ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup,   Just two days after 22nd birthday, Russia’ s Yana NOSKOVA received special invitation. No. 28th in Europe will compete for a first time at the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup. This came as a outcome of the another withdrawal – this time the competition was shaken from the top. Top seeded Petrissa SOLJA of Germany canceled her arrival to the in Gondomar, Portugal in eve of the of the tournament (from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th February). NOSKOVA was the member of the Russian team in October at the LIEBHERR 2015 European Championships. They reached the bronze medal. In The Women’s Event the top seed now is Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania. Also will play HU Melek of Turkey, reigning champion LIU Jia of Austria, Georgina POTA (Hungary), followed by Tetyana BILENKO (Ukraine), SHEN Yanfei (Spain), Polina MIKHAILOVA (Russia), Sabine WINTER (Germany), WU Jiaduo (Germany), Sofia POLCANOVA (Austria), NI Xialian (Luxembourg), Kristin SILBEREISEN (Germany), Bernadette SZOCS (Romania) Viktoria PAVLOVICH (Belarus) and Leila OLIVEIRA (Portugal). in Men’s event the top seeded, European Championships and European Games champion, OVTCHAROV will fight for the third title at the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup. Lausanne’s gold medalist Marcos FREITAS, the host nation favorites. Seeded no. three is the player who participated 18 times and won four titles, Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus. In Portugal will also play Andrej GACINA (Croatia) and on the list are also the members of the European Championships golden team Stefan FEGERL (Austria) and Robert GARDOS (Austria). Seeded no. eight is Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece), followed by Tiago APOLONIA (Portugal), Pär GERELL (Sweden), Simon GAUZY (France), Alexander SHIBAEV (Russia), Ruwen FILUS (Germany), Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden), Bastian STEGER (Germany), João MONTEIRO (Portugal) and Adrien MATTENET (France).

ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup,   For a seventh time Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania will play at the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup, but for a first time, she will came at the most prestigious tournament in Europe, as a crowned European singles champion. The winner of the title in October at the LIEBHERR 2015 European Championships, SAMARA will try to beat the bad record she had in past few seasons. At the 2016 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup to be staged in Gondomar, Portugal from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th February, seeded no. two will face fierce competition. “I will give my best to avoid the scenario from two previous occasions. In Baku and in Lausanne I failed to win the match. Those were really bad tournaments for me. For sure there is no lack of experience and European title gives me enough confidence, but this is very hard Event, where you cannot find easy matches,” stated SAMARA. In The Women’s Event the top seed is Petrissa SOLJA of Germany. Also will play HU Melek of Turkey, reigning champion LIU Jia of Austria, Georgina POTA (Hungary), followed by Tetyana BILENKO (Ukraine), SHEN Yanfei (Spain), Polina MIKHAILOVA (Russia), Sabine WINTER (Germany), WU Jiaduo (Germany), Sofia POLCANOVA (Austria), NI Xialian (Luxembourg), Kristin SILBEREISEN (Germany), Bernadette SZOCS (Romania) and Leila OLIVEIRA (Portugal). “Judging from recent performances, LI Qian, LI Jie and LI JIao who canceled the arrival, were in good shape. However their withdrawal will not ease the way to much. Peti is in very good shape and every adversaries there, are not to be underestimated.” SAMARA also had an opportunity to test her form. Similar to the top seeded player in Portugal SOLJA, she lost in the second round against player from Japan. Kasumi ISHIKAWA halted SAMARA’s progress, whilst Ito MIMA was better against German star. ” I played in Berlin and I am not very happy with the outcome. I hope it will be better in Portugal.” Season already heat up . “After preparations in Romania, I had matches in Champions League and in the Turkish Premiership. This is going to be rough season. We have Top 16, World Championships and European Olympic Qualifications. I think we will have some space to catch the breath after June. After we closed the rankings for the Rio 2016; we will gain some space for training and preparation for the Olympic Games. Before that I cannot afford to lose my focus,” explained SAMARA.

ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup,   Another withdrawal hit the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup. After many changes in Women’s Event, the first change affected the Men’s tournament. Seeded no. two Germany’s Timo BOLL cancelled his participation and he opened the space for Adrien MATTENET of France.   The situation is similar to Irene IVANCAN who wants to fully recuperate after a stubborn virus, the decision is made for reasons of prevention. The record holder in the number of European champions titles, who played his first international tournament after his knee surgery in the fall, last weekend at the German Open and in Berlin when he reached the quarterfinals against Vladimir SAMSONOV, does not want to jeopardize the positive healing process by overloading.   DTTB-Sports Director Richard PRAUSE said: “We decided after the German Open about the cancelation. The European Top 16 is a ranking tournament with the many games. It is better for Timo to use the time to continue his metered building training…”   Even without Timo BOLL and Irene IVANCAN the German Table Tennis Association will be represented at the European ranking tournament with the seven athletes Ruwen FILUS, Sabine WINTER and with three debutants. The four other Germans will be the defending champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, Bastian STEGER, last year’s runner Petrissa SOLJA, WU Jiaduo and replacement for Irene IVANCAN, Kristin SILBEREISEN.   In the 2015 there had been seven DTTB starters who ended with three medals for the German Table Tennis Association: Gold by OVTCHAROV, silver and bronze by SOLJA by IVANCAN. For sports director Richard PRAUSE, the objective for Gondomar is clear:   “The Europe Top 16 is an important tournament and it is the second most important event in Europe after the European Championship. It is also an opportunity for the direct qualification for the World Cup and we will try with all to achieve the best possible places and of course to be also in the allocation of tickets for the World Cup. “   In Baku 2015 MATTENET was seventh and in Lyon 2012 he concluded the Top 12 between 5th and 8th place.

ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup,   The Women’s Event at the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup went under changes one more time. The list of contenders for the crown at the forthcoming 2016 ITTF-Europe Top 16 Cup to be staged in Gondomar, Portugal from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th February, has another new name. After the withdrawal of Ukraine’s Margaryta PESOTSKA, the invitation was accepted by Viktoria PAVLOVICH. With 12 appearances, the player from Belarus will be one of the most experienced challenger with equal number of appearances as reigning champion LIU Jia of Austria, who won the title three times already. They are followed closely only by Luxembourg’s NI Xia Lian played 11 times and clinched titles three times. NI won the last title in Sweden’s Almstad in 1998, whilst PAVLOVICH reached second place twice and never had won the crown. Last time she played in the final in Lausanne in 2014. The top seeded, European Championships and European Games champion, OVTCHAROV will fight for the third title at the ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup. The five times winner of the Top 12 events Timo BOLL of Germany is seeded no. two, followed by Lausanne’s gold medalist Marcos FREITAS, the host nation favorites. Seeded no. four is the player who participated 18 times and won four titles, Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus. The no. five seed is Andrej GACINA (Croatia) and on the list are also the members of the European Championships golden team Stefan FEGERL (Austria) and Robert GARDOS (Austria). Seeded no. eight is Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece), followed by Tiago APOLONIA (Portugal), Pär GERELL (Sweden), Simon GAUZY (France), Alexander SHIBAEV (Russia), Ruwen FILUS (Germany), Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden), Bastian STEGER (Germany) and João MONTEIRO (Portugal). The leading position at the seeding took another German player in great form, Petrissa SOLJA. Last year in Baku SOLJA played in the final. She is ranked at position no. two in Europe currently.No. two seed is Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA. For the European champion, it will be seventh appearance at the tournament. For the fourth time HU Melek of Turkey will try to beat her best result so far – no. three spot. She is seeded no. three. Reigning champion LIU Jia of Austria is seeded no four. Beside Baku, LIU Jia succeeded in Lausanne in 2014, having almost a decade earlier prevailed in Rennes in 2005. Seeded no. five is Georgina POTA (Hungary), followed by Tetyana BILENKO (Ukraine), SHEN Yanfei (Spain), Polina MIKHAILOVA (Russia), Sabine WINTER (Germany), WU Jiaduo (Germany), Sofia POLCANOVA (Austria), NI Xialian (Luxembourg), Kristin SILBEREISEN (Germany), Bernadette SZOCS (Romania) and Leila OLIVEIRA (Portugal). The Top 16 is a qualification event for the World Cup.