At the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Japan Open China’s YU Ziyang not seeded and required to negotiate the preliminary stage won the Men’s Singles title. In addition he did not have home support; in fact quite the reverse he beat the host nation’s Jun At the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Japan Open China’s YU Ziyang not seeded and required to negotiate the preliminary stage won the Men’s Singles title. In addition he did not have home support; in fact quite the reverse he beat the host nation’s Jun MIZUTANI the second seed at the final hurdle. YU Ziyang won in six games (8-11 11-4 11-8 6-11 11-4 11-8) and in so doing becomes the youngest ever player to win a Men’s Singles title on the ITTF World Tour. YU Ziyang; born on Friday 23rd May 1998 he was 16 years and 30 days old when succeeding in Yokohama. The winner in Kobe in 2011 when beating Ai FUKUHARA in the final once again the top step of the podium in Japan belonged Singapore’s FENG Tianwei and once again the player who had to settle for the second step was from the host nation. At the final hurdle of the Women’s Singles event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Japan Open in Yokohama FENG Tianwei the top seed overcame Kasumi ISHIKAWA the second seed to clinch the title. FENG won in six games (12-10 9-11 3-11 11-3 11-5 13-11) to collect her third ITTF World Tour title of the year and the seventh of her career in what is now 13 finals.  

At the 22nd Balkan Youth Championships Romania clinched the Yoto DRIANOVSKI award as most successful nation after three days competition in Bursa. In Team’s Event Romania clinched gold in Junior Girl’s and Cadet Boy’s category whilst Serbia succeeded to At the 22nd Balkan Youth Championships Romania clinched the Yoto DRIANOVSKI award as most successful nation after three days competition in Bursa. In Team’s Event Romania clinched gold in Junior Girl’s and Cadet Boy’s category whilst Serbia succeeded to the top place at the medal rostrum in Junior Boy’s and Cadet Girls Event. In Junior Boy’s Singles Event Ibrahim GUNDUZ of Turkey is new champion. Ivor KATIC of Serbia is second and Nikola MARINKOVIC of Serbia and Alexandru MANOLE of Romania are third. Alina YAHARIA of Romania clinched top prize in Junior Girls Singles. Aleksandra SAVIC of Serbia won silver and bronze went to Tamara AGOSTON of Serbia and Ezgi KAPUSUZOGLU of Turkey. In Cadet Boy’s Singles Cristian PLETEA of Romania succeeded to the gold. Batuhan SAHIN of Turkey is second followed by compatriots Abdullah YIGENLER and Mucahit KOYUNCU. Sabina SURJAN is the new champion in the region. She beat Simay KULAKCEKEN of Turkey in the final. Third are Romania’s Andreea DRAGOMAN and Mihaela PLEASU. Turkey’s pairings Ibrahim GUNDUZ and Ozgun OZTURK won the title in Junior Boy’s Doubles whilst their compatriots Ipek KARAHAN and Damla UZEL won top prize in Junior Girls Doubles. Turkey also gave the champion in Cadet Boys Doubles Even; Batuhan SAHIN and Talha YIGENLER won gold. Tijana JOKIC and Sabina SURJAN of Serbia won gold in cadet Girls Doubles Event. Best Mixed Doubles pair is Nikola MARINKOVIC and Ivana VEJNOVIC whilst Cristian PLETEA and Andreea DRAGOMAN won first place in Cadet Mixed Doubles Event.

At the 22nd Balkan Youth Championships in Bursa Romania won three gold medals in Team’s Events. Best junior team in region is Romania. Alexandru MANOLE Alexandru MIRCEA and Adrian COSTEA beat Serbia’s Nikola MARINKOVIC Ivor KATIC and Marko POPOVIC in t At the 22nd Balkan Youth Championships in Bursa Romania won three gold medals in Team’s Events. Best junior team in region is Romania. Alexandru MANOLE Alexandru MIRCEA and Adrian COSTEA beat Serbia’s Nikola MARINKOVIC Ivor KATIC and Marko POPOVIC in the final. Turkey is third and Bulgaria Bosnia and Herzegovina FYRO Macedonia Montenegro Kosovo and Albania follows. In Cadet Boys Teams Event Romania clinched gold again. Cristian PLETEA and Florin SPELBUS beat Turkey’s Zihni Batuhan SAHIN and Abdullah Talha YIGENLER at the final hurdle. Serbia is third followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Montenegro FYRO Macedonia Albania and Kosovo. In Junior Girls Team’s Event Romania’s Bogdana TRIFU Arina SINGEORZAN and Alina ZAHARIA beat Turkey’s Ipek KARAHAN Kubra TAN and Damla UZEL to clinch the title. In the match for third position Bulgaria beat Serbia. In the bottom half of the standings are Bosnia and Herzegovina FYRO Macedonia Albania and Kosovo In Cadet Girls category in the final Serbia’s Tijana JOKIC and Sabina SURJAN beat Turkey’s Gul Pembe OZKAYA and Simay KULAKCEKEN in the final. In the match for the bronze Romania overcame Bulgaria. In the final standings Bulgaria is fourth and Bosnia and Herzegovina FYRO Macedonia Albania and Kosovo follow.

At the Para Table Tennis Spanish Open in El Prat de Llobregat individual events are finished.In SF3 Anna-Carin AHLQUIST clinched gold medal. Andjela MUZINIC of Croatia is second whilst her compatriot Helena DRETAR and Austria’s Doris MADER reached semi f At the Para Table Tennis Spanish Open in El Prat de Llobregat individual events are finished.In SF3 Anna-Carin AHLQUIST clinched gold medal. Andjela MUZINIC of Croatia is second whilst her compatriot Helena DRETAR and Austria’s Doris MADER reached semi final. In SF4 Susan GILROY of GBR beat JUNG Ji Nam of Korea in the final. In semis Sandra MIKOLASHCHEK of Germany and Monique SIRGANT of France played in semis. In SF5 Ingela LUNDBACK of Sweden reached the top of her Group. Korea’s JUNG Young is second and Christine DOYLE of Ireland is third. In SF 6-8 Norway’s Aida DAHLEN clinched the gold. Kateryna BABAENKO – VALDES of Ukraine is second. Juliane WOLF and Sandra PAOVIC clinched bronze. In SF 9-10 Lena KRAMM of Germany reached the top of the Group. Marlene REEG also from Germany follows and Danielle DE JONG of Netherlands is third. In men’s Singles Class 1-2 Iker SASTRE gave host nation reason to celebrate. Thorsten GRUNKEMEYER of Germany is second and Christos STAMOU of Greece is third. In Class 3 Thomas BRUCHLE is winner whilst Egon KRAMMINGER of Austria is runner up. In semis played Julien BOCHEREAU of France and Manfred DOLLMANN of Austria. In Class 4-5 Toi URHAUG of Norway clinched gold. Shai SIADA of Israel is second. They beat Bilal EL BAKKALI of Spain and Jorge DIDON of Germany in semis. In Class 6 another Spanish representative shined. Alvaro VALERA beat Alberto SEOANE also of Spain. Daniel BOBROV of Israel and Pavao JOZIC of Croatia won bronze. In Class 7 the packing order is: Ben DESPINEUX of France Samuel SHUR of Israel and Billy SHILTON and Daryl STERLING of USA. In Class 8: Thomas BOUVAIS of France Yannick FLEURY of France and third are David ALONSO of Spain and Lewis DALBY of France. In Class 9 Cedrik CABESTANY of France beat Stanislaw FRACZYK of Austria. They overcame Laurens DEVOS of Belgium and Juan PEREZ of Spain in semis. In Class 10 Jose REYES of Spain beat compatriot Jorge CARDONA in the final. Anthony DAVIS of Ireland clinched bronze.

The European challenge did not last long in the Men’s Singles Event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Japan Open (Super) in Yokohama. Last European player left the field in the Round of 32. However in the Women’s Singles Event there are four more rep The European challenge did not last long in the Men’s Singles Event at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour Japan Open (Super) in Yokohama. Last European player left the field in the Round of 32. However in the Women’s Singles Event there are four more representatives in the Round of 16. For the place in the quarterfinal HU Melek of Turkey will meet Misako WAKAMIYA of Japan LI Fen of Sweden will play against Polina MIKHAILOVA of Russia and Portugal’s YU Fu will meet Kasumi ISHIKAWA of Japan. HU Melek will be on duty in tomorrow’s Doubles match as well. With MIKHAILOVA she will play in quarters against Sayaka HIRANO and Misaki MORIZONO of Japan. Olga BARANOVA and Elena TROSHNEVA of Russia will meet Ai FUKUHARA and Misako WAKAMIYA of Japan. The Round of 32 of Men’s Singles Event reached Adrien MATTENT and Antoine HACHARD of France and Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden. However Kristian KARLSSON and Mattias KARLSSON are very much in game in Men’s Doubles Event. In the quarterfinal they will meet Japan’s Kenta MATSUDAIRA and Koki NIWA.

Impressive one week ago in Korea when he negotiated the group stage of both the Men’s Singles and Under 21 Men’s Singles events; Sweden’s Hampus SODERLUND was in form as the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour moved to the city of Yokohama in Japan. He was the Impressive one week ago in Korea when he negotiated the group stage of both the Men’s Singles and Under 21 Men’s Singles events; Sweden’s Hampus SODERLUND was in form as the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour moved to the city of Yokohama in Japan. He was the player who on the first day of action in the qualification stage of proceedings caused the biggest upset; he accounted for China’s ZHOU Qihao the highest rated player in the opening phase of the competition. Executing his powerful attacking skills to good effect he posted a straight games win (11-7 11-9 11-5 11-9). In his second round contest he accounted for India’s Sathiyan GNANASEKARAN and secured the place in the main draw. However the most significant name to suffer was that of Russia’s Fedor KUZMIN the winner of the Men’s Singles title at the Slovenian Open in 2005; he was beaten by the host nation’s Yuya OSHIMA (6-11 11-9 11-5 11-7 11-8). Despite the defeat KUZMIN progressed further. He overcame Chinese Taipei’s Chin Mao-Cheng to secure passage. Benjamin BROSSIER suffered defeat in his opening match; he was beaten by Japan’s Jin Ueda (6-11 9-11 12-10 11-9 11-7 11-6) but then recovered to overcome Sweden’s Mattias KARLSSON (4-11 11-9 13-11 5-11 11-9 12-10). The final outcome however went in Swede’s favour. KARLSSON concluded the Group stage at position no. one whilst French player finished third.

From 20th to 22th El Prat de Llobregat will be the European capital for table tennis for disable thanks to the Para Table Tennis Spanish Open. This international tournament is cataloged as Factor 20 by ITTF and the players will be able to score the point From 20th to 22th El Prat de Llobregat will be the European capital for table tennis for disable thanks to the Para Table Tennis Spanish Open. This international tournament is cataloged as Factor 20 by ITTF and the players will be able to score the points for World Championship and Paralympics Games. That gathered a great number of players. The entries were closed with 135 participants from 24 countries with representatives from Korea Singapore or Philippines. “This is a very important for the Para Table Tennis here. Spain gives great effort in that direction. We want to be good organizers since we already organized international competitions like Young Spanish Open World Tour Spanish Open or preparing European Veterans Teams that will be in Almeria next September. This international competition has the Calonian Federation and El Prat City Hall support ” explained David CORRAL Sport Manager in Spanish Table Tennis Association. Spain will have 23 players 10 in Wheelchair. This competition will have 5 players ranked at number 1 World Ranking position. This is the last international tournament in Europe before the World Championship so this a great opportunity for the players that are fighting for take a good position in the World Championship.

22nd Balkan Youth Table Tennis Championships starts tomorrow in Turkey’s Bursa. In Mimar Sinan Sport Hall the championships will include Junior Boys Team Junior Girls Team Cadet Boys Team Cadet Girls Team Junior Boys Single Junior Girls Single Cadet 22nd Balkan Youth Table Tennis Championships starts tomorrow in Turkey’s Bursa. In Mimar Sinan Sport Hall the championships will include Junior Boys Team Junior Girls Team Cadet Boys Team Cadet Girls Team Junior Boys Single Junior Girls Single Cadet Boys Single Cadet Girls Single Junior Boys double Junior Girls double Cadet Boys double Cadet Girls double Junior Mixed double and Cadet Mixed double Events. The Championships conclude on Sunday.  

The best 16 European clubs will compete in 2014/15 Men’s European Champions League and the draw will be held in Vienna on June 27th. Top seed will be again Russian champion Fakel Gazproma Orenburg the actual MECL runner-up and two times winner (2012 201 The best 16 European clubs will compete in 2014/15 Men’s European Champions League and the draw will be held in Vienna on June 27th. Top seed will be again Russian champion Fakel Gazproma Orenburg the actual MECL runner-up and two times winner (2012 2013). Recently crowned champion French AS Pontoise Cergy starts as no. 6 seed while most successful club ever Borussia Dusseldorf (10 titles in total) will be no. 2 as in last two years. Many clubs continue with the same line-ups. Orenburg is happy to keep together current individual European champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (world’s no. 4) three times single ECH gold medalist Vladimir SAMSONOV and former Euro Top 12 winner Alexey SMIRNOV. The same trio as in last season will have also Chartres (GAO Ning Robert GARDOS and Par GERELL) Pontoise (Marcos FREITAS WANG Jian Jun and Kristian KARLSSON) Hennebont (Kalinikos KREANGA Dimitrij PROKOPCOV and CHEN Chien-An) UMMC (Jun MIZUTANI Joao MONTEIRO and Alexander SHIBAEV). Werder Bremen made one big change (Bastian STEGER from Saarbrucken instead of CHIANG Chih Yuan) former UMMC good defender HOU Yingchao is Niederosterreich`s newcomer Kenji MATSUDAIRA joined Angers Vaillante bronze medalist from 2013 ECH Panagiotis GIONIS (ex Angers) will replace Patrick BAUM on no. 2 of Borussia Adrien MATTENET is coming back to MECL as Saarbrucken player… Danish Roskilde is coming back to the main club’s competition with well known trio: Michael MAZE Allan BENTSEN and Finn TUGWELL. Korean OH Sangeun will try to repeat his great plays which he had in the past in Bogoria`s jersey when he managed to beat even Timo BOLL in his best shape. The 2014/2015 MECL participants are: 1.Fakel Gazproma Orenburg (Russia 7499 points) 2 Borussia Dusseldorf (Germany 7277) 3 UMMC (Russia 7110) 4 Chartres ASTT (France 6980) 5 Saarbrucken (Germany 6716) 6 AS Pontoise Cergy (France 6610) 7 Hennebont (France 6557) 8 Werder Bremen (Germany 6545) 9 Bogoria Mazowiecki (Poland 6292) 10 Angers Vaillante (France 6205) 11 Olimpia Unia Grudziadz (Poland 6130) 11 Weinviertel Niederosterreich (Austria 6130) 13 Roskilde Bordtennis (Denmark 5874) 14 Eslovs Al Bordtennis (Sweden 5806) 15 STEN marketing HB Ostrov (Czech Republic 5713) 16 Walter Wels (Austria 5618). You can find all relevant information by clicking HERE