Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA won the Women’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Czech Open in Olomouc. Marcos FREITAS of Portugal joined her at the highest step of the medal rostrum after triumph in the final of the Men’s Singles Event. In Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA won the Women’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Czech Open in Olomouc. Marcos FREITAS of Portugal joined her at the highest step of the medal rostrum after triumph in the final of the Men’s Singles Event. In the final Elizabeta SAMARA occupying the no.8 seeded position in the competition beat Japan’s Ai FUKUHARA the no.4 seed to reserve the top step of the medal podium. SAMARA won by the narrowest of margins in the deciding seventh game. En route to the final four out of five matches had resulted in full distance narrow margin seven games victories; the only exception was in the third round when FREITAS beat Germany’s Ricardo WALTHER in four straight games. The third round was the exception to the rule the final against Patrick Baum like Ricardo WALTHER from Germany was no exception. Marcos FREITAS recovered from a three games to two deficit to emerge victorious in the decisive seventh game by the very narrowest of margins. FREITAS was the no.2 seed Patrick BAUM was the no.4 seed. Simon GAUZY of France and Germany’s Petrissa SOLJA won the respective Under 21 Men’s Singles and Under 21 Women’s Singles titles. At the final hurdle in Olomouc Simon GAUZY the no.2 seed accounted for Japan’s Maharu YOSHIMURA the no.4 seed having at the semi-final stage overcome the latter’s colleague Misaki YOSHIDA. In the counterpart semi-final Maharu YOSHIMURA has beaten Poland’s Jakub DYJAS the no.9 seed. An in-form Simon Gauzy; it was also an in-form Petrissa SOLJA who like Simon GAUZY occupied the no.2 seeded position in the competition. She beat Austria’s Sofia POLCANOVA the top seed in the final having one round earlier ousted Korea’s YOO Eunchong the no.5 seed. In the counterpart penultimate round duel Sofia POLCANOVA overcomes Japan’s Hitomi SATO the no.4 seed. Japan’s Ai FUKUHARA and Misako WAKAMIYA won the Women’s Doubles. At the final hurdle they upset the order of merit; occupying the fifth seeded place in the competition they beat the third seeded German partnership of SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA in four games to arrest the prestigious title. Japan’s Masataka MORIZONO in partnership with compatriot Yuya OSHIMA won the Men’s Doubles title. They accounted for Jin UEDA and Maharu YOSHIMURA in six games.

Five Europeans in both Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Czech Open (Major) in Olomouc reached penultimate stage. Remaining three players are from Japan. In Men’s Singles Event Alexey SMIRNOV of Russia beat Asuka MACHI Five Europeans in both Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Czech Open (Major) in Olomouc reached penultimate stage. Remaining three players are from Japan. In Men’s Singles Event Alexey SMIRNOV of Russia beat Asuka MACHI of Japan in the quarterfinal. Tomorrow he will meet Patrick BAUM. Player from Germany overcame Quadri ARUNA of Nigeria today. Marcos FREITAS was starched to full distance against Ruwen FILUS of Germany on his way to the semis and he will play against Koki NIWA of Japan. In the semi final of the Women’s Singles Event will play Kasumi ISHIKAWA of Japan vs. Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania and Ai FUKUHARA of Japan vs. WU JIaduo of Germany. SAMARA occupying the no.8 seeded position in the draw beat Austria’s LIU Jia the no.3 seed to reserve her place in the penultimate round. She succeeded in straight games whilst WU needed one more to beat Misaki MORIZONO of Japan. Germany will also have one representative in final of the Women’s Doubles Event. SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA overcame LIU Jia of Austria and Iveta VACENOVSKA of Czech Republic in straight games. For the title they will play against Ai FUKUHARA and Misako WAKAMIYA. Japan’s pairings overcame Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA and Natalia PARTYKA of Poland. In men’s Double’s Event Masataka MORIZONO and Yuya OSHIMA of Japan overcame Kristian KARLSSON and Mattias OVERSJO of Sweden in the penultimate stage. Winners will meet their compatriots Jin UEDA and Maharu YOSHIMURA in the match for gold.

Belarus Vladimir SAMSONOV was the major casualty in the opening round of the Men’s Singles event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Czech Open (Major) in Olomouc. Kristian KARLSSON ‪of ‎Sweden has inflicted the first ever ITTF World Tour 1st round defe Belarus Vladimir SAMSONOV was the major casualty in the opening round of the Men’s Singles event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Czech Open (Major) in Olomouc. Kristian KARLSSON ‪of ‎Sweden has inflicted the first ever ITTF World Tour 1st round defeat to SAMSONOV the no.1 seed and the winner the previous week on home soil in Belarus. Swede has been required to compete in preliminary rounds. However KARLSSON did not celebrate for long. In Round of 32 Alexey SMIRNOV of Russia beat 23 year-old. Par GERELL of Sweden progressed further as well as Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal. Another qualifier Lubomir PISTEJ of Slovakia beat Joao MONTEIRO of Portugal to progress to the second round. Simon GAUZY of France beat seed no. 6 Kenta MATSUDARIA of Japan to extend the list of favorites who exited earlier then their rankings predicted. GAUZY moved even further. He overcame Kazuhiro CHAN of Japan to join the top 16 players in Czech Republic. On her way to the Round of 16 in Women’s Singles Event Sabine WINTER of Germany accounted for Viktoria PAVLOVICH of Belarus. Another Germany’s player Petrissa SOLJA also beat former European Champion Ruta PASKAUSKIENE of Lithuania to book her place in the Round of 16. Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania is safely through after duel against Renata STRBIKOVA of Czech Republic. Same for Austria’s LIU Jia and Dutch player LI JIe. WU Jiaduo of Germany overcame LI Jiao of Netherlands. At the lower half of the draw seeded no. two HAN Ying of Germany is out. Austria’s Amelie SOLJA succeeded in five games.

The GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Czech Open staged once again in Olomouc started today with the qualification stage. Only two players seeded at the top position in their respective groups had suffered by the hands of the lower placed opposition in the The GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Czech Open staged once again in Olomouc started today with the qualification stage. Only two players seeded at the top position in their respective groups had suffered by the hands of the lower placed opposition in the Men’s Singles Event. Unfortunately for host nation one of them was Pavel SIRUCEK of Czech Republic. Roman REZETKA of Slovakia won the duel. Janos JAKAB of Hungary lost against Romania’s Alexandu MANOLE. Kirill SKACHKOV of Russia was stretched to full distance in the match against Filip ZELJKO of Croatia; the same faith tasted Carlos MACHADO of Spain before he beat Ryotaro OGATA of Japan. At the opening day of the competition in Women’s Singles Qualifications Magdalena SIKORSKA of Poland World’s no. 294 was the only player who upset the top seed in the group. She accounted for Haruka SAKAI of Japan ranked at position no 89 at the World rankings and Mateja JEGER of Croatia listed at position no. 177 at the World Rankings.

Top seed the host nation’s Vladimir SAMSONOV won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Belarus Open. Japan’s Sayaka HIRANO won the Women’s Singles title. Playing in Minsk Vladimir SAMSONOV accounted for Poland’s WANG Zengyi the Top seed the host nation’s Vladimir SAMSONOV won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Belarus Open. Japan’s Sayaka HIRANO won the Women’s Singles title. Playing in Minsk Vladimir SAMSONOV accounted for Poland’s WANG Zengyi the no.4 seed to secure the top step of the medal podium. Extolling his classic control over a table tennis ball to great effect; he withstood the fast close to the table barrage of attacking options from the Polish pen-holder to record a five games win (11-6 11-4 8-11 11-3 11-6). Vladimir SAMSONOV was playing in no less than his 34th ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles final. It was the 24th time that he had emerged successful since making his debut in the very first year of the ITTF World Tour in 1996 when he appeared in Bolzano at the Italian Open. Notably on that occasion he won as well! Prior to today’s win; his most recent ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles was in July 2011 in Morocco. The no.2 seed Sayaka HIRANO resisted a spirited fight-back from her compatriot Misaki MORIZONO the no.5 seed before being required to perform a recovery of her very own. Sayaka HIRANO won the first three games she led 10-8 in the fourth; two match points. Incredibly Misaki MORIZONO won the next four points and then with increasing self-belief secured the next two games to force a decider. In the vital seventh game at the change of ends Misaki MORIZONO led 5-1; then lost the next six points to trail 5-7! The momentum of the contest had swung inexorably; Sayaka HIRANO established a 10-7 lead Misaki MORIZONO then mounted yet another recovery. She saved two match points but she could not save a third. Eventually Sayaka HIRANO won in seven games (11-9 11-6 11-9 10-12 5-11 6-11 11-9).