Irene IVANCAN two times runner-up of German National Championships (2004 2009) considers as one of the world`s best defensive player. Her best accomplishment was the silver medal at the 2011 European Championships in Gdansk-Sopot where she lost from LI Irene IVANCAN two times runner-up of German National Championships (2004 2009) considers as one of the world`s best defensive player. Her best accomplishment was the silver medal at the 2011 European Championships in Gdansk-Sopot where she lost from LI Jiao after seven exciting games. She debuted on Europe Top 12 playing in Villeurbanne 2012 reaching 5th spot. The 2014 was very successful for her bearing in mind that she won three titles with Berlin Eastside: German League German Cup and WECL; and also took the gold with German National Team at 2014 European Championships in Lisbon. She currently plays for Turkish champion Fenerbahce. In youth level she also was successful winning German Junior Championships in 2002. Once again she is at the list of the participants at the forthcoming 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku. “I am very happy to be among the participants. I thought only two players from one country are chosen to compete. Therefore I did not really have an extra physical preparation ” said IVANCAN. Irene admitted she had shaky period. “At the end of the year I was competing in Russia and in Sweden with deficient results and performances. Hence my expectations to achieve something big in Baku are not my prior goal but to gain back my self confidence during each game and to focus on every point – I am really looking forward.” Asked about the favorites for the title Ivancan offered long list… “Lets begin with the German team my teammates are always among the strongest. All three WU Jiaoduo Petrissa SOLJA and Christin SILBEREISEN showed strong permanencies in the last couple of month and during weekly training sessions. More over there is Georgina POTA climbing up the World Rankings in speed mode LIU Jia as well as Elizabeta SAMARA with a lot of high level matches fought in their career.” As a main goal for this season Irene highlighted just one. “I want to win European Champions League of course.”
POLCANOVA and Amelie SOLJA win doubles in Budapest
Hong Kong’s JIANG Tianyi won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open in Budapest; Japan’s Misako WAKAMIYA secured the title in the Women’s Singles Event. Occupying the second seeded position in the draw JIANG Tianyi bea Hong Kong’s JIANG Tianyi won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open in Budapest; Japan’s Misako WAKAMIYA secured the title in the Women’s Singles Event. Occupying the second seeded position in the draw JIANG Tianyi beat Korea’s JEONG Sangeun the third seed to clinch the title. Jiang Tianyi won in seven games (11-4 11-9 11-3 10-12 5-11 10-12 11-3). It is only the second time since making his debut a decade ago at the Liebherr German Open in Magdeburg in November 2005 that he has won an ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles title Japan’s Misako WAKAMIYA against the odds occupying the no.13 seeded position in the draw and currently listed at no.44 on the Women’s World Rankings she accounted for Hong Kong’s LEE Ho Ching the no.3 seed and named at no.20 in the global order. Misako WAKAMIYA won in six games (12-10 11-9 8-11 11-8 10-12 16-14) to add to earlier ITTF World Tour success. Korea’s JEONG Sangeun and LEE Sangsu won the Men’s Doubles title. Occupying the seventh seeded position in the draw they upset the order of merit by overcoming the fourth seeded Russian partnership of Viachaslev BUROV and Alexey LIVENTSOV. They recovered from an opening game reverse to post a four games success (8-11 13-11 11-6 11-8). In the Women’s Doubles the sixth seeds Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA and Amelie SOLJA won title. At the final hurdle they accounted for the Hong Kong partnership of JIANG Huajun and LI Ching Wan recording a four games success (5-11 11-9 11-8 11-9). It is for the Austrian partnership totally new heights; the combination of the left handed top spin play of Sofia POLCANOVA in harness with the close to the table blocking skills of Amelie SOLJA reaping rewards.
Hungary Open: Daniel GORAK in semis
Poland’s Daniel GORAK will play in the semi final of the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open in Budapest. In the quarterfinal he overcame KOU Lei of Ukraine in straight games. CHEN Chien-An of Taipei will also play in the semis. Player from Taipe Poland’s Daniel GORAK will play in the semi final of the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open in Budapest. In the quarterfinal he overcame KOU Lei of Ukraine in straight games. CHEN Chien-An of Taipei will also play in the semis. Player from Taipei overcame Joao GERALDO of Portugal on his way to semis. However Portugal’s teenager did not go without the fight. He stretched CHEN to full distance after he caused the biggest upset in the third round. The 19 year old beat Austria’s Stefan FEGERL the no.8 seed in five games. Tomorrow JEONG Sangeun of Korea will try to stop CHEN. GORAK will meet JIANG Tianyi of Hong Kong. JIANG beat Japan’s Kenji MATSUDAIRA. In Women’s singles event Misako WAKAMIYA of Japan will meet her compatriot Yuka ISHIGAKI. Misako beat LIU Jia of Austria in quarters whilst Yuka overcame Petrissa SOLJA of Germany. After victory over YU Fu of Portugal Hong Kong’s LEE Ho Ching will meet Sayaka HIRANO. Japan’s player overcame LI Jie of Netherlands.
Amelie SOLJA vs. Petrissa SOLJA in Round of 16
At the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open England’s 19 year old Samuel WALKER shined today. He caused the biggest upset in the first round of the Men’s Singles Event by beating Kalinikos KREANGA of Greece player who occupying the no.15 se At the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open England’s 19 year old Samuel WALKER shined today. He caused the biggest upset in the first round of the Men’s Singles Event by beating Kalinikos KREANGA of Greece player who occupying the no.15 seeded position in the draw. However his glory lasted shortly. In the second round Antoine HACHARD of France halted his progress to the Round of 16. Benjamin BROSSIER of France ousted Russia’s Grigory VLASOV the no.4 seed; whilst Poland’s Pawel FERTIKOWSKI accounted for Korea’s LEE Sangsu the no.9 seed .Russia’s Fedor KUZMIN who succeeded in 2005 was beaten by Romania’s Ovidiu IONESCU the no.32 seed in the closest match of the round. All three of them moved one step further in the afternoon. IONESCU beat WONG Chun Ting of Hong Kong FERTIKOWSKI recorded victory over Lubomir JANCARIK of Czech Republic and BROSSIER succeeded against Adam PATTANTYUS of Hungary. Previously Serbia’s Aleksandar KARAKASEVIC the no.23 seed was beaten by Antoine HACHARD of France; Italy’s Niagol STOYANOV the no.20 seed experienced defeat at the hands of the Czech Republic’s Lubomir JANCARIK. Runner up one year ago when the tournament was staged in Szombathely the host nation’s Georgina POTA suffered defeat in the second round of the Women’s Singles event. Occupying the no.4 seeded position in the draw the Hungarian who later in the year won in Belgium was beaten by Austria’s Amelie SOLJA. In the Round of 16 Amelie will play against her sister Petrissa. Petrissa beat Camelia POSTOACA of Romania in the second round. Barbora BALAZOVA who had been required to negotiate the qualification stage beat Hong Kong’s DOO Hoi Kem the no.6 seed. Only 14 years old but occupying the no.15 seeded position in the draw; Japan’s Mima ITO was beaten by Russia’s Yana NOSKOVA the no.29 seed and. Austria’s LIU Jia the defending champion and top seed accounted for Poland’s Natalia PARTYKA the no.23 seed. LI Jie of the Netherlands the no.8 seed ended the hopes of Singaporean qualifier Isabelle Siyun Li.
Andrej GACINA knows how to beat the best
Andrej GACINA recorded just one defeat in the whole of the TMS 2014 European Team Championships in Lisbon last year in Portugal; it happened against Germany’s Timo BOLL. The 28 year old who guided Croatia to a bronze medal in the Portuguese capital city Andrej GACINA recorded just one defeat in the whole of the TMS 2014 European Team Championships in Lisbon last year in Portugal; it happened against Germany’s Timo BOLL. The 28 year old who guided Croatia to a bronze medal in the Portuguese capital city will have a chance to avenge his defeat very soon at the 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku (from 6th to 8th February). The member of the Bundesliga’s Zugbrücke Grenzau is unsure about his current shape since he was not focused on tournaments in past few weeks. “Speaking about my competitive shape I am not sure… In last two and half weeks after New Year’s holidays I was only practicing. I am building my form for three very important matches in Bundesliga as well as tournaments in February. I hope I will be ready in the right moment for matches and stay fit for Top 16 in Baku and forthcoming ITTF Events in Kuwait and Qatar ” announced GACINA. At the NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku will play Dimitrij OVTCHAROV Timo BOLL Marcos FREITAS Vladimir SAMSONOV Tiago APOLONIA Panagiotis GIONIS Robert GARDOS Bastian STEGER Steffen MENGEL Kristian KARLSSON Simon GAUZY Adrien MATTENET Joao MONTEIRO Par GERELL and Fahrad ISMAYILOV as a host nation representative. GACINA is seeded no. seven. “The competition is fierce. Top four players are the main favorites for the title but with such names at the list it is hard to give any predictions. “ What about your chances? “I do not have particular goals. I just want to give my best in each match and I hope I will be in the best shape for the Tournament. I can play against each player in Baku; there is no player I have not beaten before. The exception is OVTCHAROV but I have not played against Dima in last six years. Recently I lost against GIONIS and BOLL.” GACINA wants to put more stability in his game this season. “My goal is to reach top 15 by the end of the year.” said World’s no. 26.
Margaryta PESOTSKA shaping up for Baku
Margaryta PESOTSKA silver medalists from the 2009 European Championships in Stuttgart at age of 18 and bronze medalists from the European Championships in Gdansk-Sopot is seeded no. 12 at the forthcoming 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Margaryta PESOTSKA silver medalists from the 2009 European Championships in Stuttgart at age of 18 and bronze medalists from the European Championships in Gdansk-Sopot is seeded no. 12 at the forthcoming 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku. PESOTSKA is very cautious regarding her current shape “It is difficult for me to comment my current shape. I had problems with knee. In past two months I missed competitions. Now I am working very hard to regain my strength and to come back. I am practice hard and I hope to be ready for Top 16 ” stated PESOTSKA who was only 16 years old when she secured the ticket for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Margaryta play for club Rodina from city of Arhangelsk. “My next competition is in Russia. I will play in national league and then I will directly fly to Baku. Currently we are placed at position no. three at the standings but there is a long way to go before play off.” What do you think about adversaries in Baku? “Everyone play very good and the level is very high. I think each of us will fight and try to win there will be no easy matches. Every girl in Baku can win the title. It is very specific competition ” said Margarita who will play at TOP 16 for a second time. ”I was not playing for two months so I have not met any of them except HU Melek so I can not comment their shape. I played against HU in Russia’s League and lost 1:3.”
Table Tennis England funding is restored
Table Tennis England has been removed from restricted funding by Sport England securing finance to develop and run the sport for the next two years. It means Table Tennis England will now deliver an exciting range of initiatives to better serve existing Table Tennis England has been removed from restricted funding by Sport England securing finance to develop and run the sport for the next two years. It means Table Tennis England will now deliver an exciting range of initiatives to better serve existing members and attract new players to the sport. This represents a huge vote of confidence in the leadership of Table Tennis England following the organisation’s root and branch reform over the past two years. The restructuring was set in motion in December 2012 when the then English Table Tennis Association was placed on a one-year restricted funding arrangement by Sport England following concerns over its ability to lead and influence the sport. The election of the late Andy SEWARD as Chairman in 2013 together with a new Board and the appointment of a new Chief Executive Sara SUTCLIFFE and a new senior management team started the drive for change. Following the unexpected passing of Andy SEWARD Sandra DEATON was elected Chair in March 2014 and continued to lead the transformation of the association including the move from its former headquarters in Hastings to Milton KEYNES. Now rebranded as Table Tennis England the organisation has demonstrated good progress and secured a longer-term investment. Table Tennis England will now be offered a two-year investment award up to March 2017 – the end of Sport England’s current grassroots sport investment cycle. The exact value of Sport England’s investment will be decided in March 2015 following a detailed analysis of the performance of the sport in the latest national participation results which were also published today. Welcoming the news Chief Executive Sara SUTCLIFFE said: “Today’s news is the result of a lot of hard work by the Chair the Board many volunteers and the staff of Table Tennis England to bring about some fundamental changes to how the association operates. “Changes are not always easy but in this case our major partner and key funder Sport England was right to put pressure on us to change. Importantly this vote of confidence from Sport England in the leadership of Table Tennis England allows us now to focus on driving delivery of the programmes to support our members and players and to attract and retain more players to our sport and develop our talented players.” Sandra DEATON Chair added: “This announcement is testament to the dedication of all the staff in identifying the initiatives needed to move forward to increase participation and support our members through club and league development. Sport England have demonstrated a renewed level of confidence in our ability to truly understand how to increase participation and deliver results. Table tennis was one of six sports alongside tennis swimming basketball fencing and squash & racketball to be placed on one-year restricted funding in December 2012 when other sports were given funding for the whole four-year cycle. The one-year funding was renewed for all six last year and today table tennis has been restored to the normal cycle of Sport England funding as have tennis and fencing. Highlighting the fact that Table Tennis England now demonstrates a better understanding of the people that play the sport and has improved its programme for talented athletes Sport England Chairman Nick BITEL added: “Placing these sports in one-year funding arrangements in 2013 and then keeping them there in 2014 sent a clear message to governing bodies about Sport England’s intentions to secure improvements for grassroots sport. The response we’ve seen has been positive and demonstrates the importance on which sports place the participation agenda. I welcome the fact that these sports have made progress in particular tennis table tennis and fencing which are all in a better place to begin increasing participation across their sports. Our next step will be to analyse each sport’s performance using the latest Active People Survey figures to decide what level of investment is justified.” The Active People Survey shows the number of regular participants in the sport is 96 200 a reduction on the previous 12-month period. However with exciting initiatives new in the pipeline and the renewed confidence of Sport England Table Tennis England fully expects that figure to climb.
Katerina TOMANOVSKA showed no fear
Leading players in the qualifications of the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open in Budapest secured top positions in their respective groups. Latvia’s Matiss BURGIS Ukraine’s Oleksandr DIDUKH and Pavel PLATONOV of Belarus Serbia’s Marko JEVTOVI Leading players in the qualifications of the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Hungary Open in Budapest secured top positions in their respective groups. Latvia’s Matiss BURGIS Ukraine’s Oleksandr DIDUKH and Pavel PLATONOV of Belarus Serbia’s Marko JEVTOVIC Quentin ROBINOT of France and Denmark’s Kasper STERNBERG all emerged victorious. Only STERNBERG was forced to go through seven games duel against host nation’s Daniel KRISTON whilst the others had much easier path. Nikita YARUSHIN of Russia upset the favorite. Listed at no.122 on the current Men’s World Rankings Lubomir JANCARIK was beaten by YARUSHIN listed at no.423; whilst Jakub DYJAS was beaten by Spain’s Alejandro Calvo. Jakub DYJAS is named at no.130 on the Men’s World Rankings Alejandro CALVO is at no.396. In Women’s Singles qualifications top player on duty Carole GRUNDISH of France secured top position in her Group with two victories. It was the same with Petra LOVAS of Hungary Maria DOLGIKH of Russia. Czech Republic’s Katerina TOMANOVSKA was the player to cause the most notable surprises. She beat Japan’s Haruka SAKAI in seven games. She also beat manca FAJMUT of Slovenia. Currently Katerina TOMANOVSKA is named at no.302 on the Women’s World Rankings as opposed to Manca FAJMUT who stands at no.271 and Haruka SAKAI at no.102.
Baku 2015 a place and a year…
2015: another year ahead of us. And how the year is starting! Apart from the ongoing club competitions and the many challenges we are meeting in that area we are starting with the NN Table Tennis Club ITTF Europe Top-16 Cup in Baku (AZE) on February 6-8t 2015: another year ahead of us. And how the year is starting! Apart from the ongoing club competitions and the many challenges we are meeting in that area we are starting with the NN Table Tennis Club ITTF Europe Top-16 Cup in Baku (AZE) on February 6-8th. For the first time in history the Azerbaijan Table Tennis Federation (ASTF) is organising one of our most prestigious events. Baku will also be hosting the first ever European Games in June with table tennis prominent on its programme. When we started preparations for the Top-16 the event would be used as a testing event for the European Games being played in the same venue and most of the conditions would be comparable to those that will prevail in June 2015. It also meant that three partners would have to work closely together: the ASTF with a new board BEGOC the local organising committee and ETTU. Realising that “two is company and three is a crowd” we had very little time to develop an adequate preparation of the event with the ‘last minute’ change of the venue as an upsetting element. ASTF its President Vice-President and its newly elected Secretary General did an enormous job in the months behind us. Their eagerness to really learn what it means to organise a major table tennis in their country deserves more than our respect. A compliment should also be made to BEGOC: of course we had discussions with them and will continue to do so but always in a good atmosphere of trust shared ambition and optimism. One of Europe’s greatest virtues is its diversity in many respects. Respecting this diversity we will have to continue learning from each other’s successes and failures in all aspects of our sport. And I feel proud to say that we have all learned a lot in preparing for the 2015 NN Table Tennis ITTF-Europe Top-16 Cup and with all ETTU members I am very much looking forward to the result of our cooperation in Baku! Kindest regards Ronald KRAMER
Adrien MATTENET sets his goals high
A year ago in Lausanne Adrien MATTENET reached the penultimate stage of the DHS Europe Cup. Once again he received the invitation for the Europe’s prestigious event. He will play at the 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku. French player A year ago in Lausanne Adrien MATTENET reached the penultimate stage of the DHS Europe Cup. Once again he received the invitation for the Europe’s prestigious event. He will play at the 2015 NN Table Tennis Club ITTF – Europe Top 16 in Baku. French player is seeded at position no. 13. MATTENET has mixed feelings about his current performance. “I am not very happy with my performance in 1. FC Saarbruecken TT. I am not playing well. I still have to reach my best level to be able to win most important matches. However I did not lost my self-confidence because I played well at the World Cup ” stated Adrien. The experience from Laussane will be valuable. “I hope I will play well in Baku as I did last year. I had some preparation for the event but it is very difficult to organize hard practice since the season is in full swing ” said MATTENET. Next goal is is World Championships. “I have three months to prepare for the Event. It is important to achieve good result a year before Olympic Games.” After World Championships in 2011 Adrien put his name at the list of players who booked the place for the Games in London 2012.
