After the successful April’s premiere of the Europe Youth Series event in Osijek Croatia we are eagerly anticipating the second event in Serbia. The EYS Serbia Open will take place in Dimitrovgrad from September 20th to 24th. Entries are now closed and we have a total of 88 players representing 15 different Associations: Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Montenegro Denmark Ireland North Macedonia Romania Serbia England Switzerland Hungary Slovakia Luxembourg Austria and Germany. The minimum number of matches per player participating in both team and individual events will be as follows: Under 13 Boys Singles: 26 matches Under 13 Girls Singles: 23 matches Under 15 Boys Singles: 17 matches Under 15 Girls Singles: 21 matches Unlike the first tournament there will be no Mixed Team event in Serbia. The listed events include Boys’ and Girls’ Singles and Mixed Doubles events in the Under 15 and Under 13 categories for all three events. Next in line is the EYS Czechia Open in Plzen which will run from October 11th to 15th with the entry deadline set for September 11th. Additionally there is the EYS Greece Open in Loutraki scheduled for October 25th to 29th with the entry deadline on September 25th. In Plzen there will be separate Boys’ and Girls’ Teams events while in Loutraki Mixed Teams will be competing.
In August ETTU successfully organised 5 growth-focused events
August has been a lively month for ETTU with 5 growth-focused events organised in different spots of the continent. The month began with the Eurotalents selection camp held in Kiskunfélegyháza Hungary (4th to 11th August) followed by the National Association Assistance Program (NAAP) activity that took place in Andorra (14th to 19th August). Mid-August witnessed another NAAP activity a youth development camp in Kosovo where 14 promising players improved their skills under the guidance of Vesna OJTERSEK from the 16th to the 20th of August. One of the highlights of the month was the Eurotalents U-13 camp hosted in Strasbourg France. Here 18 boys and 17 girls under the age of 13 from sixteen different countries gathered under the guidance of the Coaches Stephane HUCLIEZ Nicolas METAIREAU Rémi BETELU and a dedicated team of 19 coaches provided guidance and training. This camp was held in conjunction with the EuroMiniChamps in Schiltigheim which drew more than 400 players. Wrapping up the month was the U15/U17 training camp in Luxembourg. This initiative allowed European young players to train alongside their counterparts from the China Table Tennis College. Under the expert guidance of Heinz THEWS Peter ENGEL CHENG Xia ZHANG Yining YAN Sen and ZHENG Chaoying this camp not only provided skill development but also a platform for cross-cultural exchange. Looking ahead our development program’s next stop is the Annual Coaching Conference in Malmö scheduled from September 14th to 16th.
148 participants enjoyed the webinar for Players coaches and match officials
September 2023 will be an important month for table tennis in Europe. Between 10th and 17th the European Teams Table Tennis Championships will take place in Malmö Sweden. One week earlier the 2023 ITTF European Para Table Tennis Championships in Sheffield will see the best Para table tennis players from Europe. The ETTU Umpires and Referee Committee to host a webinar to share information and best practices for players coaches and match officials to be well prepared for these events. Pedro MOURA Acting President of ETTU opened the webinar and welcomed 148 participants. Using presentations and discussions with the head of Para table tennis Alessandro ARCIGLI and the head of the Coaches committee Jarek KOLODZIEJCZYK some of the best match officials in Europe shared their experiences and recommendations. The experts from ETTU URC side presented following topics: Petr BOHUMSKY (Advanced Referee): Call area Referee work Ingrid BOGREN (Gold Badge Umpire): Para call area and para details Anja GERSDORF (Gold Badge Umpire): Match conduct Mark BECKMANN (Gold Badge Umpire): Misbehaviour and Coaching Roman KLECKER (Gold Badge Umpire): Service rules Asko RASINEN and Pol PIERRET prepared the webinar in an exciting manner and the webinar has been recorded and can be used to prepare yourself for the next events. You can see the ETTU URC WEBINAR FOR PLAYERS COACHES AND MATCH OFFICIALS here
After First-Ever WTT Title LIND Awaits Malmö with Confidence
Bronze medalists from Cluj 2021 the Danish team will be participating at the STUPA European Championships in Malmö from September 10th to 17th. Two years ago in an epic battle against England that lasted 3 hours and 50 minutes Jonathan GROTH Anders LIND and Tobias RASMUSSEN defeated England in the quarterfinals to secure a place on the medal podium before ultimately losing to Germany in the semifinals. LIND who played some of the best table tennis in his career made a remarkable comeback from a severe car accident and a painful recovery after surgery. This autumn Team Denmark consists of GROTH Lind RASMUSSEN as well as Martin ANDERSEN and Thor CHRISTENSEN. Just last week Lind clinched his first-ever WTT title at Feeder in Olomouc Czechia. “My performance in Olomouc was excellent. I managed to find a high level of focus that helped me win many matches in the row. Also I felt like my body was in good condition allowing me to overcome a series of tough opponents ” said Lind who defeated China’s XUE Fei in the final and Joao GERALDO of Portugal in the semis. Does it seem like the perfect ‘warm-up’ for Malmö? “Yes it is perfect for Malmö; both my teammates and I are in very good shape and I believe we can achieve great results in Sweden.” Starting today LIND will play at the Bulgaria Open at the WTT Feeder Panagyurishte before the team gathers for training. “We will have a camp in Denmark in the week leading up to the European Championships. Right now I can confidently say that GROTH is in amazing shape the best he’s been in years! It’s truly awesome to see him play now. I had the pleasure of coaching him in South America and he was on fire!” Slovenia featuring European no. 1 Darko JORGIC and Türkiye are in the same group as Denmark. “Slovenia is a super-strong team with one of Europe’s best players as their number 1. Beating JORGIC will be very challenging. However I believe we will have a great chance against them if we maintain discipline in our other matches. We aim to win the medal again for sure.”
Norway Men’s Team One of the Youngest at the Stupa European Championships
It came as a surprise when the youthful Norwegian team secured a spot in the final stage of the Stupa European Championships. In the men’s competition in Malmö the young Norwegian squad drew England and Romania as their opponents. This achievement also resurrected memories of a significant upset marking the best performance ever by the Norwegian team in the non-para category. In 1984 a young Norwegian team defeated England at the Moscow European Championship. Just the year before England had reached the semi-finals in the World Championship team competition. Nevertheless the young Norwegian trio of Erik RASMUSSEN Tom JOHANSEN and Geirr GUSTAVSEN triumphed over the renowned English players Desmond DOUGLAS Carl PREAN and Alan COOKE with a score of 5-2. Once again Norway is starting with a young team and once again they will face England. Can the Norwegians cause another upset? “The players are here to learn and gain experience ” says the Norwegian coach the former Swedish National coach Ulf “Tickan” CARLSSON. “They have never participated in the European Teams Championships before so it will be challenging it will be demanding but they are highly dedicated players ” continues the Swede who himself has achieved table tennis honors that most players can only dream of. The coach has selected Borgar HAUG (20 years old) Alexander Klerck FRANSSON (20) Khai Noah LAM (16) and Martin FROSETH (17) to represent Norway in Malmo. This is undoubtedly the youngest team at the Stupa European Championships. HAUG plays for Borussia Düsseldorf FROSETH competes for Halmstad in Sweden LAM will begin playing in Eskilstuna and FRANSSON plays in Norway. Mr. CARLSSON the Norwegian coach guarantees that they will give their all to succeed in Malmö.
Euro Mini Champ’s: Lisa Zhao shines in Schiltigheim
The 17th edition of Euro Mini Champ’s took place this past weekend in Schiltigheim Alsace. This competition brings together the best under 11s (U11) and under 13s (U13) every year. In the U11 Boys’ category the winner is Alexandru POP from Romania who defeated Alexander MALOV from Spain 3-0 in the final. In the U11 Girls’ category the competition concluded with an all-French final where Lisa ZHAO emerged victorious against Albane ROCHUT. In the U13 Girls’ category Japan’s Miku MATSUSHIMA and Umi NAKADA claimed the first and second positions. In the U13 Boys’ category the Japanese players Ukyo KOBAYASHI and Soma ONO secured the top two spots. Overall 400 players from 31 countries gathered at the Nelson Mandela Sports Center in Schiltigheim from August 25th to 27th 2023. More details here
Timo BOLL lead the German team at the European Championships
Germany’s teams for the 41st Team European Championships in Malmö (September 10th to 17th) have been finalized. The five-member German Table Tennis Federation (DTTB) teams for men and women led by Timo BOLL and Benedikt DUDA as well as Ying HAN and Nina MITTELHAM are set to compete in Sweden with high hopes following their victories in 2021 in Cluj-Napoca Romania. In Malmö the women’s team includes world ranking tenth Ying HAN (Tarnobrezg) European Championship runner-up Nina MITTELHAM (Berlin) European Championship semi-finalist Xiaona SHAN (Berlin) 17-year-old German Championships runner-up Annett KAUFMANN (Böblingen) and European Championship bronze medalists Sabine WINTER (Dachau). The men’s team consists of the former top-ranked player in the world Timo BOLL (Düsseldorf) who has returned to the rankings at position 65 after a long injury break Benedikt DUDA (Bergneustadt) who played key roles in the team’s successes in 2021 and 2022 and Ricardo WALTHER (Grünwettersbach). The fourth and fifth positions go to debutant Cedric MEISSNER (Saarbrücken) and Kay STUMPER (Düsseldorf) who earned their spots in the European Championships through an internal selection tournament surpassing Fanbo MENG (Fulda). Defensive strategist Ruwen FILUS ranked 24th in the world was not an option for this European Championship due to personal reasons and Kilian ORT (Bad Königshofen) is still recovering from an injury and has training deficits. DTTB Sports Director Richard PRAUSE along with national team coaches Jörg ROSSKOPF (men) and Tamara BOROS (women) explained “The continental championships along with the already-held European Games and the Team World Championships in South Korea at the end of February are among the top three events on the road to our absolute season highlight the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Our nominations aim to get our teams in top form for Paris. For the women who haven’t played any tournaments since the European Games the European Championships are part of the competition phase so the team is competing in Malmö with its strongest lineup. For the men on the other hand we have a different approach: we want to provide a longer training period for Dang QIU Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Patrick FRANZISKA with an eye on Paris which includes the period of the European Championships given the limited available dates.” Regarding their chances in Malmö the Sports Director said “The situation for the men is similar to the 2021 European Championships and the 2022 World Championships. We have a very strong team that can compete for medals in Malmö. We saw at the Team World Championships how a German team can perform in a tournament but the strong nations are all very closely matched. Especially host Sweden France and Portugal are formidable competitors. In the women’s event I hope that our team will compete for the title likely alongside their perennial rivals Romania.”
Portugal’s Team Gears Up for STUPA 2023 European Championships
Bronze medalists from Cluj 2021 Team Portugal will be participating in the STUPA 2023 European Table Tennis Championships to be held in Malmö Sweden from September 10th to 17th 2023. The team consists of YU Fu SHAO Jieni Ines MATOS and Matilde PINTO. The team is in full preparation mode for the upcoming challenges. “Currently Matilde PINTO and I are training at the Mirandela center and we will not be participating in any competitions before Malmö. YU and SHAO are training in China and before the European Championships they will compete in the WTT tournament in Almaty ” clarified Ines MATOS. Did you have or are you planning to have some preparation together? “We still do not have information but it’s normal to come together some time before the big matches in our High-Performance Center to prepare ourselves in the best way for the Championships.” How is your current shape? “I am training to the best of my ability to help my team achieve a good result. I won’t say that I am in my best shape because I was on vacation but I am training extensively to be in top form hoping that when I arrive to play in the Championships the training will reflect in the results.” In the first stage Portugal is placed in Group D with Serbia and Bulgaria. “It’s always a challenging test and usually doesn’t allow for failures or mistakes. So from the first group game to the last we will have to perform at our best to ensure that we can advance to the next stage.” MATOS put the adversaries on “scanner”. “Regarding Serbia if I remember correctly we played against them in the Mediterranean Games and we won 3-1. However the match system is different from the European Championships and YU wasn’t there. Of course we know it’s a strong team with good players and we must give our best to win. About Bulgaria to be honest I don’t know much about the senior players but I know that if someone plays who is close to my age and has played in the European Youth Championships the girls play well. So I believe we have to approach all the matches with the same mindset because they are all important. Giving our best is the most crucial thing and sticking together as a team.” In Cluj the team won bronze. What is the goal now? “We set our goals as a result of our daily work. We enter competitions to be at our best for the sake of our country. If we can match last year’s result that’s good but if we can do better it would be excellent.” The place at the Olympic Games in Paris is also at stake in Malmo. How do you look at that? “The Olympic Games are always the ultimate aspiration for all table tennis athletes. However once again we must focus on viewing the Olympic Games as a consequence of a series of good results that we have to achieve throughout the year. So we will only think about the Olympic Games when we deserve to participate in them ” stated Ines MATOS.
2025 ITTF World Youth Championships in Romania
Bahrain and Romania were bidding to host the ITTF World Youth Championships 2025. During the ITTF Summit the quality of the bids presented by these two nations impressed the ITTF Council leading to a remarkable decision that exemplified the Council’s confidence in both candidates. This resulted in a unique outcome – a double attribution for both the years 2025 and 2026 – a testament to the dedication and capabilities of both nations. The Council’s decision was ratified during the AGM solidifying Manama Bahrain as the host for the ITTF World Youth Championships 2026. The decision to award both Bahrain and Romania with the opportunity to host these prestigious championships is not only a testament to the growing youth engagement in table tennis but also a reflection of our commitment to fostering the development of young talents on a global stage.
The World Team Table Tennis Championships is coming to London
London has been awarded the right to host the 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships – exactly 100 years after the event was first held in our capital in 1926. The International Table Tennis Federation’s flagship event returns to the city of its birth to celebrate the centenary tournament in 2026. London will host the World Team Table Tennis Championships exactly 100 years after the city staged the first World Championships – alongside the foundation of the ITTF – in 1926. The competition will be held at the OVO Arena Wembley in May 2026 with practice facilities at Wembley Stadium. It will be the first time England has hosted the Worlds since 1997 and the first time since 1954 that the championships has been held in London. Delegates at the ITTF’s Annual Meeting voted for London to host the event ahead of fellow bid city Bangkok. CEO of Table Tennis England Adrian CHRISTY said: “This is the most fantastic news we could have wished for. The global table tennis family has put its faith in Table Tennis England to deliver a memorable championships in London and I can promise that is exactly what we will do. To bring the centenary World Championships back to the city where it all began is a huge honour and a massive boost for the sport in this country. “It’s been a monumental team effort to get us this far and we are hugely grateful for the support of the Mayor of London UK Sport our venue partners at OVO Arena Wembley and Wembley Stadium our consultant partner Onside and the team at Table Tennis England. “But the hard work begins now and we can’t wait to get started on delivering the greatest table tennis show on earth alongside the exciting impact projects we have planned.” The AGM vote followed a final presentation to delegates by each bid city. Both London and Bangkok had previously submitted detailed technical information about how they would stage the championships. As well as the aim to bring the centenary championships back to Where It All Began London’s bid was based on being the most environmentally sustainable championships to date. The competition venue and warm-up facilities will be the iconic OVO Arena Wembley while the world-famous Wembley Stadium will provide the practice facilities for the best players in the world in the Great Hall. Both facilities are within as little as 20 metres from the main Championship hotel and no more than 600 metres from all other hotels. With the centre of London less than 20 minutes away on the Underground the whole event is based on public transport and the ease of accessibility from the moment athletes and other delegates arrive at Wembley. CHRISTY added: “Sports organisations have a key role to play in reducing the environmental impact on the staging of major international events and we hope our ‘footprint’ of the event resonated with the ITTF delegates’ deliberations.” Sadiq KHAN Mayor of London said: “I am proud that London is hosting the 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships. Bringing the centenary tournament back to our great city where it began is a fantastic boost for both local sport and the economy and it will also be the most environmentally sustainable championships to date. “London is the sporting capital of the world from grassroots to the elite level and I look forward to Wembley putting on a memorable show.” Sally MUNDAY CEO of UK Sport said: “Hosting major global sporting events here in the UK provides the opportunity for extraordinary sporting moments that reach unite and inspire the nation and we are absolutely delighted that the British public will be able to enjoy another World Championships on their doorstep. We look forward to working with the other event hosting partners to deliver this exciting event.” Sandra DEATON Chair of Table Tennis England said: “It is wonderful to be awarded the most prestigious World Championships to celebrate 100 years of our wonderful sport. Thank you to the ITTF Executive Board and all our member nations for giving us the opportunity to celebrate the history and deliver a World Championship to take the sport into the next hundred years. “Being awarded the 2026 World Championships is a result of a journey Table Tennis England has embraced over a significant period of time being brought together over the last few months under the incredible leadership of our CEO Adrian Christie. “Thank you to everyone involved. The delivery of the 2026 World Team Table Tennis Championships gives our governing body the opportunity to bring back the championships to where it all began.”
