Crowned champion one week earlier in Poland FAN Zhendong won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German in front of 5.000 spectators and collected 16.000 Dollars reward. Occupying the no.5 seeded position he beat the host natio Crowned champion one week earlier in Poland FAN Zhendong won the Men’s Singles title at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German in front of 5.000 spectators and collected 16.000 Dollars reward. Occupying the no.5 seeded position he beat the host nation’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV the no.3 seed in the final in five games. Runner up won 8.000 Dollars. One month earlier Dimitrij OVTCHAROV has been crowned European champion and three weeks previously at the Liebherr Men’s World Cup had been the bronze medalisT. “FAN has played extremely fast. I could not take the initiative. Nevertheless it was in my view a good game of me. Overall I am very pleased with the tournament. I had a very tough draw and so many high-profile opponents such as probably never before. Twice I was very close from defeat and have survived “ said OVTCHAROV In the semi final the incredibly powerful 16 year old FAN Zhendong overcame Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus the no.7 seed in six games. Dimitrij OVTVHAROV the no.3 seed and the winner one year earlier when the GAC Group 2012 ITTF World Tour German Open was held in the city of Bremen followed his path and overcame Timo BOLL in semis. OVTCHAROV did it for the second time in succession at the GAC Group German Open and it was a second successive victory on the international stage of Dimitrij OVTCHAROV. Three weeks ago he beat Timo BOLL in the bronze medal match at the LIEBHERR Men’s World Cup in Verviers. Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany clinched the gold in the Men’s Doubles Event. They overcame CHIANG Hung-Chieh and HUANG Sheng-Sheng in the final. So the final balance of the German team is gold two silver and three bronze. In front of 12.500 visitors in Berlin’s Max -Schmeling-Halle HAN Ying won bronze as well as Sabine WINTER and Petrissa SOLJA (bronze in the women’s doubles) and SOLJA in U-21 competition. China’s WEN Jia the no.20 seed beat Japan’s Ai Fukuhara the no.5 seed in four straight games at the final hurdle to win her second career ITTF World Tour Women’s Singles title. China’s WEN Jia and ZHAO Yan won the Women’s Doubles title. They beat the Japanese duo of Ai FUKUHARA and Misako WAKAMIYA in five games.

Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus no.9 on the Men’s World Rankings and the no.7 seed in Berlin reached the semi final of the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open. He beat ZHOU Yu of China in the Round of 16 before he overcame Marcos FREITAS of Portugal Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus no.9 on the Men’s World Rankings and the no.7 seed in Berlin reached the semi final of the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open. He beat ZHOU Yu of China in the Round of 16 before he overcame Marcos FREITAS of Portugal in quarters. For the place in the ultimate stage SAMSONOV will play against FANG Zhendong of China. After beating FREITAS 4-3 in Quarterfinals SAMSONOV said: “After losing the first two games I knew everything was still possible. I had to clear my head and think it was 0-0 and we just started. The sets I lost I was leading at some stage so I did not think I was far away from winning a few. Freitas does not make easy mistakes. I would think I had won the point and he would get the ball back. It was very hard. I have never played my next round opponent FAN Zhendong before. I can’t believe he is just 16. That makes me 21 years older than him… unbelievable. I will watch some ITTF YouTube videos of him tonight to learn about his play a little bit.” Timo BOLL and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV also reached the penultimate stage of the Men’s Singles Event and they will play tomorrow against each other. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV the no.3 seed beat Japan’s Masato SHIONO the sensation of the year having won GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles titles in both Yokohama and Olomouc by the very narrowest of margins. He overcame the no.31 seed in seven games. In next Round OVTCHAROV overcame another Japan’s representative Jun MIZUTANI in straight games. “After the 3rd game I had to take a short break to get a treatment by our physiotherapist Annette. I felt a sudden pain in my spine at the neck. No wonder against SHIONO in the round before it was my hardest match ever. I hope I can still at least walk tomorrow. I’ll ask some tennis players to figure out what to do after such a marathon match. It felt like if the match lasted for ever ” said OVTCHAROV. About the semi final against Timo: “I guess that Timo will be quite relaxed in this match. He overcame his injury and the flu and is fighting his way back. I hope that the spectators will watch a great match on Sunday. However this match ends I am looking forward to going on a 8-days holiday with his fiancée Jenny in Dubai on Sunday evening.” A hard fought success and it was a hard fought success for Timo BOLL but not quite so dramatic. He accounted for compatriot Bastian STEGER in six games and then beat Liam PITCHFORD of England on his way to semis. “The last game might have been a clean sweep but all the other games were very close. He is not my favorite opponent. Recently in German Bundesleague I had a tough fight with him beat him 3-2 only. He is always difficult to play for me. I haven’t reached my highest level of play but concerning my fighting spirit everything works fine here in Berlin. I’m happy that Dima won. I support my German team-mates and especially my Dima as my buddy. I’m looking forward to playing Dima. It’s the revenge for the World Cup and it will hopefully be on a higher level. In Verviers I was rather exhausted at the end of the tournament ” said BOLL after beating PITCHFORD. Another Germany’s player reached semis. HAN Ying beat Yuka ISHIGAKI of Japan in quarters. Tomorrow she will play against Ai FUKUHARA of Japan. In Men’s Doubles Event Timo BOLL and Patrick FRANZISKA are already in the final. They will meet CHIANG Hung-Chieh and HUANG Sheng-Sheng of Taipei. At the penultimate hurdle two European pairings were halted in Women’s Doubles Event. Petrissa SOLJA and Sabine WINTER of Germany suffered by the hands of Japan’s Ai FUKUHARA and Misako WAKAMIYA whilst Iulia NECULA and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania lost against WEN Jia and ZHAO Jan of China. The winner of U21 Boys Singles Event is Masataka MORIZONO of Japan. He beat Quentin ROBINOT of France in the final. In U21 Girls Singles Event LEE Ho Ching of Hong Kong overcame Petrissa SOLJA in the final.

After three days of matches at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open Super Series in Berlin 8 players are still in game in men’s Singles Event whilst five women from the Old Continent reached Round of 16. Host nation will have most of the rep After three days of matches at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open Super Series in Berlin 8 players are still in game in men’s Singles Event whilst five women from the Old Continent reached Round of 16. Host nation will have most of the representatives in today’s matches. Timo BOLL Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Bastian STEGER the three players who had represented Germany at the London 2012 Olympic Games all recorded wins. The no.2 seed Timo Boll beat Sweden’s Pär GERELL Dimitrij OVTCHAROV the no.3 seed accounted for China’s LIANG Jingkun whilst Bastian STEGER the no.15 seed defeated Singapore’s WU Zhikang. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV was stretched to full distance in the second round against JUNG Youngsik .“That was a hard bit of work. Especially in the first 2 games he played very well. For me it was unusual to be down in my past matches I usually took the lead. I changed my tactics a little and apart from that the crowd help me massively tonight. Fans were there for me and motivated me to fight back”. Andrej GACINA OF Croatia Beat Adrian CRISAN OF Romania in Round of 32 but for the place in the quarters he will meet ZHANG Jike of China tomorrow. Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal overcame CHEN Chien An of Taipei and in next Round another Chinese player will meet him – FAN Zheondong. Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus will play against ZHOU Yu of China after he overcame Kenji MATSUDARIA of Japan. Vladimir SAMSONOV said:“Both my matches today were really tough. It takes a little bit of time to get used to the hall and the conditions so I was not quite at my best. My second match was better than my first one so I am improving. I am very satisfied that I am still in the tournament and hopefully I can play better tomorrow. In my first game I played against KARLSSON for the first time. He had really good chances to beat me. In the 3rd set he had some set balls but he took too much risk. He could have hit it safe to my backhand and I could have missed. Oh well it was good for me! “I have played Kenji a few times. The last time we played I won 4-0 the game before was 4-3 to me. Today it was tough again but I won pretty easily in the end.” Marcos FREITAS of Portugal beat Alexey SMIRNOV of Russia and now will meet CHUANG Chih-Yuan of Taipei. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany will play against Masato SHIONO of Japan and Liam PITCHFORD will meet another Japan’s player Kenta MATSUDAIRA. “I am playing the best table tennis of my life. I tried to play the same way as yesterday which was positive and aggressive and it worked again. Playing against OH was amazing he has been a legend in table tennis. I felt confident in the match as I competitive all the way through. Even the games I did lose I was leading in them at some stage. Thankfully I took the last 2 sets and won. I have known Gao Ning a long time. My plan was to hit a lot of spin to his back hand as his back hand is not as strong as his forehand. It has been a long day 3 games in 3 hours and I am about to play another match. Next I play Kenta MATSUDAIRA. I played against him Poland and I had chances so I will just go out there and play free and hopefully cause another upset ” said Liam PITCHFORD At the bottom of the draw Timo BOLL will play against Bastian STEGER in all-German duel. “I’m quite please that I’m still in the tournament. I played acceptably. When I was in the lead everything was much easier like in a flow. I hardly practiced in the past 2 months because of a shoulder injury and the flu so it takes me a while to get used to stressful match situations. Some people tell me that I’ve got some kind of talent for table tennis but after a long break it also takes me a while to get back to where I was. In the training sessions I played more released then here ” explained BOLL. In Women’s Singles Event HAN Ying of Germany will play against Germany’s WU Jiaduo Nina MITTELHAM young European champion in junior category reached the Round of 16 and tomorrow she will play against Ai FUKUHARA of Japan. 16 year-old Nina is playing at her first ever ITTF World Tour tournament. Today she excelled all expectations to beat Romania’s Elizabeta SAMARA the no.10 seed in six games. “It’s cool to play such a huge tournament. There are so many spectators over here and I get a lot of support. It’s completely different to junior events or in German Bundesleague. I’m really happy. I proceeded this far in the main draw. I haven’t thought I could. As I was ill before the tournament I could only practice for 4 days before the German Open. It was the first time that I played against SAMARA so I tried a few things. I started with a good service and then move on aggressively force the opponent to react to my game. I started well in game 1 had 9-5 and 10-8 in the lead. It’s shame that I lost. When I was 6-10 down in the 6th game I thought I didn’t want to play another game and surprised her with a few balls she could not expect – I played without pressure – and could turn this game and win the match ” said Nina. LI Xue

From 12th to 18th June 2015 Baku will host Table Tennis Events at the inaugural European Games. In 4 Medal Events during 7 days of competition will play 128 Athletes (64 Men 64 Women) in Men’s Singles and Teams as well in as Women’s Singles and Teams.  From 12th to 18th June 2015 Baku will host Table Tennis Events at the inaugural European Games. In 4 Medal Events during 7 days of competition will play 128 Athletes (64 Men 64 Women) in Men’s Singles and Teams as well in as Women’s Singles and Teams.  The venue of the tournament is Baku Sports Hall. First details about the organization and the progress in the preparation came with the first news letter. “A year ago the European Olympic Committees General Assembly gave Azerbaijan the great honour of hosting the inaugural European Games. Under the leadership of the EOC President Patrick Hickey a new and innovative multisport Games was born and entrusted to the City of Baku. Since then a significant amount of work has happened behind the scenes as we laid the foundations of the Games. Most importantly and thanks to the total support of Mrs. Mehriban ALIYEVA member of the Executive Committee of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and the Chair of the Baku 2015 European Games Organizing Committee we have obtained strong guarantees from the Government of Azerbaijan to meet all the EOC requirements. On 28-29 October 2013 the Baku 2015 European Games Operation Committee (BEGOC) hosted the second EOC Coordination Commission in Baku under the Chairmanship of Spyros CAPRALOS and we were pleased to be able to present to the EOC members the progress that has been achieved across the Baku 2015 venues masterplan sport programme and team recruitment ” said Azad RAHIMOV Minister of Youth and Sports Chief Executive Officer of Baku 2015 European Games Operation Committee. BEGOC highlighted that the European Games will be athlete-focused and a passionate celebration of European Sport. Baku 2015 will deliver the inaugural European Games in the summer of 2015 unifying people across Europe in a passionate celebration of sport. In addition by 2015 there will be flights to 60 airports across 50 cities in 22 countries. The Games will leave world class venues that will be ready to host future international sporting entertainment and other major events. These new sporting venues and facilities will leave a meaningful legacy especially for the Azerbaijani youth for decades to come. 18 European Federations have confirmed that their sports will form part of the European Games programme. The BEGOC Sport Department has met with each of the 18 European Federations and most have already visited Baku to confirm the number of athletes per sport disciplines and events that will be included in the European Games and the qualification process for these. Many innovations in the sport programme have been included in these Games to make them a truly unique European model that the EOC can take forward for future editions. The EOC is still in discussions with the European Athletics Association in relation to the exact format that Athletics may play in these inaugural European Games. BECOG has worked closely with the EFs to agree how athletes will qualify for the Games and will provide NOCs with detailed information on the Sports Entries and Qualification processes by sport in time for the EOC Secretaries General Seminar in May 2014.

The main draw of the Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open Super Series in Berlin is finally completed. All 64 names in both Events are known. 32 seeded players are joined by 32 qualifiers; players who went thr The main draw of the Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour German Open Super Series in Berlin is finally completed. All 64 names in both Events are known. 32 seeded players are joined by 32 qualifiers; players who went through serious challenges in two days of fierce battles. In Men’s Singles Event after Group stages in Preliminary Round 32 players succeed. Among them are Europeans: LI Ahmet and VANG Bora of Turkey Marko JEVTOVIC of Serbia Damien ELOI Benjamin BROSSIER and Abdel Kader SALIFOU of France Daniel HABESOHN of Austria Liam PITCHFORD of England Lubomir JANCARIK of Czech Republic Ricardo WALTERS of Germany Par GERELL Kristian KARLSSON and Fabian AKERSTROM of Sweden Dimitrij PROKOPCOV of Czech Republic Ivan KATKOV of Ukraine. Tomorrow in the first round of the main draw Timo BOLL of Germany will meet par GERELL whilst in the first round Dimitrij OVCTCHAROV will play against Chinese player LIANG Jingkun… Second stage of the Women’s Event qualifications successfully concluded young stars Bernadette SZOCS of Romania Nina MITTELHAM of Germany as well as Galia DVORAK of Spain. In the opening round of the Women’s Singles main draw Viktoria PAVLOVICH of Belarus will play against LEE I Chen of Korea SHEN Yanfei of SPAIN will meet Bernadette SZOCS Daniela DODEAN MONTEIRO will meet Zhenqi BARTHEL of Germany…  

ITTF World Tour event of the year begins tomorrow. Part of the top-tier Super Series the German Open will be held in Berlin Germany. A record field of 384 players of which an astonishing 44 of them have previously won a World Tour event have made the ITTF World Tour event of the year begins tomorrow. Part of the top-tier Super Series the German Open will be held in Berlin Germany. A record field of 384 players of which an astonishing 44 of them have previously won a World Tour event have made the trip to Berlin from 41 countries. All of them are fighting for the 16 men’s and 16 women’s singles positions at the 1-million-dollar GAC Group World Tour Grand Finals to be held 9-12 January 2013 in Dubai. World and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) listed in fourth place on the men’s singles World Tour standings and already secured a place in Dubai is making his return to international table tennis here at the German Open. The 25-year-old has not played internationally since he pulled out in the quarterfinals of the China Open in June 2013 through injury and had also missed last month’s Men’s World Cup. Despite the grand slam champion making his long awaited comeback most of the attention in Berlin’s Max-Schmeling-Halle will be on the defending champion and local hero Dimtrij OVTCHAROV (GER). OVTCHAROV who recently became European Champion for the first time is currently 12th on the World Tour singles standings and needs a strong performance to secure his qualification into the World Tour Grand Finals. At the pre-event press conference on 12 November 2013 the 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 Men’s World Cup bronze medalist stated: “After winning the German Open in 2012 against Timo BOLL in the final I am desperate to do it again. Berlin is a great city and I have many friends here so I am looking forward to the event.” world’s best table tennis players are also battling it out for the men’s and women’s doubles gold medals and the men’s and women’s under 21 crowns at the German Open. The action begins tomorrow 13 November with 2 days of qualification to determine which players will join the 32 seeded players in the main 64-player knockout draw which begins Friday 15 November 2013. The final two GAC Group 2013 World Tour events in the race to Dubai are: GAC Group ITTF World Tour Major Series Russian Open: Ekaterinburg Russia – 20-24 November 2013 GAC Group ITTF World Tour Major Series Swedish Open: Stockholm SWE – 27 November – 1 December 2013.  

The third last GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour event of the year begins tomorrow. Part of the top-tier Super Series the German Open will be held in Berlin Germany. A record field of 384 players of which an astonishing 44 of them have previously won a Wo The third last GAC Group 2013 ITTF World Tour event of the year begins tomorrow. Part of the top-tier Super Series the German Open will be held in Berlin Germany. A record field of 384 players of which an astonishing 44 of them have previously won a World Tour event have made the trip to Berlin from 41 countries. All of them are fighting for the 16 men’s and 16 women’s singles positions at the 1-million-dollar GAC Group World Tour Grand Finals to be held 9-12 January 2013 in Dubai. World and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike (CHN) listed in fourth place on the men’s singles World Tour standings and already secured a place in Dubai is making his return to international table tennis here at the German Open. The 25-year-old has not played internationally since he pulled out in the quarterfinals of the China Open in June 2013 through injury and had also missed last month’s Men’s World Cup. Despite the grand slam champion making his long awaited comeback most of the attention in Berlin’s Max-Schmeling-Halle will be on the defending champion and local hero Dimtrij OVTCHAROV (GER). OVTCHAROV who recently became European Champion for the first time is currently 12th on the World Tour singles standings and needs a strong performance to secure his qualification into the World Tour Grand Finals. At the pre-event press conference on 12 November 2013 the 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 Men’s World Cup bronze medalist stated: “After winning the German Open in 2012 against Timo BOLL in the final I am desperate to do it again. Berlin is a great city and I have many friends here so I am looking forward to the event.” “I am glad ZHANG Jike is playing as I think I am getting closer to the level of the Chinese and I love the challenge against the best ” added OVTCHAROV who this month became the highest world-ranked European player. Fellow 2012 Olympic Games bronze medalist FENG Tianwei (SIN) is the women’s number one seed and favourite to win her second World Tour title of 2013. The Singaporean is currently 9th on the women’s singles World Tour standings and has already met the criteria to qualify for Dubai. Second seed Kasumi ISHIKAWA (JPN) who is standing in 10th position will be looking to regain her form after a disappointing 2013 in addition to qualifying for Dubai. Spain’s SHEN Yanfei and Hong Kong’s JIANG Huajun are the respective third and fourth seeds followed by Japan’s Ai FUKUHARA and Belarus’s Viktoria PAVLOVICH. The world’s best table tennis players are also battling it out for the men’s and women’s doubles gold medals and the men’s and women’s under 21 crowns at the German Open. The action begins tomorrow 13 November with 2 days of qualification to determine which players will join the 32 seeded players in the main 64-player knockout draw which begins Friday 15 November 2013. The final two GAC Group 2013 World Tour events in the race to Dubai are: GAC Group ITTF World Tour Major Series Russian Open: Ekaterinburg Russia – 20-24 November 2013 GAC Group ITTF World Tour Major Series Swedish Open: Stockholm SWE – 27 November – 1 December 2013.  

Tees Sport West of Scotland Open is the biggest competition in Scotland and for the first time is part of the ETTA Grand Prix Circuit for season 2013/2014. The Event will be held on 25th/26th January 2014 in Glasgow Club Scotstoun. Total prize fund is £1. Tees Sport West of Scotland Open is the biggest competition in Scotland and for the first time is part of the ETTA Grand Prix Circuit for season 2013/2014. The Event will be held on 25th/26th January 2014 in Glasgow Club Scotstoun. Total prize fund is £1.082; Men’s Singles winner will gain £ 314 Women’s winner £ 180. Men’s Band 1 winner £ 62 Women’s Band 1 winner £ 52. Click here to get the entry form