30th International Open VIC – 11th Adapted   Oriol MONZÓ and Natalya PROSVIRNINA clinched the titles in their respective Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the 30th Internacional Open VIC tournament. In Sports Hall VIC in Barcelona Jorge CARDONA triumph in the test adapted category.   In the final of the 30 th International Open Oriol MONZÓ beat Joan MASIP in straight games whilst at the ultimate stage of the Women’s Singles Event Natalya PROSVIRNINA was stretched to full distance in the match against Maria XIAO. At the 11th Adapted tournament Jorge CARDONA succeeded against Jordi MORALES -3:0.

Mr WEIKERT & Mr MORI together with colleagues to discuss additional Olympic table tennis gold   The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) President Mr Thomas WEIKERT personally met the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Organising Committee President Mr Yoshiro MORI to discuss an additional table tennis gold for 2020. Mr WEIKERT explained in details to Mr MORI about the proposal submitted to the IOC to add mixed doubles competition to compliment the existing four table tennis events already on show at Tokyo 2020. At the conclusion of the meeting which was held at the Tokyo 2020 headquarters Mr WEIKERT stated: “I was very warmly welcomed by the President and I was very impressed with his knowledge of table tennis and the Japanese table tennis team. ITTF’s initiative to add the mixed doubles event at Tokyo 2020 was well received and Mr MORI and his team were very positive about the idea.” To control the number of athletes at Tokyo 2020 only athletes already qualified for the current four events (men’s & women’s singles and men’s & women’s teams) would be eligible to play in the mixed doubles competition. If the mixed doubles competition is added in Tokyo 2020 the ITTF is proposing that National Olympic Committees will only be able to enter players in a maximum of four of the five events on offer. The mixed doubles competition is a fan favorite at the World Table Tennis Championships where it has been an ever-present fixture since the Championships began back in 1926. Joining Mr WEIKERT in the mixed doubles discussion was the ITTF Executive Vice President Mr Masahiro MAEHARA and Japan Table Tennis Association representatives Mr Koji KIMURA and Mrs Sachiko YOKOTA. Also meeting Mr WEIKERT was TOCOG Executive Director of Sports and International Relations Mr Aki MURASATO TOCOG Senior Director of Sport Competition Mr Hiro KUWABARA and TOCOG Director Sports Competition Mr Kenichi MORITA.

HAN beat CHENG I-Ching in the straight games of the final clash whilst Japanese overcame Timo BOLL in five sets The best ranked European representative on the ITTF Women`s ranking list HAN Ying and Japanese Jun MIZUTANI are the winners of the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Austrian Open (Major) held in Wels. German woman beat two strong opponents in the last two games both in straight games. First HAN defeated the no. 2 seed Ai FUKUHARA from Japan concluding Austrian Open against CHENG I-Ching who managed to eliminate no. 1 seed Kasumi ISHIKAWA in the quarter-final. LI Jie from Netherlands also had a good tournament but lost in the semi-final encounter against CHENG. The Old Continent had two players in the Men Singles Event. Actual individual European champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and no. 1 seed in this event overcame Korean JANG Woojin in five sets of the semi-final round while Croatian Andrej GACINA was beaten by MIZUTANI in straight games. Four European player participated in the Women`s Doubles Event as SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA prevailed against LI Jie (Netherlands) and LI Qian (Poland). The final clash has took four games. Germans Patrick FRANZISKA and Bastian STEGER lost from Korean pair JANG Woojin/LEE Sangsu in the Men`s Doubles Event final.

International and European Federation hold a meeting at the WSA at the same time Representatives from 17 nations “storm” the ETTU-Women-Table Tennis Coaches Seminar with a Chinese special guest On Monday September the 7th the Werner Schlager Academy in Schwechat experiences another highlight. Besides the regular operation of the (inter-) national WSA-training-group the world-table tennis training-center in the heart of Europe has special visitors. Two hot-spots will take place at the same time next door to each other in the premises of the WSA. Hot-Spot 1: The international federation ITTF under the direction of the Viennese European-Champion in the Doubles from 2005 Karl JINDRAK organizes a workshop for its staff in their European head office on the second floor of the building. JINDRAK is now the “Competition Director” of the biggest sport federation of the world with its 222 member nations. Hot-Spot 2: Two floors deeper in the WSA-complex the 1st Women Table Tennis Coaches seminar of the European federation ETTU will take place. Headed by the ETTU-Vice-President Ivo Goran MUNIVRANA and coordinated and organized by the WSA-Women-Headcoach Neven CEGNAR who is at the same time ETTU Development Manager not less than 24 guests from 17 (!) different nations will participate at this top-class ETTU seminar. The seminar welcomes two “special guests”. One of them: LI Xiaodong Chinas highest table tennis headcoach who will give a lecture regarding “footwork in modern table tennis”. The second special guest is Polona Cehovin SUSIN the ITTF Director of Education and Training who will also give a presentation. The high number of participants at the ETTU-Women-Coaches seminar is a bit surprising but shows that the European National-Table Tennis Bosses have realized that there is need for action and a need for catching up in comparison to China and Asia. The WSA in Schwechat now ushers in a new era…

2016 World Veteran Championships (23rd -29th May)   Alicante/Elche will stage the forthcoming 2016 World Veteran Championships. The Royal Spanish Table Tennis Federation expects to receive no less than 4 000 players to the Costa Blanca; a figure that would exceed the previous record of 3 650 on the German city of Bremen in 2006. Staged at the Institución Ferial Alicantina (IFA) commencing on Monday 23rd May the tournament will conclude on Sunday 29th May; one day longer than originally planned in order to meet the anticipated increased demand. There will be a new category; there be events for players in the 90 years and over category. Entries will be logged in chronological order; now some nine months before the tournament is due to start over 500 entries have already been received. The first registration period which commenced on Monday 29th June will close on Tuesday 15th December 2015; the entry fee being €150.00 per player plus €50.00 per accompanying guest. Immediately following the second registration period will commence on Wednesday 16th December and will close on Monday 29th February; the entry fee during this period rises to €195.00 per player but with the cost for an accompanying guest remaining the same at €50.00. Once registration with full remittance has been completed players will receive notification by email with regards to doubles; the deadline for doubles which must be confirmed by both players is Friday 13th May. All details here

Sports Hall VIC in Barcelona will host best players this weekend   30 International Open will takes place in Vic (Barcelona) on 5th and 6th September. Among the favorites are: Spanish champion Marc DURAN (DKV Borges) Diogo PINHO (ASTT Miramas) Oriol MONZO (DKV Borges) and Andrei BIRLAN (Hispalis Sevilla) in men’s Singles Event. The seeding list in women’s Singles starts with Spanish champion Maria XIAO (UCAM Cartagena) whilst Iulia NECULA and WANG Zhipei (UCAM Cartagena) Natalya Prosvirnina (Vic TT) follows. In Adapted category main favorites are Jorge CARDONA Jordi MORALES and Alberto SEOANE.   More informations here