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.

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad   After the fights of epic proportions three final places for the Men’s Singles event at the forthcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games are decided. At 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad the winners of the Blue and Red Group are Emmanuel LEBESSON of France and Jonathan GROTH of Denmark whilst KOU Lei of Ukraine  joined them as the winner of the match between the losers of the Red and the Blue final. He beat Simon GAUZY of France in the ultimate match.   In the Group final Emmanuel LEBESSON beat KOU Lei of Ukraine in the nail biting seven games match. In seventh game he had match ball at 10:8 before he eventually won 12:10.   “This is a special moment for me. I have never been to Olympics although I have been through this painful qualification tournament once. I lost close games in Luxembourg four years ago and after that I was thinking to leave table tennis. I needed six months to recover and to start to play again ” admitted LEBESSON.   Earlier LEBESSON concluded the opening match of the day with the straight games victory against Stefan FEGERL of Austria.   “I was not very happy man when I saw the draw for the fourth round. Against FEGERL I lost in three previous occasions. I know it is going to be very tough match. However the new balls went on my way. The new ones allow me to play better against players with style like Stefan. I can play powerfully but still to preserve some energy. The game with just service – return-first ball does not work against him. But with this balls I can exchange five or six balls instead three ” said LEBESSON.   For Jonathan GROTH of Denmark this will be the first time to participate at the Olympics. On his last hurdle to his dreams GROTH beat Simon GAUZY of France.   “This means everything to me. I had my chances to go to Olympics through rankings but this is million times better ” said GROTH.   In the round played in the morning GROTH denied Benedek OLAH’s attempt to enter the history books as first table tennis representative of Finland. He left one step short whilst Jonathan progressed in very impressive way in five games.   “I am so tired and it was very hard to play against the player with the OLAH’s style. He is one of the most powerful players on the circuit. Long rallies against him are very dangerous. I had three games advantage before he raised his game. He won next game and even had 9:5 in next. Luckily I recovered to win 12:10 ” said GROTH.   In the morning KOU Lei was the first to leave the field to get ready for the final encounter. He beat Paul DRINKHALL of England in five games.   “My receive of the service was very good I managed to gain a lot off points on first ball. The only problem I had was with the umpires. I have been warned for my backhand service which is absolutely correct ” said KOU Lei.   Simon GAUZY beat Daniel GORAK of Poland for his place in ultimate round.   “I had a 3:0 at the beginning but all three games concluded by narrow margin. It could be opposite very easily ” said GAUZY.   Bojan TOKIC of Slovenia Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece Timo BOLL of Germany Marcos FREITAS of Portugal Bastian STEGER of Germany Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal Alexander SHIBAEV of Russia and Par GERELL of Sweden are at the list of eligible players for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games from the first tournament.  

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad   The host nation’s LI Fen Netherland’s LI Jie alongside another Swede matilda EKHOLM are the names who have qualified for the Women’s Singles event at the forthcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games following the conclusion of play at the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad. LI Fen and LI jie concluded victoriously their run in the second tournament whilst the third ticked EKHOLM gained against BILENKO as the winner of the match between the losers of the Red and the Blue final.   To clarify in Halmstad Germany already had three men qualified (OVTCHAROV BOLL STEGER) and three women (HAN Ying SOLJA SHAN Xiaona). At the Olympic Games only two players per NOC can play the singles event. If all three players of one NOC qualify only two can play and that created the place for one more viza that went to Matilda.   In the final match in the Red Group LI Jie beat Matilda EKHOLM (5-11 11-5 11-13 11-5 11-8 4-11 15-13).   “Matilda played so well so incredibly well” said LI Jie. “Usually I beat her but today was so different I did not know whether to attack or defend; I remember in the seventh game it was 12-12 and I attacked after my service and won the point but still she came back and levelled the score.”   In the first morning’s match LI Jie did not have very comfortable start against Anamaria ERDELJI of Serbia. She was two games to nil in reverse before she recovered to win in tight seventh game.   “I am very tired. I could not feel my legs but I told to myself I had to play. I can not give up ” said LI.” I did not start well but the change of tactics and few attacks brought the changes. In addition the pressure is working in my favor. I know I will play in Rio and I do not have to cope with such kind of fear. On the other side my adversaries are playing under extremely lot of stress.”   In the final of the Blue Group European Champions from 2013 LI Fen beat Tetyana BILENKO (11-5 12-10 11-9 11-6).   “I am so pleased that I have qualified for Rio it’s my very first Olympic Games. It is even more special because I qualified here in Halmstad here on home soil in Sweden. I am very grateful to everyone who helped me the coaches the officials and the crowd here in the Halmstad Arena” added Li Fen.    After shaky start LI played very well.   “Against LI Qian I was so tired and I must say that Li Qian played well; she played incredibly well” explained Li Fen. “Today I knew it was my last chance I could not let the opportunity slip by; I really concentrated and gave my best technically why I won I’ve no idea!”   LI Fen of Sweden beat Viktoria PAVLOVICH in match with few ups and downs.   “Tactically I was ready and I started well. I had 3:0 very fast and then I lost my focus. It was just too easy. I lost two next games and at the point where PAVLOVICH was 9:3 in the lead I felt I might lose the match. Then I get my focus again and started to build my game point by point back ” said LI Fen.   In first round of the day Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden was also stretched to full seven games before she beat Georgina POTA of Hungary.   “I had to put the first ball on the table. I had to attack from the very first moment. That is why at some points I was furious on myself. I knew I can not afford to miss first ball ” explained EKHOLM.   Tetyana BILENKO overcame Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA of Poland to reach the final of the Blue group.   “Usually GRZYBOWSKA did not play good against the players with the defensive style but today it was different. Also I think I gave her some advantage too. I was playing to quick on some points and forced myself into the mistakes. When I slowed down I regained the control; with extra spin I made Katarzyna makes mistakes.”   The eight players who won their tickets to Rio from the first tournament are: HAN Ying SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany HU Melek of Turkey YU Fu of Portugal LI Qian of Poland Polina MIKHAILOVA of Russia and LIU jia of Austria.

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad   The eight remaining names in the game for the two last tickets for Rio in Men’s Event at the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad are: Emmanuel LEBESSON of France Daniel GORAK of Poland Stefan FEGERL of Austria KOU Lei of Ukraine Paul DRINKHALL of England Simon GAUZY of France Jonathan GROTH of Denmark and Benedek OLAH of Finland.   Emmanuel LEBESSON got more time to rest since his duel of the third round against top seeded player was over very quickly. In early stages of the match Vladimir SAMSONOV was forced to withdraw due the back injury.   “I had a very tough match against Panagiotis GIONIS yesterday. Already then I felt the pain in my back. During the night and this morning it intensified. It worsened against Florent LAMBIENT and now against Emmanuel LEBESSON I could not even play my forehand. I had to withdraw ” explained SAMSONOV.   The match between 53 years old HE Zhiwen of Spain and Daniel GORAK of Poland also was interrupted for medical reasons before GORAK progressed to the next round.   Despite great support  from the home crowd in thrilling seven games duel Kristian KARLSSON failed to beat Stefan FEGERL.   “I am surprised by this victory. When we met last time at the Top 16 I had no chances. However after 2:2 and 3:3 I saw I could beat him. I had to risk more and when the tactics proved right I kept in the same rhythm ” explained FEGERL. “ I had a relay hard day today. I played seven games against WANG Zengyi as well.”   Jonathan GROTH also left the playing field among the last. He was stretched to full distance against Robert GARDOS of Austria.   “Sometimes is not the tactics that keep you winning; sometimes is just the fighting spirit. I did not want to give up and I kept on fighting. I gave everything to beat him and at the end two balls decided the winner ” said GROTH.   Benedek OLAH overcame Andrej GACINA.   “This is my best win in career. I hope it gives me the ticket for Rio. My dreams came true. I can be thankful for fantastic preparations in Budapest and hard work of coach Peter ARANYOSI. This is the big relief ” OLAH could not find the words to describe the happiness.   Paul DRINKHALL needed six games to beat his friend Ovidiu IONESCU of Romania to reach the place among top eight players..   “It was fantastic games with unbelievable rallies. It is a shame it is not on video. We had practicing for years in Bremen and we knew each other so well. We have to play at our best to beat each other ” explained DRINKHALL.   Simon GAUZY overcame another Romanian player Hunor SZOCS.   “He played like he was on fire. It never happened to me to be in situation even not to touch 15 or 20 balls in one match. The main thing was to keep calm and to wait for the good moment ” said GAUZY.

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad     In the opening round of the second tournament Zoran PRIMORAC of Croatia suffered defeat by the hands of host nation’s star Kristian KARLSSON. On his way for the eight Olympic Games legendary Croat had finished the competition at the penultimate day of the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad. However his fighting spirit is still at the highest level and for PRIMORAC it is not over yet.   “It is not over for me. I still have theoretical chances to gain my viza for Rio. We have Polish open next week and with good performance I can gain a lot of points there. In addition I am following closely how TAN is playing. Maybe we can make it through as a team ” said PRIMORAC.   His enthusiasm is contagious but even such legend admits that he struggled with the pressure.   “Everyone here is under heavy weight of numbers. Everyone is counting and watching the rankings. I cannot escape people constantly comes to me with the questions about my chances and rankings. Wanted or not I was dragged into that atmosphere. Instead of being focused on play I was thinking about points and positions ” said PRIMORAC.   He also had few regrets.   “I am sorry I did not enjoy the game little bit more here. It is great privilege to be still part of the circuit; to fight with these boys. If there were few more wins everything will be much better.”   Zoran suggested few changes for the Qualification system.   “It has to be changed. Players who are already qualified should not be here. I think that Asia protected well their players by the regulations. We should do the same ’’ suggested PRIMORAC.

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad   There are eight names left in the Women’s Singles Event at the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in the race for the two remaining viza’s for Rio 2016. At the penultimate day of the competition in the Swedish city of Halmstad the there rounds in second stage tournament concluded in very dramatic style.   The women who survived the challenges and who will continue their journey in two more rounds tomorrow are LI Jie of Netherlands Anamaria ERDELJI of Serbia Georgina POTA of Hungary Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA of Poland Tetyana BILENKO of Ukraine Viktoria PAVLOVICH of Belarus and LI Fen of Sweden.   The draw for the second tournament put together the last year’s European Championships’ finalist again. However unlike the last time LI Jie of Netherlands was the one who left the box with her head high. Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania suffered defeat in the second round after narrowest of margin. She stretched LI to full distance but failed to nail the victory in the nail biting finish.   “I was not so nervous like I was at the European Championships. I knew what to expect against SAMARA. The greatest problem for me here is the ball. I am struggling to find the way to play in effective way. It is impossible to make the spin with the new balls ” said LI.   In the third round LI beat Amelie SOLJA of Austria in straight games.   Things finally look better for Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden who beat Bernadette SZOCS in the second round.   “SZOCS played very good. She is the kind of player who does not allow you to relax. You have to go after each ball and to hit as strong as you can or she will punish you. I have to keep the low spin in order to beat her ” explained EKHOLM.   She faced Gabriela FEHER of Serbia in next round and raised her game to the next level against very spirited adversary.   Anamaria ERDELJI of Serbia almost lost second round duel after she was 3:1 ahead against Iveta VACENOVSKA of Czech Republic.   “After I lost a match bal at 3:1 and 10:6 I thought it is the end. I started to laugh at myself. I felt like I am a joke. I needed two next games and tremendous support from all my teammates to come back ” said ERDELJI.   Almost same scenario was seen in the next round when she met Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine. After 3:0 she failed to took advantage of match ball. However she needed only one game to recover and win.   Viktoria PAVLOVICH of Belarus beat Renata STRBIKOVA of Czech Republic and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia today.   “I have not see BALAZOVA play for years. I did not know what to expect. I know that she has fast top spins and I knew it will not be easy to beat her. That is why I was very focused from the beginning ” said PAVLOVICH.  

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad   Only one player at the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad found the way from qualifications through the great barricades set by the Top 16 superstars and booked his place for the Rio. Bojan TOKIC of Slovenia won the final in his Group to join Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece Timo BOLL of Germany Marcos FREITAS of Portugal Bastian STEGER of Germany Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal Alexander SHIBAEV of Russia and Par GERELL of Sweden at the list of eligible players for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.   Bojan TOKIC beat Joao GERALDO of Portugal in the final.   “I have the tendency to make my life difficult. However after coming back from defeats in the start and hard matches I started to play much relaxed today.”   Bojan inflicted the pain in the hart of the host nation supporters. He beat best-ranked Swede seeded at the position no. seven lost in six games in the quarterfinal. He continued in the same rhythm in the semis. TOKIC overcame Jakub DYJAS of Poland.   “Now I feel the ball feel the hall…everything is different. I suffered at the opening but when you recorded one win things changed. It busted my self-confidence. In addition now I am sure I am in. My rankings are enough high for the place for Olympics and that put some weight off my shoulder ” stated TOKIC.   Timo BOLL is through to his fifth Olympic Games after he overcame Robert GARDOS in the final.   “It is a strange feeling. It has been long time ago since Sydney 2000. I am very proud of my achievement ” said BOLL.   Coming from the injury it was great challenge for the player who holds the record in number of European titles.   “I was skeptical at the beginning. Playing three best of seven matches in the same day was great challenge for my body. I was wondering will it allowed me to play at the highest level. Eventually I managed to perform at the best level. I stayed at the good course even against Robert GARDOS who is very dangerous player ” said BOLL.   Par GERELL delighted the home crowd by winning Paul DRINKHALL of England in the final.   “It is wonderful feeling. I have been working whole year for this and it is fantastic that I could crown all those efforts in front of my supporters at home. Paul DRINKHALL is a dangerous adversary but he has his ups and downs. Today I was at the top of the game. I am very happy with my performance although I had few doubts about my shape at the beginning of the tournament ” said Par.   Panagiotis GIONIS beat the top seeded Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus.   “I secured my position for Rio with my rankings but I wanted to finish this tournament in the proper way. I was preparing for this very hard. I was very aggressive against SAMOSNOV. I played very powerful game and I made him tired ” said Panagiotis.   Tiago APOLONIA beat Liam PITCHFORD of England in full seven games.   “Before PITCHFORD I played against Tan RUIWU another match in seven games. It proved injuries are behind me now. I am fit and mentally strong. It was hard to play against both of them. They both beat me recently ” explained APOLONIA.   Alexander SHIBAEV overcame WANG Yang Slovakian defender.   “I felt confident because I beat him twice in full distance matches. However it was hard because he gained a lot of self-confidence with recent victories against strong adversaries. His main strength is ability to adjust quickly on your game ” said SHIBAEV.   Marcos FREITAS beat LI Ahmet of Turkey.   “I never had played against him but I know that he improved his game very much. I was very cautious. In addition I had a very close match against IONESCU in the pervious round. It was very hard day for me and I ma happy it is over and that I have the ticket for Rio in my pocket.”   Bastian STEGER is third player to be qualified for Rio. In the final he beat Andrej GACINA of Croatia.   “GACINA usually beat me so I was ready. Maybe this time experience prevailed ” said STEGER.   Previously Simon GAUZY of France and Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden excited the playing field earlier than their rankings predicted. Once again the first round of the Olympic Qualifications were the unbeatable obstacle for the player ranked at position no. seven at the seeding and no 23 in the World. Player from France suffered by the hands of Paul DRINKHALL. Paul’s performance was brilliant; he played like he was under spell. Hardly that Simon could do anything against it.   The list of upsets of smaller scale went on with Robin DEVOS of Belgium who beat Lubomir JANCARIK of Czech Republic Alvaro ROBLES of Spain who overcame Adam PATTANTYUS of Hungary. The good run of Benedek OLAH of Finland extended to quarterfinal. He beat Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia.

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad   The third day and phase one in the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Swedish city of Halmstad concluded; the eight players who won the finals in their respective groups of each of the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events are known.   All eight names in Women’s Event came from the list of Top 16 seeds; despite a lot of surprises in the earlier stages of the tournament none of qualifiers survived the final clashes. The eight players eligible for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are: HAN Ying SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany HU Melek of Turkey YU Fu of Portugal LI Qian of Poland Polina MIKHAILOVA of Russia and LIU jia of Austria.   With impressive 4:0 win over LI Fen LI Qian was the first to booked her place for third Olympic Games.   “I am so happy. I had a two years break after giving birth to my baby. Now I am back in full shape. New balls demands great physical power and harder training and it took me a time to adjust ” said LI.   Polina MIKHALOVA overcame player in form Gabriela FEHER of Serbia.   “My dream comes true. I worked so hard for this. Of course I was little less under pressure since my rankings guarantee the place for Rio but still it is nice to win this way. Unlike other defenders I adjust very well on new balls. I played very good at the European Championships and it was the same here “ said Polina.   YU Fu of Portugal will be at the Olympics for a first time. On her way to Rio at the final hurdle she beat Daniela DODEAN MONTEIRO.   “My service game was perfect and it gave me a lot of self confidence. Sometimes I am too afraid but today I felt relaxed like I am at the training. I was very focused ” said YU.   Petrissa SOLJA overcame Slovakia’s Eva ODOROVA.   “Before the match I did not know what to wish. I saw BILENKO and ODOROVA playing and I was afraid of ODOROVA’s style. We have never met before. In the opening game it took me some time to adjust. It finished close with 11:9 but after that I found the game to win ” explained SOLJA.   SHAN Xiaona of Germany overcame LI Xue of France.   “I like to play against players with the defensive style but of course I was little cautious because this is very difficult tournament ” explained SHAN.   HU Melek admitted she needed a lot of inner strength to overcome the pressure in Halmstad.   “Tactics is important but you have to stay calm and to cope with the enormous pressure. I suffered in two opening games and I needed time to recover. I was so nervous; rushed into the points. After I slowed down I started to win ” said HU.   HAN Ying overcame Iveta VACENOVSKA of Czech Republic after she was three games in reverse.   “The balls make me so much problems. I had the change the whole style of play. I struggled at the beginning of the match against Iveta; I could not make a spin ” said HAN.   LIU Jia beat Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia by very narrow margin in seventh game.   “I was surprised by her game. She took it to the next level. I was afraid I would have to play again tomorrow. I really did not want that to happen. I lost three sets at 10. Usually I am good in this type of situations but as I said BALAZOVA played very well ” said LIU who is most experienced traveler to Rio among the eight qualifiers; she will play at the Olympics for a fifth time.   LI Jie was the biggest name to suffered defeat in the semi final. Daniela DODEAN MONTEIRO of Romania created a big upset by beating the no. five seed in straight games.   “In the morning Anamaria ERDELJI told me she is struggling to find the game with the new balls. It seams it is not working well for the players with the defending style. I saw my chance there. I have never beat LI before even when I was two or even three games ahead. This is the first time. I am so happy it happened at such crucial moment ” said DODEAN MONTEIRO.   The joy of Romania team soon was overshadowed by the defeat of the no. 7 seed European singles Champions Elizabeta SAMARA. Samara suffered by the hands of Gabriela FEHER of Serbia.   “After 3:0 I could not believe myself what is going on. I know SAMARA sometimes she has a tendency to make mistakes in fear so I pushed her hard. At some point she recovered but I did not want to give her chance to win ” said FEHER.   Gabriela FEHER also upset the rankings by beating Ganna GAPONOVA of Ukraine without losing the game to reach the semi final.   At the quarterfinal stage we already saw departure of two favorites in Women’s Singles. The host country’s leading player Matilda EKHOLM listed at no.60 on the current Women’s World Rankings overcame Seeded no. 14 (WR 54) Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria. She did it in fantastic style – in straight games.  

2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament     It was good start of the competition at the 2016 ITTF-European Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in Halmstad for Romanina players in Women’s Event. Both Bernadette SZOCS and Daniela DODEAN MONTEIRO concluded the opening phase undefeated.   Daniela’s kept her record clean with three victories in straight games. She overcame Rahel ASCHWANDEN of Switzerland Georgia ZAVITSANOU of Greece and finally Anamaria ERDELJI of Serbia.   “I felt very safe until the finish of the match. Then I lost my focus and on the same time Anamaria started to play better. I was lucky with few balls and that helped me return to the match safely ” explained DODEAN MONTEIRO.   Bernadette SZOCS beat Sarah DE NUTTE of Luxembourg in the second return to table since in her Group were only three players.   “I am very happy with my performance here. I won two matches and I am ready up for the next challenge. Today against Sarah I made the game longer that it should be thanks to my own mistakes. When I was winning I did it in effective way but then I experimented; I did something what was not the part of the tactics. After I realized I was doing wrong I changed the tactics again…but it was too late.”   Iveta VACENOVSKA of Czech Republic Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine also justified their status. However on the home soil Matilda EKHOLM failed to secure the top position. Her defeat against Alex GALIC of Slovenia cost her a lot. On the other hand GALIC failed to repeat the yesterday’s success and she lost against Gabriela FEHER.   “This year we met each other twice and I won both encounters. I was confident before the match but I knew it would be difficult. I changed the rhythm of the game put a lot of variation in my game. I only regret I did not seized the opportunity I had yesterday against Matilda EKHOLM. I could forced the match into the decisive game but in the finish Swede was just unstoppable.”   Victoria PAVLOVIC of Belarus NI Xialian of Luxembourg Hana MATELOVA of Czech republic…Most of the favorites will wait for the draw at the top positions but for one player second day was really disappointing. Lea RAKOVEC recorded very good win against SHAO Jieni of Portugal yesterday but today failed to stay at the top of the game. Aikaterini TOLIOU of Greece accounted for Lea.    “Since junior category I played against Lea RAKOVAC for four times at the World and Junior Championships. Our record is 2:2. From the start I knew I had to risk. In previous occasions I was too passive and I knew it is the wrong tactics. I attacked and it paid off ” explained TOLIOU.