, #ITTFWorlds2016 will be the most social media active table tennis ever! The Perfect 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held from 28 February – 6 March 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is set to be the most social table tennis event of all time.   The 54th edition of the ITTF World Championships will be more active, especially on more social media networks than ever before.   Commenting on ITTF’s social media plan for the event, ITTF’s Promotion & Media Manager Matt POUND commented: “At this year’s World Championships, we want to reach as many people as possible through our social media networks, which currently has over 1.3 million fans. The ITTF media team will be coming up with fun and creative content to engage our fans and to portray the world’s biggest table tennis event from a different perspective from what the hundreds of millions of fans around the world will see on TV.”   Snapchat (@ITTFWorld) will be also be used for the first time here in Kuala Lumpur as well as Facebook live to complement ITTF’s already established social media platforms:   Facebook.com/ITTFWorld Instagram: @ITTFWorld Twitter: @ITTFWorld YouTube.com/ITTFChannel FlickR.com/ITTFWorld Weibo: @ITTFWorld Wechat: @ITTFWorld2014 YouKu: @ITTFWorld Tencent Video: @ITTFWorld Just between ITTF’s Facebook, Youtube and Weibo, the ITTF expects over 10 million fans to see content on these platforms.   Adding to the engagement on social media, the ITTF will also be streaming eight tables LIVE on its online streaming platform ITTF.com/itTV. These eight tables of world-class table tennis is expected to get over five million live and on-demand views over the eight days of the Championships.   This exposure, in addition to the 500 accredited media on site, will ensure that the 54th edition of the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships will be one of the most followed table tennis event in history!

Championship will be held from February 28th to March 6th, as both national teams of China fight for their 20th titles in total. German team is no. 2 seed in the men`s event, while Netherlands occupies no. 3 in the women`s one,   The PERFECT 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championship starts in the first hours of Sunday (CET time), gathering 670 participants from 99 countries in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They will fight in Malawati Shah Alam Stadium (Capacity 13.000) in the next eight days, five months prior the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.   With over 500 accredited media on site, the 54th edition of the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships will be one of the most followed table tennis event in history.   China defends both titles. Men`s side beat Germany 3:1 two years ago at the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships in Tokyo, while women`s team overcame Japan in straight games.   The best ranked European side in men`s tournament will be again Germany, but now without Dimitrij OVTCHAROV who was forced to withdraw due to injury. Current individual champion of Old Continent beat actual Olympic champion ZHANG Jike in the China – Germany final match two years ago. Timo BOLL is ready to lead again his side, accompanied with Bastian STEGER, Ruwen FILUS, Patrick FRANZISKA and Stefan MENGEL.   Reigning champions and top seed emerges with individual world champion MA Long, XU Xin, FAN Zhendong, ZHANG Jike and FANG Bo. Japan is no. 3 seed, having Jun MIZUTANI, Koki NIWA, Yuya OSHIMA, Mahary YOSHIMURA and Kenta MATSUDAIRA. Europe will be represented with four more teams in the Top 10 seeds: 2014 European champion Portugal (no. 5), 2015 ECH winner Austria (no. 5), Sweden (no. 8) and France (no. 9).   Regarding women`s event, all experts predict reprise of the gold medal clash from 2014 WCH, when China met Japan. Chinese national team will be lead by world`s no. 1 LIU Shiwen, supported by DING Ning, ZHU Yuling, CHEN Meng and LI Xiaoxia. It seems like Japan has better team than in previous edition: Ai FUKUHARA, Kasumi ISHIKAWA, Mima ITO, Misako WAKAMIYA, Yui HAMAMOTO. Netherlands is posted on the 3rd place at the seeding list, with LI Jie, LI Jiao, Britt EERLAND and Elena TIMINA. Actual European champion Germany is no. 7, while Romania starts as no. 10.   China men`s team plays for 8th consecutive title. The last time they were no champions in 2000 Kuala Lumpur, when Sweden beat them in the epic final. If they take the trophy on March 6th, it would be their 20th crown in total, since they did it for the very first time in Beijing 1961. The same number of titles is the goal of women`s team which took its first in 1965 Ljubljana. In last four decades China women`s team have lost the title just twice (1991 Chiba City – South Korea winner, and 2010 Moscow – Singapore winner).   INTERESTING FACTS   All teams oldest / youngest • Oldest men’s team: Pakistan – average age 40.44 (74th Seed, WR82, Division 4) • Oldest women’s team: Netherlands – average age 35.95 (3rd Seed, WR3 Championship Division) • Youngest men’s team: United Arab Emirates – average age 15.92 (88th Seed, WR116, Division 4) • Youngest women’s team: Azerbaijan – average age 16.26 (70th Seed, WR83, Division 3) • Youngest male player: Ylyas ALLANAZAROV, TKM – 7.76 years • Youngest female player: Aishath NAZIM MDV – 12.73 years Championship division oldest / youngest • Oldest men’s team: Greece – average age 33.18 (15th seed, WR15) • Youngest men’s team: Malaysia – average age 20.26 (24th seed, WR56) • Oldest women’s team: Netherlands – average age 35.95 (3rd seed, WR3) • Youngest women’s team: Malaysia – average age 20.32 (24th seed, WR43) • The World Teams Championships began in 1926 along with the individual event, but only the men participated in the team event. Women’s team championships was added from 1934 onwards. • 2016 will be the 54th time the World Table Tennis Championships have been held. • Vladimir SAMSONOV will play his 20th WTTC, this means he is now 2nd in number of WTTC’s played, behind Jean-Michel SAIVE (24 times). • Malaysia has hosted the World Team Championships on 1 previous occasion, in 2000 when Sweden took out China in the men’s final. China overcame Chinese Taipei in the women’s final. •Team Sweden claimed Gold at the 2000 World Team Championships against Team China. This was the last time the WTTTC was held in Kuala Lumpur.   Swaythling Cup – Men’s Team   The Swaythling Cup is presented to the winners of the Men’s Team Event at each World Team Table Tennis Championships. The Cup was donated in 1926 by Lady Baroness Swaythling, the mother of Ivor Montagu, who was the first ITTF President and remained in that role for record 41 years. The first winners of the Swaythling Cup was Hungary who were triumphant in London 1926 and won the first 5 editions of the competition before the Czechoslovaks beat them in 1932 in Prague.   Corbillon Cup – Women’s Team   President of the French Table Tennis Association Marcel Corbillon donated the Corbillon Cup in Paris 1933 prior to the Women’s Team event being held for the first time at the 1934 World Championships. The original Cup disappeared during the early days of the Berlin occupation after World War II but the German Table Tennis Federation ended up arranging an exact replica in 1949. Germany were the first winners of the Women`s Team event in 1934.

Current European champions open the 2016 PERFECT World Team TT Championships against Thailand (February 28th, 03:00 CET),   Both German teams landed in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 19:40 local time, and last two days have practiced in the Malawati Arena, prior the 2016 PERFECT World Team TT Championships (February 28th – March 6th). Women’s national team, current European champion, is posted on the 7th place in the seeding list, sharing Group B with Japan (no. 2 on the world list), Korea DPR (no. 9), Czech Republic (no. 15), Thailand (no. 18) and Brazil (no. 26). It’s obvious that Petrissa SOLJA & Company will face tough challenge, in their attempt to reach second quarterfinals in a row, after ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships in Tokyo.   The 2015 ITTF World Cup bronze medalist, Petrissa SOLJA (world’s no. 17) is expected to take a leading role in absence of HAN Ying and SHAN Xiaona, accompanied with Irene IVANCAN (no. 44), Sabine WINTER (no. 58), Kristin SILBEREISEN (no. 69) and Nina MITTELHAM (no. 112). SILBEREISEN is unique member of the bronze winning team from 2010 Moscow WCH. After that Championship, German side played twice in the quarterfinals (two years ago they were beaten by Hong Kong 3:0).   Sport director Richard PRAUSE stated after the last workouts of the women’s national team, that the first aim is to enter the knockout stage. It means to finish among the top three teams in Group B at least.

The best ranked European side at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships starts its campaign against Ukraine, this Sunday in Kuala Lumpur,   Four times quarterfinalist in a row, Netherlands women’s national team is determined to repeat that achievement at least on the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which starts this Sunday. As the best ranked European country (no. 3, behind China and Japan), they will try to make one more step and reach first ever medal.   The same trio – LI Jie (world’s no. 18), LI Jiao (no. 25) and Britt EERLAND (no. 99) – will emerge in the Netherlands line-up. Two years ago, at the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships in Tokyo, they started from 15th place at the seeding list, but progressed to the quarterfinals.   After three defeats during the group stage (South Korea 2:3, Luxembourg 3:1, Singapore 1:3, France 3:0, Russia 2:3), triple European champions showed their best in the Round 16 clash against Chinese Taipei (3:0). Quarterfinal duel with Japan was tied after four matches, but in the decisive one Britt EERLAND lost to Kasumi ISHIKAWA 3:2 (11:8, 11:7, 8:11, 9:11, 11:6).   The 43 year-old LI Jiao is ready to lead her side again, after four consecutive quarterfinals: 2008 Guangzhou, 2010 Moscow, 2012 Dortmund and 2014 Tokyo. Double individual European champion (Belgrade 2007, Gdansk-Sopot 2011) shows an impressive steadiness in almost two decades in the table tennis. After all, she is the winner of inaugural 2015 European Games in Baku, beating in the final her team mate from the national teammate, LI Jie. Moreover, they secured gold for Netherlands in the Team Event.   Bearing in mind LI Jie`s silver at the 2015 ITTF European Championships, four months ago in Yekaterinburg, Netherlands has one more reason for optimism.

The latest change in Croatian men’s team: Frane KOJIC replaces Tomislav KOLAREK who withdraws due to back injury,   Croatian men’s national team suffered one change on the eve of PERFECT 2016 World Team TT Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (28th February – 6th March): Frane KOJIC replaced Tomislav KOLAREK who was forced to withdraw due to back injury. Head Coach Zvonimir KORENIC earlier announced four names: Andrej GACINA, TAN Ruiwu, Zoran PRIMORAC and Tomislav PUCAR.   KORENIC explained that even GACINA, the best ranked Croatian player, has some health problems, but world’s no. 18 will be ready for the forthcoming event in Kuala Lumpur.   The 1993 individual bronze medalist from Gothenburg, Zoran PRIMORAC (47-year-old) will participate 18th time in a World Championships. He first appeared in 1987 in New Delhi, winning silver medals in Doubles Event, with Ilija LUPULESKU.

National team of Sweden departs to Kuala Lumpur without its best ranked player,   Sweden men’s national team will not emerge with three Top 50 players at the PERFECT 2016 World Team TT Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (28th February – 6th March) – what was the initial plan of Coach Marcus SJOBERG. Currently the best ranked member of the four times World champion, Par GERELL (world no. 30) had to withdraw due to long time elbow injury and Jon PERSSON (no. 85) was chosen to replace him.   After this change, Marcus SJOBERG counts on Kristian KARLSSON (no. 36, club Pontoise, France), Mattias KARLSSON (no. 45, Halmstad BTK, Sweden), Anton KALLBERG (no. 69, TTC Hagen, Germany) and Jon PERSSON (no. 85, Vaillante Sports Angers, France).   „Jon (PERSSON) has been here before with us and always did well. He is recognized as a good team player”, stated Coach Marcus SJÖBERG to website of STTA.   On of memorable victories of Sweden men’s national team is connected with Kuala Lumpur. Jan-Ove WALDNER, Jorgen PERSSON, Peter KARLSSON and Frederic HAKANSSON beat there Chinese stars KONG Linghui, LIU Guoliang, MA Lin and WANG Liqin in the gold medal clash. It was their last title at the World Championships.

The 43-year-old is looking forward to play at the PERFECT 2016 World Team TT Championships,   Three years after his retirement on the 2013 LEIBHERR World Championships in Paris, the 43-year-old Werner SCHLAGER is ready for his comeback at the Perfect 2016 World Team TT Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (February 28th – March 6th). As Austrian Table Tennis Association (OTTV) announced four days ago, the 2003 individual world champion will replace diseased Daniel HABESOHN.   „Since the start of the school of my son in September, I have again practiced regularly both, table tennis and gym. I quickly realized that I didn’t forget anything”, stated Werner SCHLAGER speaking for OTTV website.   Austrian legend saw peak of his career in 2003, when he beat Korean JOO Saehyuk 4:2 (11:9, 11:6, 6:11, 12:10, 8:11, 12:10) at the World Championship final in Paris. In the same city, three years ago, he was beaten by Patrick BAUM in straight games of Round 64.   Both, Werner SCHLAGER and OTTV stressed that easily agreed about his return after bad news from Daniel HABESOHN. Austrian national coach QIAN Qianli was fully convinced in his decision after SCHLAGER`s play at the recent Energis Masters Cup in Saarlouis, where he defeated, among others, the actual European Championsh Dimitrij OVTCHAROV.   The last non-Asian player who won World Championships, will inscribe his 17th appearance at these events. He debuted in Chiba in 1991. Beside individual gold from 2003, his best achievement is 1999 Eindhoven bronze medal in Singles Event. Regarding national team, two 5th places stands as his best results.