In the opening round of the Women’s Singles Event at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou few Europeans upset the rankings. Today was a very good day for Manca FAJMUT of Slovenia World’s no 267. She beat World’s no 108 Yulia PROKHOROV

In the Round of 16 of the Mixed Doubles Event at the QOROS World Championships we will watch 6 European pairings. It is the outcome of the early morning round that opened third day of the play in Suzhou. Among the pairings that successfully concluded Roun In the Round of 16 of the Mixed Doubles Event at the QOROS World Championships we will watch 6 European pairings. It is the outcome of the early morning round that opened third day of the play in Suzhou. Among the pairings that successfully concluded Round of 32 were Dutch mixed doubles pair of Laurens TROMER and Britt EERLAND. They overcame Brazil’s Hugo CALDERANO and Caroline KUMAHARA. Janos JAKAB and Szandra PERGEL of Hungary beat Lubomir JANCARIK and Iveta VACENOVSKA of Czech Republic. In duel Poland vs. Czech Republic Pawel FERTIKOWSKI and Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA prevailed against Tomas KONECNY and Hana MATELOVA; Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA beat YANG Zi and YU Meng Yu of Singapre; Alexey LIVENTSOV and Yulia PROKHOROVA of Russia were stretched to full distance before they beat Tomislav KOLAREK and TIAN Yuan of Croatia. Steffen MENGEL and Petrissa SOLJA prevailed against experienced Carlos MACHADO and SHEN Yanfei of Spain. “It was important to win the opening match here. We are still in process of learning about each other and we are happy how the things develop ” said MENGEL. For a first time in Suzhou Emmanuel LEBESSON of France played with CHEN Meng of China. They lost after more then an hour of play against YAN An and WU Yang of China. “It is great experience for me to play alongside Chinese player. It is hard when you lose that close but for sure it is good feeling to have someone who can play like CHEN alongside. We showed good performance against great pairings ” said LEBESSON.

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV is hungry of medals at the World level. He has one of the best coaching teams behind him but he wants to take the best from the momentum. That is why he had joined forces with Jorgen PERSSON this January. Right now at the QOROS 2015 W Dimitrij OVTCHAROV is hungry of medals at the World level. He has one of the best coaching teams behind him but he wants to take the best from the momentum. That is why he had joined forces with Jorgen PERSSON this January. Right now at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships national coach Jorg ROSSKOPF is with the team but he also has good cooperation with Dima’s personal coach. “We are all working together in Dusseldorf in German national training center. It is not the new experience for the Asian players. In Japan they work one on one in China one coach is involved with two players…In Europe the trend is different but it does not mean the things might stay the same. Of course there is a financial moment which is very important. It is not possible that everyone can afford personal coach ” explained PERSSON. PERSSON was in Tianjin on VOLVO Golf tournament with WALDNER before he came to Suzhou. “I am enjoying my time ” said PERSSON. Speaking about his role in China now PERSSON said: “ROSSKOPF is in charge for the player in the ring. I help by studying the adversaries play in the hall. Then we speak about the tactics. We have very good cooperation. The good point is that we are very good friends sharing same philosophy so it is very easy for us to find the common ground and to work together.”

First upsets already shook up the Men’s Singles Event at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou. Dane Jonathan GROTH World’s no. 134 overcame Kenta MATSUDAIRA of Japan seeded no. 25. He needed seven games before he progressed to the se First upsets already shook up the Men’s Singles Event at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou. Dane Jonathan GROTH World’s no. 134 overcame Kenta MATSUDAIRA of Japan seeded no. 25. He needed seven games before he progressed to the second round. Lubomir JANCARIK of Czech Republic also upset the rankings. World’s no. 145 accounted for Bojan TOKIC no. 58 in straight games. German aces cruised first round. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV succeeded against Padasak TANVIRIYAVECHAKUL of Thailand. “It is my first match in singles for me here and I am satisfied with my play. Adversary managed to put me under little pressure at some point of the game but stay calm and everything went as we expected ” said OVTCHAROV. Timo BOLL overcame Carlos MACHADO in straight games to join Dimitroij in the second round. European duel between Emmanuel LEBESSON and Swede Mattias KARLSSON went on French player’s account whilst Grigory VLASOV of Russia beat Belgium’s Cedric NUYTINCK to justified his rankings. For Panagiotis GIONIS is was also trouble free round. He needed only four games to beat Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia. “I have only some problem with my rubbers but speaking of the game everything went fine. Unfortunately MA Lin is very close in my part of the draw so I am not very happy. Still I have good chances in doubles ” stated GIONIS. Liam PITCHFORD of England weakened Greek team. He beat Kalinikos KREANGA. Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal overcame Gaston ALTO of Argentina

The start of the competition in the main draw in Mixed Doubles  3:4 (7:11 8:11 11:9 6:11 11:7 11:8 8:11). At the central court pairings that played together again after five years break stretched adversaries from China to full distance after they recovere https://www.ettu.org The start of the competition in the main draw in Mixed Doubles  3:4 (7:11 8:11 11:9 6:11 11:7 11:8 8:11). At the central court pairings that played together again after five years break stretched adversaries from China to full distance after they recovered from 1:3 in reverse. “We were in the lead in two opening games. It could be much different if we were not forced to run after their lead. We recovered at 3:3 but we were always one ball in behind ” said KARAKASEVIC. Ruta admitted:”I did not play at the level I used to in the final game. It is so unlike me but in the finish I was not at my best. I think I was under stress. In the sixth game everything went our way. I had no problem at all against YAN. I blocked his strokes return well. Everything went smooth.” In the next round Chinese stars were also under pressure against Tomislav PUCAR and Lea RAKOVAC of Croatia. Chinese players were two games down but recovered to win the match in six games. Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania also booked the place in the third round. They prevailed against CHUANG Chih Yuan and CHENG I Ching of Taipei in six games. Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia accounted for Robert GARDOS and LIU Jia of Austria. Grigory VLASOV and Yana NOSKOVA of Russia eliminated another pairings with gold at the European Championships Andrei FILIMON and Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania  

Whilst the Dutch Women’s Team is still warming up the boys are almost finished with the challenges at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou. The team already spent some time in Asia and the expectations are relatively high speaking of Whilst the Dutch Women’s Team is still warming up the boys are almost finished with the challenges at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou. The team already spent some time in Asia and the expectations are relatively high speaking of girls. Elena TIMINA as always is also full of positive energy and expects a lot of her team. “We have been in Shanghai for a week before the start of the Championships so we are already adjusted to the changes. We worked in the University sports center in very good conditions ” stated TIMINA. In Doubles Rajko GOMMERS and Laurens TROMER successfully concluded three rounds of qualifications to book the place in the main draw whilst Ewout OOSTWOUDER with Aliaksandr KHANIN lost in the first round. “Laurens TROMER also reached the preliminary phase in Singles but failed to go further ” reported TIMINA. ”They are all not older then 20 years. In addition this is their first World Championships so things will be better after they gain some experience.  They are going in good direction working hard and they are very dedicated. Now they just need to start thinking like table tennis players they have to mature. It takes time…Simply they had to get tougher.” In Women’s team situation is bit different. “Britt EERLAND was out of game for a six months. Now it takes time for her to fully recover. She is almost fit but still have ups and downs. This month she beat Petrisa SOLJA so with Britt you never knows some days are great some are less good. At the beginning she will play against Andrea TODOROVIC of Serbia.” LI Jie is the main ace and big favorite in China. “She is in superb shape. In the past few months she never went beyond Round of 8 and only time she lost it was against the specialists for the defense players. She suffered against HIRANO twice. She is also very optimistic and announced that her aim is the place among top 16 but she will not be surprised to go even round after that.” LI Jiao was not very happy with the draw. “In the third round she will have to play against seeded no. two LIU Shiwen. She was absent for a while from the top tournaments so she has lower rankings“ In doubles LI Jie will play against LI Qian of Poland anfd they are also looking for the chance for big result.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Nepal two nights ago on Saturday 25 April 2015 the day before the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships is due to start. It was difficult for the Nepalese team competing in Suzhou on their first day of competit An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck Nepal two nights ago on Saturday 25 April 2015 the day before the Qoros 2015 World Table Tennis Championships is due to start. It was difficult for the Nepalese team competing in Suzhou on their first day of competition as they are desperate to hear from home to find out the situation back there while trying to focus on their first day of competition at the World Championships. ITTF President Mr Thomas WEIKERT spoke with members of the Nepalese team in the morning to send his condolences after the players played their first match of the day. Mr WEIKERT shared:  ”It’s really a tragic situation I spoke with the Nepalese girls competing here today to send my condolences. I saw the pictures on television and it was really devastating. Of course the ITTF family have our hearts with the Nepalese table tennis players and the whole nation as well. We will look into this and see how ITTF can help them. Nepal is not a very rich country and does not have much equipment and resources we will definitely see how we can support them.” After losing her first Women’s Doubles match in the qualification stage with teammate Nabita SHRESTHA Nepal’s Elina MAHARJAN broke into tears “It’s hard to play I just pray that everyone is safe. Some people I know are hurt and some friends are dead. It’s very painful.” 23-year-old SHRESTHA added “It affected me of course because now there are 72 hours of critical condition. There could be another earthquake strike at any time and my parents and my family are staying (outside in a tent) so it is quite difficult. My old house got destructed but thank God nobody was sitting around there.” Chair of the ITTF Athletes’ Commission Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR) sent a message on behalf of all the world’s table tennis players: “I heard that one of the Nepalese team member back home lost some of his family members to the disaster and we understand how devastating this whole situation is to him the team and their country. On behalf of all the players competing here in Suzhou and table tennis players all around the world I would like to show our support and send them our condolences.”

Two weeks before the start of the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou Bojan TOKIC of Slovenia experienced strong burst of self-confidence.  He beat Timo BOLL in the first leg of the Bundesliga play off semi final to open the doors of th Two weeks before the start of the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships in Suzhou Bojan TOKIC of Slovenia experienced strong burst of self-confidence.  He beat Timo BOLL in the first leg of the Bundesliga play off semi final to open the doors of the final for Saarbrucken. In remarkable come back Dusseldorf recovered in second leg and booked the place in the ultimate stage. However TOKIC was not unhappy. “It has been a while since I beat a player from Top 10. It will mean a lot for me here in China. It seams that all things in my game fit together ” stated TOKIC. “No one could believe Borussia could made such comeback but it happened.” In Doubles TOKIC is playing with Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC of Serbia. Pairings that won two European bronze after the long pause due the KARAKASEVIC’s injury are force to start from the very beginning – on the first day of the qualifications. They overcame Kazakhstan’s Timur KELBUGANOV and Dias SARSEMBAYEV is straight games. “It is to early to talk about our shape but for sure it seams that the pause made the mark. We are still struggling to find the rhythm together ” stated TOKIC. Slovenia has more representatives in Doubles Jan ZIBRAT and Darko JORGIC successfully conclude Round of 64 in preliminary phase. In the Women’s singles qualifications Natalya SLADKOVA of Kazakhstan was the one of two players in charge for the upsets on the first day of the competition. After seven games World’s n. 187 beat Katsiaryna BARAVOK of Belarus currently ranked at the position no. 110. Catia MARTINS of Portugal who occupies position no. 195 beat World’s no. 124 Simay KULAKCEKEN in six games. “I played good and I managed to stay on good path even when she improved her game. I played for a first time against Simay and I am very happy with the result ” said 20 years old Catia. In second round MARTINS lost against Angela GUAN of USA whilst top seeded in Group 30 KULAKCEKEN continued to struggle. Turkey’s player lost against Olga KIM from Uzbekistan. Filip ZELJKO of Croatia suffered by the hands of Zokhid KENJAEV of Uzbekistan to join Timothy

Jean-Michel SAIVE of Belgium plays at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships his 24th World Championships in Suzhou. His first was back in 1983 as a 13 year old. Now 32 years later he is still in good shape hungry for game. “I still love to pl Jean-Michel SAIVE of Belgium plays at the QOROS 2015 World Table Tennis Championships his 24th World Championships in Suzhou. His first was back in 1983 as a 13 year old. Now 32 years later he is still in good shape hungry for game. “I still love to play this game and I love to compete. And I do not want to add some 20 kilos extra…Maybe plus two but not 20 ” add SAIVE laughing. “I am tying to have practice every day but I guess the average is five time per week. It is three days reserved for sport and the others for running biking or fitness.” The player of Logis Auderghem the member of ETTU Cup still waits for his first adversary in Suzhou. “With my rankings it could be someone from positions from one to 64…If we talk about my chances against MA Long here and someone from lower places it is not the same story. I just have to be patient and wait to see the draw before I talk about the expectations.” SAIVE is currently ranked at the position no. 130. He will have unique role this summer. SAIVE is qualified for the first European Games to be held in Baku in June and Jean Michel who is also a member of the International Table Tennis Federation Athletes Committee is the President of the European Olympic Athletes Commission. “I will be all over the Baku this summer. It is going to be strange to be in the suite one day then to attend the Opening ceremony and then to change for the jersey and play on the field. But I will certainly enjoy the moment” said the player who has competed in every Olympic Games since table tennis was introduced in 1988. In Belgium’s team are also Cedric NUYTINCK and Robin DEVOS. “We have young players among top 200. It is good position for making plans for future since they are 19 21 years old. If we talk about Europe’s average for top players which is above 30 it give us good chance after the generation of SAMSONOV BOLL and then OVTCHAROV and FREITAS leaves. Of course there is a long way and they are certainly under pressure of the past Belgium’s results but we have to start to create a new team.”