Toriola, the most successful African table tennis player has made more history, Nigeria’s Segun TORIOLA has made history by qualifying for his seventh Olympic Games at the ITTF-African Rio 2016 Qualification event held today in Khartoum, Sudan. TORIOLA’s appearance at Rio 2016 will be the most by an African in any sport, writing himself into African sporting history. After achieving the amazing feat, the four time All-African Games champion, who made his Olympic debut back at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games stated: “I am very excited about this achievement, I never thought I could be playing a seventh Olympic Games in my career. I am honoured that I made history as the African to achieve this feat.” “It was a little difficult for me because I played under a lot of pressure, I was the favourite for this tournament, and I had to be cautious in my games as most of the players wanted to beat me. I ensured I was not too confident in all my matches and play them carefully.” “I am glad that I made it and I hope now to focus on the preparation for Rio, which is very vital for me!” With the 41-year-old’s 11-7, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 win over Mawussi AGBETOGLO (TOG), TORIOLA joins table tennis legends Jean-Michel SAIVE (BEL), Jorgen PERSSON (SWE) & Zoran PRIMORAC (CRO) in an elite group of players who have played at seven Olympic Games. PERSSON welcomes TORIOLA into the exclusive ‘7 Club’ with open arms: “This is simply an amazing achievement. He is a talented player and deserves all the accolades he gets. I am very happy to welcome him into the ‘7 Club’.” Check out the rest of the Rio 2016 qualifiers from Africa here: http://bit.ly/24bCgtP. Learn all about the table tennis qualification procedure for Rio 2016:http://bit.ly/1Wtet2H.
Czech workouts in Schwechat and Dusseldorf
National teams of Czech Republic will depart for Kuala Lumpur on February 24th to play on Perfect 2016 World Table Tennis Championships, Both national teams of Czech Republic are in their final preparations for the Perfect 2016 World Table Tennis Championships in Kuala Lumpur. They organized their training camps abroad, Men’s at the Werner Schlager Academy in Schwechat, Austria, and Women’s in the Table Tennis Center of German national team in Dusselrorf. Men`s Coach Jindrich PANSKY has invited Dmitrij PROKOPCOV, Tomas KONECNY, Lubomir JANCARIK and Pavel SIRUCEK, while his colleague from women`s national team Paul KRPEC currently has Iveta VACENOVSKA, Hana MATELOVA and Dana CZECHOVA. Renata STRBIKOVA will join them after weekend matches at Czech National League. Training camps will be closed on Friday, February 19th. Both teams will depart for Kuala Lumpur from Vienna, on February 24th.
LIU Jia und Stefan FEGERL secured LIEBHERR AUSTRIA Top 12 titles
, In the hall Vogelweide in Wels at the LIEBHERR AUSTRIA Top 12 LIU Jia und Stefan FEGERL confirmed their supremacy. Last weekend they clinched their titles in impressive style. On her way to the gold, last year’s champion, LIU Jia lost only one game. It was in the final against Amelie SOLJA. Until the ultimate round, SOLJA also recorded all straight games victories. Third place went to LI Qiangbing who beat Jessica ZLATILOVA in duel for the third place. Stefan FEGERL played against CHEN Weixing in the final. FEGERL bat Christoph SIMONER in the semis whilst CHEN Weixing beat Robert GARDOS. FEGERL regained the title clinched in 2012.
LIU Jia und Stefan FEGERL secured LIEBHERR AUSTRIA Top 12 titles
, In the hall Vogelweide in Wels at the LIEBHERR AUSTRIA Top 12 LIU Jia und Stefan FEGERL confirmed their supremacy. Last weekend they clinched their titles in impressive style. On her way to the gold, last year’s champion, LIU Jia lost only one game. It was in the final against Amelie SOLJA. Until the ultimate round, SOLJA also recorded all straight games victories. Third place went to LI Qiangbing who beat Jessica ZLATILOVA in duel for the third place. Stefan FEGERL played against CHEN Weixing in the final. FEGERL bat Christoph SIMONER in the semis whilst CHEN Weixing beat Robert GARDOS. FEGERL regained the title clinched in 2012.
MESHREF and ARUNA are on their way to the ITTF World Cup’s.
ITTF-Africa Top 16 Cup, Nigeria’s Quadri ARUNA and Egypt’s Dina MESHREF will represent Africa at the 2016 ITTF World Cups after the duo emerged champions at the ITTF-Africa Top 16 Cup in Khartoum, Sudan. Throughout the event, ARUNA showed the form that catapulted him to becoming the 2014 ITTF Male Table Tennis Star. The second seeded Nigerian accounted for Egypt’s Omar ASSAR, the top seed: 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 in the final. The victory was sweet revenge for ARUNA, who lost to ASSAR 12 months ago to miss out on the priceless ITTF World Cup qualification position and has lost the last four encounters against the African number one. After lifting the trophy, the 27-year-old stated: “I felt so good after the quarter-final; it was 50:50 against Omar, my forehand was the key to winning. I lost the first game, if I had lost the second, I would have lost the match.” ARUNA now gets a chance to beat his career best performance of a Men’s World Cup quarterfinal, which he achieved in 2014. Commenting on returning to the World Cup stage, ARUNA said: “Everybody knows me now and wants to beat me. It will be even harder to achieve my goal.” Dina MESHREF once again proved herself to be the queen of African Table Tennis, as she strolled to her third consecutive ITTF-Africa Top 16 title. The top seeded MESHREF was too good for Nigeria’s Offiong EDEM, the number four seed, in the final, prevailing 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 to book a third straight appearance at the ITTF Women’s World Cup. “I am very happy to win the cup again, it’s very special for me. It also means I will participate in the Women’s World Cup this year, and each year I am getting better results in that competition”, explained MESHREF. “Today the toughest match was against Offiong EDEM, she is a very strong player! Against HAN Xing, the service was the key, in that area I played better than before.” The ITTF World Cups are the second most prestigious events on the international table tennis calendar, with only 20 of the top table tennis players qualifying through their respective Continental Cups. The Liebherr 2016 Men’s World Cup will be held 1-3 October 2016 in Saarbrucken, Germany and the 2016 ITTF Women’s World Cup on 7-9 October in a location to be announced. Players who have already secured their places at the ITTF World Cups along with Quadri ARUNA & Dina MESHREF are Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), SHEN Yanfei, Joao MONTEIRO (POR), Alexander SHIBAEV (RUS), HU Melek (TUR) and LIU Jia (AUT) who qualified at the recent ITTF-Europe Top 16.
MESHREF and ARUNA are on their way to the ITTF World Cup’s.
ITTF-Africa Top 16 Cup, Nigeria’s Quadri ARUNA and Egypt’s Dina MESHREF will represent Africa at the 2016 ITTF World Cups after the duo emerged champions at the ITTF-Africa Top 16 Cup in Khartoum, Sudan. Throughout the event, ARUNA showed the form that catapulted him to becoming the 2014 ITTF Male Table Tennis Star. The second seeded Nigerian accounted for Egypt’s Omar ASSAR, the top seed: 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 in the final. The victory was sweet revenge for ARUNA, who lost to ASSAR 12 months ago to miss out on the priceless ITTF World Cup qualification position and has lost the last four encounters against the African number one. After lifting the trophy, the 27-year-old stated: “I felt so good after the quarter-final; it was 50:50 against Omar, my forehand was the key to winning. I lost the first game, if I had lost the second, I would have lost the match.” ARUNA now gets a chance to beat his career best performance of a Men’s World Cup quarterfinal, which he achieved in 2014. Commenting on returning to the World Cup stage, ARUNA said: “Everybody knows me now and wants to beat me. It will be even harder to achieve my goal.” Dina MESHREF once again proved herself to be the queen of African Table Tennis, as she strolled to her third consecutive ITTF-Africa Top 16 title. The top seeded MESHREF was too good for Nigeria’s Offiong EDEM, the number four seed, in the final, prevailing 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 to book a third straight appearance at the ITTF Women’s World Cup. “I am very happy to win the cup again, it’s very special for me. It also means I will participate in the Women’s World Cup this year, and each year I am getting better results in that competition”, explained MESHREF. “Today the toughest match was against Offiong EDEM, she is a very strong player! Against HAN Xing, the service was the key, in that area I played better than before.” The ITTF World Cups are the second most prestigious events on the international table tennis calendar, with only 20 of the top table tennis players qualifying through their respective Continental Cups. The Liebherr 2016 Men’s World Cup will be held 1-3 October 2016 in Saarbrucken, Germany and the 2016 ITTF Women’s World Cup on 7-9 October in a location to be announced. Players who have already secured their places at the ITTF World Cups along with Quadri ARUNA & Dina MESHREF are Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER), SHEN Yanfei, Joao MONTEIRO (POR), Alexander SHIBAEV (RUS), HU Melek (TUR) and LIU Jia (AUT) who qualified at the recent ITTF-Europe Top 16.
Perfect 20-0 score of TTC Berlin Eastside
German club stays unbeaten in all competitions in the 2015/16 season, TTC Berlin Eastside improved its 2015/16 score to 20-0 after the 10th round of Women`s Bundesliga, against Leutzscher Fuchse two days ago. Irina PALINA`s side now has 10-0 (60:11) in domestic league, 4-0 (12:3) in German Cup (they lifted the trophy five weeks ago) and 6-0 (18:3) in ECLW. SHAN Xiaona, Petrissa SOLJA and Georgina POTA will play next month in the ECLW semi-final against Linz AG Froschberg, fighting for their third ECLW title. “Of course we would like to reach the finals and compete for the championship. But despite the fact that we are seeding on first number, I think all of the semi-final teams have an equal chance of winning. The 2015/2016 Champions League with 12 teams became more interesting and unpredictable than the previous ones. Matches between Linz and Metz of course are the big surprise and shows how it is important to one point! I do not remember, that is encountered in the history of ETTU Cup or Champions League”, stated Coach Irina PALINA who contributed with two points in the 6:0 victory against Leutzscher. Berlin reached seven titles in the last four years: two Bundesliga (2014, 2015), three German Cup (2014, 2015, 2016) and two ECLW (2012, 2014). Speaking about possibility to repeat triple crown from 2013/14 season, PALINA stressed that “this time will little bit difficult, because tournament schedule is a bit stretched in this season”.
Perfect 20-0 score of TTC Berlin Eastside
German club stays unbeaten in all competitions in the 2015/16 season, TTC Berlin Eastside improved its 2015/16 score to 20-0 after the 10th round of Women`s Bundesliga, against Leutzscher Fuchse two days ago. Irina PALINA`s side now has 10-0 (60:11) in domestic league, 4-0 (12:3) in German Cup (they lifted the trophy five weeks ago) and 6-0 (18:3) in ECLW. SHAN Xiaona, Petrissa SOLJA and Georgina POTA will play next month in the ECLW semi-final against Linz AG Froschberg, fighting for their third ECLW title. “Of course we would like to reach the finals and compete for the championship. But despite the fact that we are seeding on first number, I think all of the semi-final teams have an equal chance of winning. The 2015/2016 Champions League with 12 teams became more interesting and unpredictable than the previous ones. Matches between Linz and Metz of course are the big surprise and shows how it is important to one point! I do not remember, that is encountered in the history of ETTU Cup or Champions League”, stated Coach Irina PALINA who contributed with two points in the 6:0 victory against Leutzscher. Berlin reached seven titles in the last four years: two Bundesliga (2014, 2015), three German Cup (2014, 2015, 2016) and two ECLW (2012, 2014). Speaking about possibility to repeat triple crown from 2013/14 season, PALINA stressed that “this time will little bit difficult, because tournament schedule is a bit stretched in this season”.
Jonathan THIMION – surprise finalist in Hodonin
Czech Junior and Cadet Open, Japan clinched the titles in both the Cadet Boys’ Singles and Cadet Girls’ Singles events at the 2015 Czech Junior and Cadet Open in Hodonin. Top seeds, Yu KAYAMA and Miyu NAGASAKI emerged as the champions. Yu Kayama overcame surprise finalist Sweden’s Jonathan THIMION, the no.23 seed, in the title deciding contest (11-4, 12-14, 11-9, 11-2), having in the latter rounds accounted for the host nation’s Czech VALENTA, the no.10 seed, at the quarter-final stage (11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6). Jonathan THIMION in partnership with colleague, Karl HAST experienced the same fate in the Cadet Boys’ Doubles competition. The Swedes were beaten in three straight games at the final hurdle by the combination of Patrik JUHASZ and Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK (11-7, 11-5, 11-9). Miyu NAGASAKI beat Korea’s SHIN Yubin, the no.4 seed in the final of the Cadets’ Girls event (11-9, 11-3, 11-4), having in the later stages defeated Hungary’s Marta NAGYPAL in the quarter-final round (11-8, 11-3, 11-8) and Romania’s Tania PLAIAN, the no.3 seed, at the penultimate stage (11-7, 11-4, 11-8). Shin YUBIN after overcoming Hungary’s Anita DRABANT at the quarter-final stage (13-11, 11-9, 11-7) upset the order of merit by beating the Czech Republic’s Zdena Blaskova, the no.2 seed (9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-7). Defeat at the hands of Shin Yubin, in the Cadet Girls’ Doubles event, it was defeat in partnership with the Korean for Zdena BLASKOVA. At the final hurdle, they were beaten by the Polish combination of Anna WEGRZYN and Katarzyna WEGRZYN by the very narrowest of margins in a full distance five games duel (5-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-6, 14-12).
Jonathan THIMION – surprise finalist in Hodonin
Czech Junior and Cadet Open, Japan clinched the titles in both the Cadet Boys’ Singles and Cadet Girls’ Singles events at the 2015 Czech Junior and Cadet Open in Hodonin. Top seeds, Yu KAYAMA and Miyu NAGASAKI emerged as the champions. Yu Kayama overcame surprise finalist Sweden’s Jonathan THIMION, the no.23 seed, in the title deciding contest (11-4, 12-14, 11-9, 11-2), having in the latter rounds accounted for the host nation’s Czech VALENTA, the no.10 seed, at the quarter-final stage (11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6). Jonathan THIMION in partnership with colleague, Karl HAST experienced the same fate in the Cadet Boys’ Doubles competition. The Swedes were beaten in three straight games at the final hurdle by the combination of Patrik JUHASZ and Maciej KOLODZIEJCZYK (11-7, 11-5, 11-9). Miyu NAGASAKI beat Korea’s SHIN Yubin, the no.4 seed in the final of the Cadets’ Girls event (11-9, 11-3, 11-4), having in the later stages defeated Hungary’s Marta NAGYPAL in the quarter-final round (11-8, 11-3, 11-8) and Romania’s Tania PLAIAN, the no.3 seed, at the penultimate stage (11-7, 11-4, 11-8). Shin YUBIN after overcoming Hungary’s Anita DRABANT at the quarter-final stage (13-11, 11-9, 11-7) upset the order of merit by beating the Czech Republic’s Zdena Blaskova, the no.2 seed (9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-7). Defeat at the hands of Shin Yubin, in the Cadet Girls’ Doubles event, it was defeat in partnership with the Korean for Zdena BLASKOVA. At the final hurdle, they were beaten by the Polish combination of Anna WEGRZYN and Katarzyna WEGRZYN by the very narrowest of margins in a full distance five games duel (5-11, 7-11, 14-12, 11-6, 14-12).
