Linz lost first ECLW semi-final match last Friday but its team manager Robert RENNER stays optimistic regarding returning clash on April 1st Double ECLW champion Linz AG Froshberg stays confident despite 3:2 home defeat against Berlin in the first semi-final game held last Friday at the crowded Sportpark Lissfeld. Team manager Robert RENNER speaks: “The strong performance of Linz was not rewarded but the chance to go to the final is still alive. The sensation was in distance – we challenged the favourised team of Berlin until the end and there was the chance to win in straight games also. At least the spectators were world class at this time again. They were able to change the Sportpark Lissfeld into a boiling pot.” Berlin`s SHAN Xiaona had a crucial role in the first leg defeating both Sofia POLCANOVA and LIU Jia while Georgina POTA added the winning point against LIU who said: “I was 100% inside the game from the first point against Gina (POTA) I felt like the game was over before she realized the game already started. Sofia (POLCANOVA) had her chances but could not succeed at the end maybe it is a little bit too much pressure to bring her potential on the table but I`m sure she is the next big chance for Europe if she can bring her performance closer to her potential. But I was unbelievable happy for Iveta (VACENOVSKA) she had hard times to overlap but to win against Petrissa (SOLJA) can give her the power to make it very good in the next months and this is what she really deserves.” Robert RENNER explains why he is still an optimist: “The conclusion after the first leg is that the winner of the second game might be the overall winner of the semifinal the better individual performance will decide. It will be a tough mental game for the players the clubs representatives and the spectators.” Froschberg president Günther RENNER concluded: “There is now so much pressure in the next game on the side of Berlin that`s exactly what we tried to put on their shoulders. We are absolutely happy with the performance of our ladies actually you could feel the tie between the fans and the team both really want to see another game in Linz this season we want it also!”
Best players on duty in Poland
Polish National Championships The individual Polish championship will be held this weekend at the same place like last year – in Walbrzych (80 km to the south-west from Wroclaw). “The list of competitors includes the names of the best Polish players: LI Qian Natalia PARTYKA Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA WANG Zengyi Jakub DYJAS and Daniel GORAK. They will be the main favorites for the title at the tournament with 64 woman and 64 men taking part ” announced Sport Director of PTTF Stefan DRYSZEL. Two rounds of singles events (1/32 and 1/16) and 2 rounds of doubles (1/16 and 1/8) will be played on Friday. On Saturday competition will be continued in all events until the finals. On Sunday only finals are on the program (startig at 10.00). Gold medal winners from the previous year: Men’s Singles – Daniel GORAK Women’s Singles – Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA Men’s Doubles – Michal DABROWSKI / Szymon MALICKI Women’s Doubles – Kinga STEFANSKA / Roksana ZALOMSKA Mixed Doubles – Pawel FERTIKOWSKI / Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA
Youngsters taking the stage in Latvia
Latvian Individual Championships 2016 Latvian Individual Table Tennis Championships 2016 preliminary round already finished. Final Tournament will take place this weekend in Kuldiga. Best 32 men and 16 women will compete for the titles in Men’s Singles Women’s Singles Men’s Doubles Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles competitions. “We are glad to see that a lot of young players like Valerijs FARBTUHS Reinis VILKASTE Markuss OZOLS Rudolfs BERGMANIS Ilva BALTUTE Sabina MUSAJEVA and Diana AFANASJEVA booked their place in Final tournament ” stated Aksels AMBERGS. There are four clear favorites in the Men’s Event. At the top of the list is Olegs KARTUZOVS who won his first title in Men’s Singles event in 2015. Arturs REINHOLDS Leonids MASLOVS and Igors SIDOROVS are also at the list of favorites. In the Women’s Event main favorite is Antra VINERTE. See more on www.galdateniss.lv. During the Competition will be provided LiveStream Video Broadcast on two tables!
ITTF’s media rights distribution enters a new era with Lagardere Sports
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) announced it has signed an exclusive deal with Lagardere Sports brokered by TMS International to sell the media rights to all its events worldwide (excluding China Japan Singapore and Taiwan). The multiyear deal will run from 2016 to 2020. Bringing their knowledge expertise and vast network to the table the agreement will see Lagardere Sports sell the media rights to ITTF events including the ITTF World Tour ITTF World Cup (Men’s Women’s & Teams) ITTF World Team Championships ITTF World Championships and the ITTF Junior events. David WHITE President – Media Lagardere Sports said: “We’re delighted to be working with the ITTF once again and look forward to building our relationship with them over the next four years. There is a great appetite for the media rights to the ITTF’s exciting roster of events across the world and we’re excited to be able to use our expertise to maximise distribution and give these events the visibility they deserve.” Thomas WEIKERT President ITTF said: “The ITTF is pleased to partner up with one of the big global sports marketing players Largardere. We look forward to working closely with Lagardere to develop ITTF’s TV product and increase our already healthy TV distribution world wide. This will complement our existing successful social & digital strategies to ensure the most number of people are watching table tennis around the world.” With an experienced Media Sales management team Lagardere Sports is able to service territories around the world and provide solutions to package and monetise rights efficiently and effectively to complement ITTF’s already strong digital media global presence.
Finland: Benedek OLAH is the only favorite
Finnish National Championship Finnish national championship will be played during the weekend in the legendary table tennis venue of Helsinki Ruskeasuo. The organizing club MBF expect that Finnish table tennis people arrive there and find out how the overwhelming no. one star Benedek OLAH (WR 132) is currently playing. Olah is seriously aiming the Rio Olympic tables and national championship should be just a piece of cake on the way. However… It was supposed to be the last year’s scenario also but in the quarterfinals Toni SOINE surprised OLAH. Eventually the title was finally stolen by Roope KANTOLA from Turku. Now the general opinion is that OLAH has learned his lesson. Among others Samuli SOINE has his word to say and even old gentlemen Pasi VALASTI and Mika RÄSÄNEN are still strongly on the field. In women’s singles reigning champion Luo YOMO (who has started her career in Finland!) is challenged by the young national team players Annika LUNDSTRÖM and Pihla ERIKSSON from the organizing club. Anna KIRICHENKO from Espoo is one of the strongest rivals too but women’s singles is completely an open trade in contrast to the men’s singles. Thanks to OLAH table tennis is gathering more interest in the Finnish media in years. The championship last year was a very nice happening. Now everyone is waiting to see if MBF will do it even better. By Esko HEIKKINEN Courtesy of FTTA
DURANSPAHIC and HADZIAHMETOVIC crowned champions in Sarajevo
Bosnia and Herzegovina National Championships Bosnia and Herzegovina crowned their champions at the National Closed Championships in Sarajevo. Despite fierce competition with more then 100 players at the entries favorites prevailed. Admir DURANSPAHIC defended his crown in Men’s Singles Event after he beat experienced Srdjan MILICEVIC in the final. Bronye medalists are Fedja JASAREVIC and Ivan BOBAS. In Women’s Singles Event Emina HADZIAHMETOVIC also kept her crown. In the final she beat Ivona BASKARD. Snezana MARKOVIC and Sanja MILOJICA are third. Admir DURANSPAHIC and Ivan BOBAS secured the title in the Men’s Doubels whilst Emina HADZIAHMETOVIC and Ivona BASKARD won gold in Women’s Doubles.
Iveta VACENOVSKA aiming sixth title
National Closed Championships Jablonec and Nisou during the upcoming weekend (18th – 20th March) will host the Czech Republic national table tennis championship for the first time. The defending men´s singles champion Pavel SIRUCEK (STEN marketing HB Ostrov) and the best women player of the recent years Iveta VACENOVSKA (Linz AG Froschberg) lead the field so the Czech national championship will offer interesting battles. The defending champion Pavel SIRUCEK will face the strong oposition since Tomas KONECNY (2014 national champion TTS CARBO-COKS Polonia Bytom) talented junior player Tomas POLANSKY (Slavoj Severotuk Usti nad Labem) Tomas TREGLER (STEN marketing HB Ostrov Havlickuv Brod) David REITSPIES (SF SKK El Nino Praha EHW) and Radek Kostal (SKST Svijany Liberec) plays in a fine shape in last couple of weeks. In the women’s singles category Iveta VACENOVSKA the national champion of the 2005 2007 2011 2012 and 2014 is considered to be a favourite. Dana CECHOVA (2008 champion TTG Bingen / Münster-Sarmsheim – Germany) or the best player of the Czech extra league competition Katerina PENKAVOVA (SKST Mart Hodonin) will fight for the best results as well. Some of the best players will be missed on the event due to other duties (Dmitry PROKOPCOV Lubomir JANCARIK Hana MATELOVA Renata STRBIKOVA) but surely the event will bring the best of Czech table tennis. The championships starts on Friday with the qualification matches the main tournament is scheduled for the weekend. New Czech champions will be crowned on Sunday afternoon. JKD SPED Czech Championship Men: 1. Tomas KONECNY 2. Pavel SIRUCEK 3. Tomas TREGLER 4. Petr DAVID 5. Radek KOSTAL 6. Michal OBESLO 7. Frantisek PLACEK 8. Jiri VRABLIK 9. Jakub KLEPRLIK 10. Michal BENES 11. David REITSPIES 12. Ondrej BAJGER 13. Jakub CRHA 14. Miroslav HOREJSI 15. Martin HANAK 16. Antonin GAVLAS 17. Tomas POLANSKY 18. Marek KLASEK 19. Petr KAUCKY 20. Jakub SEIBERT 21. Stanislav KUCERA 22. Marek OBESLO 23. Jakub NEMECEK 24. Ales HANL 25. Martin PAVLICA 26. Petr HUSNIK 27. Michal LEBEDA Jr. 28. Josef SIMONCIK 29. David PALKOVSKY 30. Michal VAVRA 31. David MERTA 32. Antonin SCHWARZER (from March 15 2016). Women: 1. Iveta VACENOVSKA 2. Dana CECHOVA 3. Katerina PENKAVOVA 4. Lenka HARABASZOVA 5. Kristyna MIKULCOVA 6. Aneta KUCEROVA 7. Karin ADAMKOVA 8. Tamara TOMANOVA 9. Katerina TOMANOVSKÁ 10. Miroslava SAGLOVA 11. Dagmar BLASKOVA 12. Marketa SEVCIKOVA 13. Dagmar BLASKOVA 14. Daniela ROZINKOVA 15. Kristyna ŠTEFCOVÁ 16. Katerina CECHOVA. (from March 15 2016). Czech Republic Champions 2015 Men’s Singles: Pavel Sirucek (STEN marketing HB Ostrov) Women’s Singles: Hana Matelová (TTG Bingen / Münster-Sarmsheim) Men’s Doubles: Tomas Konecny – Petr David (TTC CARBO-COKS Polonia Bytom Post SV Muehlhausen) Women’s Doubles: Katerina Penkavova – Lenka Harabaszova (SKST Mart Hodonin) Mixed Doubles: Lubomir Jancarik – Iveta Vacenovska (Saint Denis USTT Linz AG Froschberg). Detailed information about individual Czech championship in table tennis in Jablonec nad Nisou can be found on the website: http://www.ping-pong.cz/ By František ZÁLEWSKÝ Courtesy of CTTA
Cartagena will not give up in Poland
„We will try to do our best in the returning match” cited Iulia NECULA who brought unique point to Spanish club in the first ECLW semi-final leg against Zamek Tarnobrzeg UCAM Cartagena lost to Zamek Tarnobrzeg 3:1 in the first semi-final leg of 2015/16 ECLW but Spanish side is not disappointed at all. They are determined to enjoy in their first ever ECLW semis looking forward to the returning leg in Poland on April 1st. „I am satisfied with the performance of the team” stated Cartagena`s coach Adriana ZAMFIR. „The key result was the defeat of WANG Zhipei to PARTYKA (3rd match). I think if we had won that point we would have had chances to win the match. Iulia NECULA has played at a high level and the next game is going to train hard and although we know it is very difficult let’s try. Iulia NECULA secured early lead to Cartagena as she beat LI Qian. But HAN Ying (two points) and Natalia PARTYKA (one) provided victory for the current ETTU Cup winner. „We knew before that is going to be a difficult match especially when the other team has some of the best players in Europe. We changed the composition of our team hoping for a good draw and we got it as expected that being the possible way to keep us in the game” stressed NECULA and explained how it looked like to play against LI Qian and HAN Ying: „For me playing against two top ranked defensive was a very exited but yet exhausting feeling. I started well controlling the ball and won my points without making easy mistakes. It was a very tactic and strategic game which lead me to the victory in the first match against LI Qian. Unfortunately couldn’t keep up the same rhythm in the second match against HAN Ying. The nerves and willing to win showed off and lost very narrow. Although it will be very difficult to overcome the score in Poland we will try to do our best and don’t give up any option! We have almost two weeks left so we can plan the match properly”. Manager Enrique PEREZ said that his side will not give up in Poland: „We are satisfied with the experience we have overcome the initial goal was a celebration of our sport it has been televised live the Hall is full of fans who have enjoyed spectacular plays. Zamek was better than us but the next game is going to work to try to beat them.”
Michael MAZE announced his retirement
On his Facebook Fan Page Michael MAZE announced his retirement today. 34-years-old Dane won the 2004 Olympic bronze medal in doubles won gold in singles and team’s events at the European Championships and clinched gold at the Europea’s Top 12. „The time has come! I have made the most difficult decision of my career – my time as a top table tennis player has come to an end! In consultation with my doctors and management we came to this very difficult decision! I had hoped to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio but my body just can’t anymore. After several operations I can no longer train 100% without pain and therefore not compete at the level I’m used to. I want to thank especially my family friends F.reklame A/S #Butterfly #NaturEnergi sponsors and fans from the bottom of my heart – I’m forever grateful for all the support You have showed throughout my whole career. So many great experiences and memories to take with me from this amazing sport. THANK YOU!“
TTCLM: Reigning champion loses in France
AS Pontoise Cergy beat Fakel Gazproma Orenburg 3:1 in the first semi-final leg The 2014 TTCLM winner beat actual champion in the first semi-final leg of the 2015/16 TTCLM: AS Pontoise Cergy – Fakel Gazproma Orenburg 3:1. Current individual European champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV lost both his matches what happened just second time in the last five seasons. Russian side opened better the game as Vladimir SAMSONOV defeated Kristian KARLSSON in four games. Host got opening game while Byelorussian was superior in the next three making a big gap from the beginning of each set: in the second and third the result has unfolded in same way (twice 6:2 8:3) while the fourth one started with 9:0 in favor of guest. Two finalists of the 2015 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships Marcos FREITAS and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV met in the second game at the Hall Omnisport in Pontoise and runner-up overcame gold medalist 3:1 (11:4 7:11 11:6 11:9). The fourth set was very intense starting by 6:1 lead of Portuguese but German recovered to 7:7. That was followed by FREITAS` two points in the row (8:8 10:8). Youngest player in the clash Tristan FLORE (21) prevailed against one of the most experienced TCLM players Alexey SMIRNOV after full five games. Russian saved three match-balls in the fourth set but host didn’t lose his nerves and firmly controlled the score in the fifth game. Finally KARLSSON defeated OVTCHAROV who missed recent PERFECT 2016 World Team TT Championships due to injury. Swede was convincing in the last moments of the first (9:10 12:10) and fourth set (7:8 10:8). AS Pontoise Cergy – Fakel Gazproma Orenburg 3:1 Kristian KARLSSON – Vladimir SAMSONOV 1:3 (11:9 6:11 5:11 3:11) Marcos FREITAS – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 3:1 (11:4 7:11 11:6 11:9) Tristan FLORE – Alexey SMIRNOV 3:2 (12:10 7:11 11:4 11:13 11:9) Kristian KARLSSON – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV 3:1 (12:10 11:7 6:11 11:9)
