First Pre-Selection Camp in Kiskunfélegyháza (Hungary) from the new ETTU project – Eurotalents (TI&S) has finished. The camp was held in a new modern sports hall from August 8 to August 15 2014 and the participants were accommodated in the nearby st First Pre-Selection Camp in Kiskunfélegyháza (Hungary) from the new ETTU project – Eurotalents (TI&S) has finished. The camp was held in a new modern sports hall from August 8 to August 15 2014 and the participants were accommodated in the nearby students’ boarding school which is located some 50 meters away from the hall. A total of 41 young players from 10 countries attended the camp of which 19 players were from the 9 countries registered in the Eurotalents program and a total of 8 sparring-partners and 14 young players were from Hungary. Out of all the applicants delegations of Slovenia and Kosovo did not attend and Croatian delegation cancelled their participation due to financial difficulties in the realisation of this action. In the report Eurotalents Development Manager prof. Neven CEGNAR thanked for the contribution of the local coaches Ferenc KARSAI and his assistant Zoltan ZOLTAN which lead to the successful realisation of the camp. CEGNAR did preparatory work for the camp and has been heavily involved in everyday individual technical-tactical work with young players participating in the program. “At the halfway a very successful two-hour seminar was held for all the coaches (23 of them). During the seminar they discussed about several topics related to our Eurotalents project and about the global strategy for the development of young players in Europe. We also tackled some of the problems the coaches deal with in their work with young players in their communities. Most time was devoted to a single topic which represents a huge problem for all young players in Europe and that is early involvement in systematic competitions and “chasing after points” instead of receiving a good training in basic technical-tactical skills and mastering the table tennis technique and tactics. This problem is actually a vicious circle within a triangle made up of young players parents and coaches since for the young players at this early stage of development the first criterion for performance assessment of an individual player are rankings rather than their abilities and technical-tactical quality of movement automation which later then limits the development of individual players in their mature years” stated prof. CEGNAR.
Patrick BAUM wins the Flanders Ostend Masters title
Patrick BAUM justified his top seed position and won the title at the 16th Flanders I.T.T. Ostend Masters. German player beat Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal in the final of the event in straight games. In semis BAUM overcame Ukraine’s KOU Lei in full distance Patrick BAUM justified his top seed position and won the title at the 16th Flanders I.T.T. Ostend Masters. German player beat Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal in the final of the event in straight games. In semis BAUM overcame Ukraine’s KOU Lei in full distance duel whilst APOLONIA needed only five games to beat Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany.At the tournament also played Thomas KEINATH of Slovakia Bojan TOKIC of Slovenia Alexei SMIRNOV of Russia and Jean Michel SAIVE of Belgium. The other results you can see here
43 Associations entered European Champs
Ricardo ROBERTO first Portuguese player ever to win medal at European Youth Championships will be present at the official draw for the TMS European Teams Championships scheduled for August 24th in Lisbon (11 CET – 10 GMT). For the competition that will Ricardo ROBERTO first Portuguese player ever to win medal at European Youth Championships will be present at the official draw for the TMS European Teams Championships scheduled for August 24th in Lisbon (11 CET – 10 GMT). For the competition that will be held from 24th to 28th September 43 Associations have entered (42 men’s teams and 37 women’s teams); 36 Associations have entered both events; Cyprus Ireland Island Jersey Latvia and San Marino have entered men’s team only and Kosovo have entered women’s team only. In the championships division will play 16 teams. In men’s category top two seeds are Germany and Greece. The list goes on with Belarus Russia Sweden Croatia Portugal France Austria Spain Italy Romania Poland Czech Republic Slovakia and Hungary. Challenge division consists of 16 teams as well: Ukraine Slovenia England Serbia Turkey Belgium Switzerland Denmark Bulgaria Luxembourg Estonia Finland Norway Ireland Latvia and Cyprus. Standard Division: Israel Netherlands Wales Montenegro Azerbaijan Scotland Island Malta San Marino and Jersey. Germany is at the top of the list in Women’s Championships Division followed by Romania. Listed below are: Czech Republic Russia Hungary Belarus Austria Poland France Spain Sweden Luxembourg Ukraine Netherlands Turkey and Portugal. Women Challenge: England Croatia Serbia Slovakia Italy Slovenia Wales Denmark Greece Bulgaria Switzerland Estonia Finland Norway Scotland Azerbaijan. Women Standard: Israel Belgium Montenegro Kosovo Malta. At the TMS European Championships the final results and placements for each team will be used as qualifications for 2015 European Games which will be held in Baku (Azerbaijan). Top 14 teams from Championship division will be directly qualified together with the winner of Challenge division and host – Azerbaijan Table Tennis Association. All qualified Associations must have respective NOC´s confirmation for participation before and NOT later than March 1st 2015.
Four Europeans join quarters in Nanjing
Four European boys and girls booked their places in the quarterfinals of the singles events at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics Games. In the Round of 16 Germany’s Kilian ORT beat Diogo CHEN of Portugal in seven games (9:11 6:11 11:9 10:12 14:12 11:8 Four European boys and girls booked their places in the quarterfinals of the singles events at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics Games. In the Round of 16 Germany’s Kilian ORT beat Diogo CHEN of Portugal in seven games (9:11 6:11 11:9 10:12 14:12 11:8 11:6). Diogo was no. 11 seed whilst ORT occupies spot no. 14. Patryk ZATOWKA of Poland seeded no. 12 and 2012 European Junior Championships vice champion exceeded his rankings and beat Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia seeded no 8. ZATOWKA needed six games (9:11 11:5 9:11 11:7 11:9 11:9). In the quarterfinal top seeded FAN Zhedong of China will meet HUNG Ka Tak of Hong Kong. ORT will play against YANG Heng Wei of Taipei ZATOWKA will play against Hugo CALDERANO of Brasil KIM Minehyeok of Korea will meet Yuto MURAMATSU of Japan. European cadet champion from the recently concluded Championships in Italy Adina DIACONU of Romania beat Karoline MISCHEK of Austria in the Round of 16 4:0 (11:4 11:9 1:8 12:10). Lea RAKOVAC of Croatia overcame Gremlis ARVELO of Venezuela 4:1 (4:11 11:8 11:7 11:6 11:5). In the quarterfinal DOO Hoi Kem of Korea will play against Adina DIACONU Tamolwan KHETKHUAN of Thailand will meet ZHANG Lily of USA Miyu KATO of Japan will play against Lea RAKOVAC and CHIU Ssu-Hua of Taipei will meet LIU Gaoyang of China.
Good day for Karoline MISCHEK in Nanjing
The men’s and women’s singles event at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing starts off with eight groups of four players playing a round robin event. The top two players from each group then play in a round of 16 knock out until the champions ar The men’s and women’s singles event at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing starts off with eight groups of four players playing a round robin event. The top two players from each group then play in a round of 16 knock out until the champions are crowned on Wednesday 20 August 2014. In the opening rounds favorites prevailed without big problems. Top seeded FANG Zhedong of China beat Brian AFANDOR of Puerto Rico and Adam SZUDI of Hungary. SZUDI beat Christ BIENATIKI of Congo. Tomorrow’s match against AFANADOR will most probably give the answer who will be the second in the Group. Yuto MURAMATSU of Japan beat Martin ALEGRO of Belgium and Killian ORT of Germany. Tomorrow’s European clash will determine second place. Elias RANEFUR of Sweden will play against Fermin TENTI of Argentina for second position. Today he beat Dominic HUANG of Australia and lost against Hugo CALDERON of Brasil. Diogo CHEN of Portugal upset the favorite. CHEN overcame top seeded KIM Minehyeok of Korea in full distance duel. He also overcame Aly GHALEB of Egypt. It is up to him just to confirm his leading poition in the Group after tomorrow’s duel againstb Alejandro TORANZOS of Paraguay. In addition Patryk ZATOWKA from Poland also exceeded his rankings. He beat top seeded David REITSPIES of Czech Republic in full distance match. Polish player will meet Andreas LEVENKO of Austria tomorrow in the match for first position. European singles champion from France – Can AKUZZU was strecehed to full distance against Abdhishek YADAV of India before he beat Kirill GERASSIMENKO of Kazakhstan in straight games. Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia beat Elia SCHMID of Switzerland but he failed to justify his seeding position in the match against HUNG Ka TAk of Hong Kong. In the Women’s Singles Event Kristyna STEFCOVA of Czech Republic beat Florence SEERA of Uganda but lost against top seed DOO Hoi Kem of Hong Kong. Nicole TROSMAN of Izrael beat top seed in her Group CHIU Ssu Hua of Taipei and Vy BUI of Australia. To secure first place with three wins she will meet Alaa SAAD of Egypt tomorrow. Karoline MISCHEK of Austria made the biggest upset. From a third position in her group she concluded day one at top position. Karoline beat top seeded Lea RAKOVAC of Croatia. Lea recovered little later to overcame Natalia BAJOR of Poland. That is the great overture for tomorrow’s duel between BAJOR and MISCHEK. Adina DIACONU of Romania justified her status and overcame WAN Yuan of Germany and Maria LORENZOTTI of Uruguay. Audrey ZARIF of France succeeded against KIM Regina of Uzbekistan and Lisa LUNG overcame DONG Sophia of New Zealand.
FAN Zhendong not just looking for YOG gold
Fresh from reading the Olympic oath on behalf of the Youth Olympic Games athletes FAN Zhendong (CHN) has announced that winning Youth Olympic Games gold is not the 17 year-old’s only goal. The senior world number three stated today on the first da Fresh from reading the Olympic oath on behalf of the Youth Olympic Games athletes FAN Zhendong (CHN) has announced that winning Youth Olympic Games gold is not the 17 year-old’s only goal. The senior world number three stated today on the first day of the table tennis event here in Wutaishan Gymnasium in Nanjing China: “I am very happy and excited to be here at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. It is very cool to be here. Nobody has ever become the Youth Olympic and Olympic Champion so I want to do this! Gold in Nanjing and gold in Rio is my goal! After becoming the youngest ever ITTF World Tour champion at 16 years old last year as well as being part of the Chinese National team that claimed gold at the ZEN-NOH 2014 World Team Championships in Tokyo Japan earlier this year who would bet against him! Before FAN pushes himself on the senior stage for his Rio goal he first has to focus on Nanjing which will be no easy task with 32 of the world’s best under-18 players vying for gold in the men’s singles. MURAMATSU Yuto (JPN) who is the only defensive player in the event along with Brazil’s CALDERANO Hugo who also has aspirations for Rio 2016 in his home country will be FAN’s biggest threat for gold. DOO Hoi Kem (HKG) goes into the women’s event as the number one seed and has her eye firmly set on the gold medal. Her biggest challenge to become the Youth Olympic Games champion will be from LIU Gaoyang (CHN) who will be spurred on by the large home crowd here in Nanjing. Once the singles event has concluded all the focus will turn to the mixed teams event which consists of one boy and one girl who have qualified for the singles event. Teams can be composed of players from different NOCs where only boy or girl qualified in singles. The mixed teams gold medal match will be played on Saturday 23 August 2014. FAN Zhendong was not the only table tennis player involved in the opening ceremony last night. Current World and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike had the honour of running with the Olympic Torch in the stadium and three times World Champion and Athlete’s Role Model here in Nanjing WANG Liqin carried out the Olympic flag. Youth Olympic Games athletes: Henri Christ BIENATIKI (CGO) Fatouma ALI SALAH (DJI) Brian AFANADOR (PUR) Adina DIACONU (ROU) and Soudes ALLASSANI (TOG) had the privilege of carrying in their national flag into the Olympic stadium. Reflecting on this once in a lifetime experience Brian AFANADOR (PUR) stated: “It was a very emotional moment for me to carry the flag at last night’s opening ceremony. I was really proud about it definitely the most inspiring and significant moment for me. I screamed in joy when I found that I would be carrying the flag!”
Nanjing Youth Olympic Games began
Nanjing Youth Olympic Games began with breathtaking Opening ceremony with a total of 4000 people participate in the performance (1/3 of the Beijing Olympics). Chinese diver CHEN Ruolin was the last one to relay the torch before she lit the flame. Among th Nanjing Youth Olympic Games began with breathtaking Opening ceremony with a total of 4000 people participate in the performance (1/3 of the Beijing Olympics). Chinese diver CHEN Ruolin was the last one to relay the torch before she lit the flame. Among the athletes who carried the torch also was China’s ZHANG Jike. IOC chief Thomas BACH took selfies on the rostrum just after the table tennis was honored once again. Chinese athlete FAN Zhendong took vows on behalf of athletes. The flag of the Olympics was escorted by eight famous Chinese athletes including REN Cancan WU Minxia LIU Xiang LEI Sheng WU Jingyu WANG Liqin ZHANG Xi and QIU Jian and passed over to young athletes. Chinese President XI Jinping announced the opening of the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. The competition in Wutaishan Gymnasium starts tomorrow with the men’s and Women’s Singles Events. The less fortunate European player concerning the outcome of the draw was Hungarian Adam SZUDI. Recently crowned junior doubles champion at the STERILGARDA European Championships in Italy is in Group A with top seeded Chinese player FAN Zhendong. Top seed in Group F David REITSPIES of Czech Republic bronze medalist in doubles last month in Italy will face very strong European opposition. In his Group are Patryk ZATOWKA from Poland and Andreas LEVENKO of Austria whilst at the bottom of the Group is Kerem BEN YAHIA of Tunisia. At the top of the group G is European singles champion from France – Can AKUZZU. Kirill GERASSIMENKO of Kazakhstan Abdhishek YADAV of India and Krishnateja AVVARI of USA are in the same group. In Group H at the top is Tomislav PUCAR of Croataia mixed doubles champion from European championships this year. In first phase he will face HUNG Ka TAk of Hong Kong Elia SCHMID of Switzerland and AL NAGGAR of Qatar. Diogo CHEN of Portugal Elias RANEFUR of Sweden and Killian ORT of Germany are seeded no two in their respective groups. Silver medal winner at the Junior Girls Doubles Event in Italy Lea RAKOVAC of Croatia is one of two European representatives at the top of the Groups in first stage of the Women’s Singles Event in Nanjing. She will meet Natalia BAJOR of Poland Karoline MISCHEK of Austria and Cheisea EDGHILL of Guyana in opening stage. The other leader in the group is Adina DIACONU of Romania. Gold winning cadet girl at the European Championships will play against WAN Yuan of Germany Maria LORENZOTTI of Uruguay and Yuliya RYABOVA of Kazakhstan. Kristyna STEFCOVA of Czech Republic Nicole TROSMAN of Israel Lisa LUNG of Belgium Audrey ZARIF of France are listed at position no. two in their respective groups.
Table Tennis televised live at Nanjing 2014 YOG
Seven days of intense action await in the Wutaishan Gymnasium for the table tennis events at the forthcoming Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. The torch will be lit on Saturday 16th August and then on the following day the first day of action Sunday 17t Seven days of intense action await in the Wutaishan Gymnasium for the table tennis events at the forthcoming Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. The torch will be lit on Saturday 16th August and then on the following day the first day of action Sunday 17th August play begins in earnest. Each day of play will be televised; table tennis is one of only 10 sports to be produced live for television at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. Two sessions of play will be broadcast each day. On each day the scheduled start of the broadcast is 10.00am local time with the commencement of the afternoon sessions having a slight variation. The first two days of action sees the second session start at 2.00pm; whilst on the third day of play it is 3.00pm. On Thursday 21st August the afternoon session begins at 3.30pm with the following day witnessing the start at 4.15pm. Meanwhile on the concluding two days of action the second broadcast begins at 5.00pm. Nanjing is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time seven hours ahead of British Summer Time six hours ahead of Central European Time. Live Broadcasts: www.Olympic.tv (Live / VOD from 14 August) www.Olympic.org (Current content running and live / VOD from 14 August) Youtube.com/Olympics (Current content and live / VOD from 14 August) Olympic TV app (available on Apple Store & Google Play Store)
Another hot winter in Finland
The 25th Finlandia Open this year will be played between 4th and 7th December. The destination for all who wants to play at the tournament which attracts a lot of attention each year is Kisakallio. Last year Russia’s Sadi ISMAILOV and Maryia KUCHUK of Bel The 25th Finlandia Open this year will be played between 4th and 7th December. The destination for all who wants to play at the tournament which attracts a lot of attention each year is Kisakallio. Last year Russia’s Sadi ISMAILOV and Maryia KUCHUK of Belarus emerged as the winners of the respective Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles events. In 2013 tournament attracted almost 200 players from 34 countries. Click here to read/download the prospectus
PERSSON and WANG Liqin role models at YOG
The ITTF presented two extremely well known Table Tennis profiles for the Athletes Role model positions in Nanjing – WANG Liqin from China working alongside with seven times Olympian and Jörgen PERSSON from Sweden. In Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Game The ITTF presented two extremely well known Table Tennis profiles for the Athletes Role model positions in Nanjing – WANG Liqin from China working alongside with seven times Olympian and Jörgen PERSSON from Sweden. In Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games three times Men’s Singles World champion China’s WANG Liqin working alongside seven times Olympian and multiple world champion Sweden’s Jorgen Persson. Athletes on a daily basis will receive opportunities to interact with WANG Liqin and PERSSON. “I feel just proud to be selected as one of two Role Models for the Nanjing Games. It will be a great honor for me to once again connect with the Olympic movement ” stated WANG. WANG Liqin holds the 2000 Sydney Men’s Doubles title higher than the two bronze medals in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. “It was the Olympics YAN Sen and myself really played as a team that time; we defeated two strong and great team mates in LIU Guoliang and KONG Linghui to win the gold” said WANG Liqin in an interview with the ITTF in June this year. PERSSON is the winner of five World Championship titles – four in the Men’s Team event and one in Men’s Singles (Chiba 1991). Furthermore he is one of only three athletes to have competed in all the seven Olympic table tennis events. Twice he came close to winning an Olympic medal in Sydney 2000 and in Beijing 2008 –both times losing to Chinese competitors “I still until this day think about Sydney as one of my best opportunities” said Jorgen PERSSON. “I was in good form then and should have done one step better.As for Nanjing I am looking forward to interacting with all the young athletes. It is always fun to participate in major sporting events in China; our sport is still big here and it will be my pleasure to work for the ITTF and the Olympic Movement.” Jörgen PERSSON (Sweden) – 22 April 1966 (Age: 48) Highlights: 1991 World Singles Champion; World Team Champion (1989 1991 1993 2000) Story: Jörgen PERSSON started his journey to stardom playing around with a ball and a racket on the kitchen table in his hometown Halmstad Sweden at the age of eight. The local table tennis club quickly picked up the talented youngster who had early success with his game in the very competitive Swedish environment. WANG Liqin (China) – 18 June 1978 (Age: 36) Highlights: 2000 Olympic Games Doubles Champion; 2004 Olympics Singles Bronze; 2008 Olympic Games Team Champion & Singles Bronze; World Singles Champion (2001 2005 2007); 8 other World Championships gold medals. “I am looking forward to interacting with all the young athletes. It is always fun to participate in major sporting events in China. Our sport is still big here and it will be my pleasure to work for the ITTF and the Olympic Movement.”
