As most of people predicted Germany will have two players in the quarterfinal. However what no one can expect is those two will be Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA. Departure of the best-ranked European player Dimitrij OVTCHAROV was one of the major upse As most of people predicted Germany will have two players in the quarterfinal. However what no one can expect is those two will be Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA. Departure of the best-ranked European player Dimitrij OVTCHAROV was one of the major upsets in early rounds but speaking in terms of upsets FRANZISKA’s stroke back in full power. Patrick FRANZISKA will play in the quarterfinal of the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou China. In the Round of the 16 today he beat KOU Lei of Ukraine 4:2 (7:11 8:11 11:8 11:6 11:9 11:8). “I really never expected that I would reach this far. My aim was to beat player who is better ranked then me to gain some points for rankings…I have played very well in the Bundesleague last week but after my injury there is still a little of uncertainty how I will come back ” said FRANZISKA. Patrick made comeback in great style for sure…“The beginning of my game against KOU was not really a dream start. I played aggressive hard…and that is just what he loves. He took fully advantage of that tactics and won two opening games.” Young star had to try something else. “I changed the tactics started to play softer with lot of rotation on the ball. I was clever. The breaking point was the in the fifth game. Though I was constantly in reverse I managed to win it. After that I was in the driving seat.” Tomorrow at the penultimate day he will meet FANG Bo. “We played against each other only once when I was junior. Of course he has beaten me.  However I did not get this far by being afraid of challenge. I will try once again to make possible from impossible. I will fight hard ” promised FRANZISKA. Timo BOLL accounted for WONG Chun Ting of Hong Kong 4:1 (11:9 11:8 3:11 12:10 15:13). “WONG Chun Ting improved his game a lot during the last one or two years. I could remember when we played the first time in the Japan Open a few years ago. I said already to my coach this guy was not so bad and maybe he would be a quite good player in the future but everybody was laughing at me. But now WONG is really a top-20 player and played a good tournament ” explained BOLL. “I played my best game today in the tournament. I knew that his backhand is very strong but I am afraid of his forehand because it is powerful and very spinning. So anyway even his back is good I tried to attack it and tried to use my top spins.” ZHANG Jike prevailed against Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus 4:1 (16:14 11:8 3:11 12:10 15:13). Those two meet each other on two occasions: 2012 Olympic Games and at German Open six weeks before. Chinese champion won both times. “ZHANG simply played better today. I had a game ball in the opening set but I lost it. If it happened differently I might have a chance. ZHANG played aggressive I was forced to take a lot of risks and I made few more mistakes then I should.” Asked to make comparison between previous generation of Chinese stars and todays biggest names SAMSONOV said: “They were good then and they are good now. Chinese players won all important titles it is hard to judge who is more or less superior. IT makes no difference for us. If you beat one Chinese player in the next round will come next. It is like you banging your head against the wall.” At the end laughing SAMSONOV said:” I do not know are the new generation better or I am just older.”

In The Round of 16 in the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou Marcos FREITAS of Portugal World’s no. 8 suffered by the hands of World’s no 56 Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany. “I am unhappy with my complete performance. I was slow my retur In The Round of 16 in the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou Marcos FREITAS of Portugal World’s no. 8 suffered by the hands of World’s no 56 Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany. “I am unhappy with my complete performance. I was slow my return of service was not good and Patrick on the other side played very well. He kept me under pressure from the beginning ” said FREITAS. FRANZISKA was delighted after the victory. “We played against each other three or four times before but I never beat him before. Today I attacked him I played from the corners; he was not sure from which side the ball will come.” FRANZISKA radiate with self-confidence. “Match against MENGEL was a turning point. Then I realize I can do something important here. I felt good during the practice and I was relaxed and that is always a good sign.” He will meet KOU Lei of Ukraine in the next round match. KOU beat Adam PATTANTYUS of Hungary. “Adam and I played many times before and he usually beat me but today he did not play at his level ” said KOU. Vladimir SAMSONOV overcame Joao GERALDO of Portugal. “Joao risked a lot but he made a lot of mistakes as well. At some point he just attacked too hard ” said SAMSONOV who will play against ZHANG Jike of China in next round. ”I beat him only once in Euro Asia series but that is completely different situation. All I can do is to be active to attack and to open the game. I can only create the chances with good attacks.” Another member of the European Team’s champions suffered defeat. Joao MONTEIRO stretched Timo BOLL to full distance and in nail biting finish lost the encounter. MA Long of China halted the progress of Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece. “I think Panagiotis should believe more in himself. He is playing good here but I guess their last encounter when MA has beat him easily made him less confident ” said coach Konstantinos VATSAKLIS. Last time those two meets were at the Team ‘s World Championships in Germany. “If there was anybody else but him on the other side of the net I would have won it. I felt great here and I am really satisfied with my performance. I had my chances even today. I had a lead in the opening set; even a game ball but I failed to take advantage of it. I lost on my mistakes ” explained GIONIS. Liam PITCHFORD of England suffered by the hands of JOO Saehyuk of Korea in fibe games whilst Jonathan GROTH of Denmark lost against WONG Chun Ting of Hong Kong in straight games. Alexander SHIBAEV of Russia played six games against XU Xin before he lost his encounter and GAO Ning of Singapore proved too strong for CHEN Weixing of Austria SHIBAEV was 2:0 in the lead before World’s no. two recovered to win. “Today was my match. I should have won it. He was struggling to find the answer for my game. XU was confused. And I lost the match that I have already won. Maybe I over-thought some things. I played well and I consider that I lost through my own efforts. He did not do anything to win. I simply missed my hits.” CHEN Weixing admitted he made too many mistakes against GAO. “We played before so I knew what to expect. I thought about the tactics day before and decided not to attack. Unfortunately GAO also changed his tactics so in the middle of the match I was not sure what to do…” said CHEN. In Men’s Doubles Event XU Xin CHN and ZHANG Jike of China will meet LEE Sangsu and SEO Hyundeok of Korea whilst in other semis Chinese pairings of FAN Zhendong and ZHOU Yu  will play against Kenta MATSUDAIRA and Koki NIWA Koki of Japan.

Tetyana BILENKO repeated the success from Paris 2013 and reached the Round of 16 in Women’s Singles again. On her way today at the QOROS World Championships she overcame Maria DOLGIKH in five games (7:11 8:11 12:14 11:6 7:11). “We never met at the Inter Tetyana BILENKO repeated the success from Paris 2013 and reached the Round of 16 in Women’s Singles again. On her way today at the QOROS World Championships she overcame Maria DOLGIKH in five games (7:11 8:11 12:14 11:6 7:11). “We never met at the International tournaments but we played a lot against each other in the Russia’s league and it was 50/50. I played very well. I forced Maria into errors. She played risky whilst I tried to keep it safe. DOLGIH did a lot of mistakes and I had just to wait for my chance ” stated Tetyana. When BILENKO saw the draw and World’s no. 8 Ai FUKUHARA in her part of the draw she was not sure about her chances.“I did not expect I will get this far but I guess the tournament in Qatar gave me some extra self-confidence. I reached quarterfinal there. Generally I play very good this year.” BILENKO improves her skills in the Werner SCHLAGER Academy. “I am spending a lot of time there but I can not live in Austria. I have three years old son Egor so I do a lot of travels. I got a lot of help from my mother and sister otherwise it will be impossible for me to work.” This summer BILENKO will play at the first European Games in Baku. “Before that I will spend some time in WSA go to Croatia Open and have five days preparation with the Ukraine national team. I hope I will be ready; the competition will be fierce there.” Top seeded DING Ning of China easily prevailed against Miu HIRANO of Japan. Not so easy Irene IVANCAN of Germany also progressed to the Round of 16. She needed full seven games to overcame PARK Youngsook of Korea. The decisive game was very close. “I was leading and already saw myself going through that goal line and then I lost five or four points in a row. I thought ‘I am not going to lose this set. This is not going to happen. And in the end I am satisfied but I am even more relieved ” said IVANCAN. CHENG I-Ching of Taipei overcame Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania whilst WU Yang prevailed against Ganna GAPONOVA of Ukraine. Duel Matilda EKHOLM vs. Margaryta PESOTSKA concluded in favor of Sweden’s player. YU Mengyu of Singapore accounted for LI Qian of Poland. LI Jie of Netherlands overcame DOO Hoi Kem of Hong Kong in straight games

For a first time in history Netherlands won the medal at the individual World Championships. Also Poland clinched the first one in Women’s Event. The success came after LI Jia and LI Qian joined their forces in Women’s Doubles Event at the QOROS World Ch For a first time in history Netherlands won the medal at the individual World Championships. Also Poland clinched the first one in Women’s Event. The success came after LI Jia and LI Qian joined their forces in Women’s Doubles Event at the QOROS World Championships. The pairings that played together only once reached the penultimate stage of the Event in Suzhou. They accounted for HU Melek of Turkey and SHEN Yanfei of Spain 4:0 (11:2 11:6 11:9 11:4). “In March we played at the German Open and we reached quarterfinal. There we saw we can play really good together. We have complementary styles. Together we can play very good defense and produce good attacks ” stated LI Qian. HU and SHEN failed to make nay pressure on winners. “We changed the pace the rhythm we attacked them… We left no space for our adversaries to attack us.” The aspiration for Dutch-Polish duo became high after victory over Japan’s pairings. “When we beat Miu HIRANO and Mima ITO we realized that we could get far here. After that we succeeded against Korea’s KIM Hye Song and KIM Jong ” added LI Jie. Beside four gold medals in Team’s event at the European championship LI Jie has a silver medal with Elena TIMINA in Doubles. On the other side previously to LI Jie LI Qian was not playing in Doubles except in one occasion. “It was to much physically demanding for me. I could not play singles and doubles at the same event but now things changed ” said Qian. And she revealed how…“After I gave birth I am stronger. I have more energy; I can play on both events. My baby is one year and one month old and Jie’s is one year and a half… Our babies made us stronger they gives us energy ” said Qian.

At the QOROS World Championships in Suzhou Liam PITCHFORD of England reached the Round of 32 in the Men’s Singles Event. He beat Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal in six games. Jonathan GROTH of Denmark joined him after victory over Lubomir JANCARIK of Czech Re At the QOROS World Championships in Suzhou Liam PITCHFORD of England reached the Round of 32 in the Men’s Singles Event. He beat Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal in six games. Jonathan GROTH of Denmark joined him after victory over Lubomir JANCARIK of Czech Republic. “It was a really tough match but I won so right now I feel relieved and really happy. Before the tournament my goal was to reach the second round and now I am in the last 32 so I am excited ” said GROTH. Panagiotis GIONIS of Greece overcame Grigory VLASOV of Russia. “It was an easy match. I had some difficulties in the third game after 2:0 lead. He came close I made some easy mistakes but all came into place at the end ” said GIONIS. However GIONIS was not in best of his mood after the match. Tomorrow he will play against MA Long. Timo BOLL of Germany overcame Jakub DYJAS of Poland world’s 127 ranked player. At one point he was 2:1 down. “I think he played really good really good control of the ball especially on my top spins. Not so many players especially young players have a control over my topspin and he is one of these guys. It was a really tough game for me. We met for a first time and I was not sure how he plays.” Stefan FEGERL of Austria beat his compatriot Robert GARDOS to join him whilst Joao MONTEIRO of Portugal accounted for Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden.

On the first part of the fourth day of the play at the QOROS World Championships in Suzhou Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA of Poland played the table tennis of her life. She started the day with the impressive win in Mixed Doubles Event with Pawel FERTIKOWSKI . The On the first part of the fourth day of the play at the QOROS World Championships in Suzhou Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA of Poland played the table tennis of her life. She started the day with the impressive win in Mixed Doubles Event with Pawel FERTIKOWSKI . They overcame Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia to reach the quarterfinal. “We were lucky that we had three European pairings from the beginning of the matches in the main draw. Of course it was important to grab the chance when it occurs. I played the best table tennis in my career this morning ” said GRZYBOWSKA. Katarzyna continued with the great success in the Singles Event. World’s no 97 accounted for recently crowned German champion in singles and doubles Petrissa SOLJA currently ranked at the position no. 22 in seven games. She reached the Round of 32. “Simply everything went on table as I planed. I received perfectly I attacked…I can not remember when I played that good.” For SOLJA who successfully finished the mixed doubles match with Steffen MENGEL only few minutes before the start of the singles problem was – adjustment. “Her mind and body was still in the rhythm of doubles. I was afraid for her singles match when I saw how good was her in mixed doubles ” explained coach Jie SCHÖPP. SOLJA explained: “I ran from box to box from the field to racquet control…That is not the best preparations you can get before such important match. I am not happy. We played once before in Russia and I beat her.” To the Round of 32 progressed Irene IVANCAN of Germany who beat Manca FAJMUT of Slovenia Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania after success against Nina MITTELHAM of Germany. Ganna GAPONOVA of Ukraine upset the order by beating seeded no. three LEE I Chen of Taipei. “We once played against Taipei so I knew that I had a small chance because they play in defense a little bit worse than in offense. This is specifically about Taipei of all the Asian countries. When we started I felt confident and simply knew that I needed not to make a mistake myself so that she wouldn’t start to play confidently so that she wouldn’t get into her usual rhythm.” Also another Ukraine’s player Margaryta PESOTSKA eliminated higher ranked adversary – HU Melek of Turkey. Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden overcame LEE Zion of Korea. “I know that she beat LIU Jia yesterday. I did not see her a lot before so I had to check on the Internet how she is playing ask some people. I would not say I was pleased that LIU Jia lost yesterday but I have played LIU Jia a few times and I have no chance so it was not a bad thing. But I know also that means she can play really well this girl.”

In Women’s Doubles Event at the QOROS World Championships in Suzhou  Turkey Spain Poland and Netherlands will have their representatives in the quarterfinal – two Doubles in all. HU Melek of Turkey and SHEN Yanfei of Spain accounted for DOO Hoi Kem and In Women’s Doubles Event at the QOROS World Championships in Suzhou  Turkey Spain Poland and Netherlands will have their representatives in the quarterfinal – two Doubles in all. HU Melek of Turkey and SHEN Yanfei of Spain accounted for DOO Hoi Kem and LEE HO Ching of Hong Kong in straight games. The Netherland’s Poland’s combination of LI Jie and LI Qian halted the aspirations of Korea’s KIM Hye Song and Kim Jong. However the list of Europeans will be shorter tomorrow for sure; they will meet each other in the match for medal. The most exciting match of the round has been played between CHENG I-Ching and LEE I-Chen of Taipei and Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA and Natalia PARTYKA of Poland. Polish girls were 2:1 in the lead then 3:2 and they eventually lost 11:13 in the decisive game. “We played good but when it comes to one ball at 9:9 and 10:10 you never know how it will end ” said PARTYKA.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is now the largest International Federation with 222 National Associations. Sao Tome & Principe and South Sudan were accepted into the ITTF family today at the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) to over The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is now the largest International Federation with 222 National Associations. Sao Tome & Principe and South Sudan were accepted into the ITTF family today at the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) to overtake Volleyball as the largest International Federation. At this historic moment the ITTF President Mr Thomas WEIKERT stated “As the ITTF President I am very proud that ITTF has achieved the number one status in terms of membership as our goal is not just to be among the top five sports overall but also within each area. This is then another milestone on the path to achieve this.” The newest additions is a result of the ITTF’s Development Program’s objective to grow national associations to have table tennis played in every corner of the globe. The ITTF Development Program which was initiated in 1999 has now added 42 new National Associations with new addition of 2-3 new members per year. Quantity is not what the ITTF is solely looking at; the Program offers support for member associations around the world support in terms of equipment coach training player training and more to assist them in developing and growing in a sustainable way. With the inclusion of Sao Tome & Principe and South Sudan the ITTF will only have 4 more countries Eritrea Guinea-Bissau Cape Verde and Bahamas remaining in the Olympic family to integrate in order to reach its final goal of having a National Association in every country possible. The ITTF is currently in contact with the Olympic Committees of these remaining countries aiming to achieve full inclusion of all members of the Olympic family to the table tennis family. The ITTF AGM was held in conjunction with the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships currently being held in Suzhou China.