advantage before Belarus pairings recovered.   “We found our game but in seventh game it was very close too. We had 4:1 and then Russia’s players leveled. We won it with a little bit of luck by narrow margin 11:9 ” said PLATONOV. ”We were prepared for this. There are no easy balls or quick points when you play against SHIBAEV and SKACHKOV. You have to be ready for long rallies. They put everything on table. “   Zolt PETE and Marko JEVTOVIC prevailed against Frane KOJIC of Croatia and Alvaro ROBLES of Spain.   “We moved to the big hall and it was little bit difficult or us. We needed time before we “connected” with the ball and the table. Our adversaries played one pre round so they were more adjust to the conditions. However it is good we are through ” said JEVTOVIC.   Tristan FLORE and Emmanuel LEBESSON of France beat Polish pairings Tomasz LEWANDOWSKI and Patryk ZATOWKA.   “We won easily three opening games before Polish pairings recovered and settled into the rhythm. We struggled in next two games but with great attitude and in very close game we won. I am not in game in singles any more so I will give my best to get as far as we can in doubles ” said Tristan FLORE.      

2016 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships   On the third day of the play at the LEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships in Budapest medal winners in Mixed Doubles Event are already known. Tomorrow after the semis and final the order at the medal rostrum will be determined.   In the semi final top seeds Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC of Serbia and Ruta PASKAUSKIENE of Lithuania will meet Mattias KARLSSON and Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden whilst Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania will play against Joao MONTEIRO of Portugal and Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN of Romania.   For the pairings who already has three titles in their record morning was surprisingly challenging. They Adam SZUDI and Sandra PERGEL stretched them to full distance.   “I was under pressure; it was my fault. KARAKASEVIC nor me are the morning persons. To be honest the first match at the tournament that I played without stress was the quarterfinal; and it was the most important ” said PASKAUSKIENE.   KARAKASEVIC promised he would retire after the medal now he slightly modified the statement.   “If we win gold we will give ourselves another chance. We will say Goodbye at he World Championships in Germany. German fans always respected me and it will be nice to try to win a medal. It will be our only chance since 15 years it was not allowed to have pairings from different countries.”   In the quarter they beat Benedek OLAH of Finland and Georgina POTA of Hungary.   Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania recorded very big win over pairings with defending style Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece and Tetyana BILENKO of Ukraine. It is the second time that they reached the medal rostrum. In 2012 they clinched bronze in front of home crowd in Buzau.   “For me this is a great relief for singles as well. I had never managed to beat GIONIS before. It will help me in the future. Bernadette was great today to. She is always so dangerous for top spin players and she proved it once again ” said IONESCU.   Against Romanian parings tomorrow in semis will be Mr and Mrs MONTEIRO or “family” as they called them. Joao MONTEIRO and Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN beat Jesus CANTERO and Maria XIAO in quarters after they overcame Dutch pairings TROMER and EERLAND in the second round of the Event.   “We do not have time to practice together and we only had played once at the tournament. It was five years ago in Austria. In the playing field we are more colleagues then anything else. We both had professional attitude ” said Daniela DODEAN.   Mattias KARLSSON and Matilda EKHOLM overcame Liam PITCHFORD and Tin-Tin HO of England.   “We kept a high level of play during the match we did not let it down. PITCHFORD and Tin Tin had few bad moments and we seized the opportunity ” said EKHOLM.  

ETTU Executive Board is pleased to announce the Committee Chairs for season 2016-2018. The list of Committee member will be available next week.   Newly appointed Umpires and Referees Committee Chair is Isabelle BEUMIER of Belgium.   The five remaining Chairs will repeat their mandates. Technical Committee Chairman is Oivind ERIKSEN of Norway Ranking Committee Chairman is Igor HELLER of Netherlands Youth Committee Chairwoman is Sandra DEATON of England Veterans Committee Chairman is Dr. Zdenko KRIZ of Slovakia and ParaTT Committee Chairman is Georgios SELINIOTAKIS of Greece.  

ETTU Ordinary Congress   Ronald KRAMER (Netherlands) was re-elected President of the European Table Tennis Union at the ETTU Ordinary Congress Meeting staged on the occasion of the LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships in Budapest Hungary on 19th October. KRAMER was re-elected to the position of the President by acclamation.   “Thank you for the support in the years to come ” stated KRAMER.   Deputy President Ivo Goran MUNIVRANA’s position in ETTU was also confirmed for next four year; on position of Vice-President for Finances stays Dorte DARFELT; both by acclamation.   The newly elected members of the Executive Board are Portugal’s Pedro MOURA and Romania’s Cristinel ROMANESCU. Heike AHLERT of Germany Nikolas ENDAL of Czech Republic and Sonja GREFBERG of Finland were re-elected at today’s meeting.   Newly elected European representatives in the ITTF Board of Directors are Heike AHLERT Dorte DARFELT Sandra DEATON Sonja GREFBERG Zdenko KRIŽ Jörgen PERSSON Cristinel ROMANESCU.   2016 Badges of Honour were awarded to Louise ADAM (France) Vladimir BELOGLAZOV (Russia) Oivind ERIKSEN (Norway) Svetlana FEDEROVA (Russia) Viljar KASEMAA (Estonia) Emmanuel KOLIBADIS (Greece) Istvan KORPA (Germany) LI Jiao (Netherlands) Arne MADSEN (Denmark) NI Xialian (Luxembourg) Cristinel ROMANESCU (Romania) Karlheinz SCHREINER (Germany) Branko ZBUTEGA (Serbia) Milorad TRPKOVSKI (Serbia).   FLTT President André HARTMANN presented the progress of the preparation for the European Championships 2017 to be staged in Luxembourg. The Championships will be held from 13th to17th September 2017 at the d’Coque indoor arena in Kirchberg in the City of Luxembourg.  

European Table Tennis Hall of Fame   In special and emotional gathering during the 2016 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Budapest with the attendance of numerous guests and officials the new inductees in the European Table Tennis Hall of Fame were announced.   The names of Jean-Michel SAIVE Bohumil VANA Fred PERRY Zarko DOLINAR Hans ALSÉR Agnes SIMON Diane SCHÖLER Marie KETTNEROVA and Anna SIPOS were added to the list of the players who made the history of the table tennis.   The special guests the Hungarian Team World Champions of 1979 István JÓNYER Tibor KLAMPÁR and Gábor GERGELY graced the celebration with their presence; the special moment was when Eva KÓCZIÁN the oldest living female European World Champion winner of the very first European Championships that has been organized in 1958 in Budapest joined the celebration.   “At my age I am not able to do many things but I am looking for every opportunity to go to see the tournaments in Hungary. Unfortunately I had not stayed in the table tennis after I finished the playing career due the family reasons ” said KÓCZIÁN.   Radivoj HUDETZ Chair of the ETTHoF Steering and Awards Panel reminded everyone that Hungary is the cradle of table tennis.   “Hungary made the history of table tennis with their great achievement and I am happy that we are here today ” said HUDETZ. ”It has been a year since we started the Project of ETTHoF and we made a nice progress. We also have big plans for future.”   Bettine VRIESEKOOP HoF member since 2015 Tamara BOROS HoF member since 2015 Jean-Michel SAIVE HoF inductee of 2016 and Jörgen PERSSON HoF member since 2015 all accepted the invitation and came to the meeting.   “ I concluded my career at age of 40 in 2000. I like to play time after time but I am not involved professionally in table tennis” said VRIESEKOOP.   Tamara BOROS on the other side is still very active in the sport.   “I am trying to share my knowledge and experience and to help young athletes to become a better players.”     Jean-Michel SAIVE is also very active but he is very much involved in managing aspects of sport.   “I am enjoying my work for Olympic Committee but I am also almost two and the half years the Sport director in French speaking part of the federation. I am trying to contribute to the sport in a different way.”   PERSSON is in Hungary for another important reason. He will attend tomorrow’s Congress as a candidate for a position of a Member of the ITTF BOD.   “Few days ago I was chosen to be the Ambassador for the World Championships that will be held in my home city Halmstad ” said PERSSON who also helps OVTCHAROV with his coaching knowledge.   The gathering finished with the photo session in front of big panel in the hall with the pictures of all current members of the HoF.   More details you can find here