03/01/2012 – Liam PITCHFORD has won the table tennis Olympic Athlete of the Year award for the second successive year. The award was introduced in 2005 to mark the British Olympic Association’s centenary year and the success of London being aw https://www.ettu.org 03/01/2012 – Liam PITCHFORD has won the table tennis Olympic Athlete of the Year award for the second successive year. The award was introduced in 2005 to mark the British Olympic Association’s centenary year and the success of London being awarded the 2012 Games. Previous table tennis winners include Paul DRINKHALL (twice) and Kelly SIBLEY in 2009. After winning in 2010 PITCHFORD is joined in the 2011 awards by athletes such as Keri-Anne PAYNE (Aquatics) Mo FARAH (Athletics) and Andy MURRAY (Tennis).Pitchford’s award success is no surprise this year after his astonishing progress over the last 12 months. The 18-year-old’s progress came in tandem with his training at German Bundesliga side TTF LLIEBHERR Ochsenhausen – a European Champions League team including Portugal’s Tiago APOLONIA where Pitchford now applies his trade. PITCHFORD acknowledges this has helped him greatly over the last year. He said: “I have been getting more different practice out in Germany. Next year I’m hoping to play quite a few league matches – I’ll probably be away quite a lot.”He added: “Hopefully I’ll get a bit more experience. Obviously playing better players helps but sometimes you need to play against a lower standard of player so you know you can play well against them.” His 2011 began with his world ranking at 269 but he began well at the English Open in January where he signaled his intent with a 4-3 victory over Austrian Stephen Fegerl after trailing 2-0 at one stage. Things got better in March for the star from Derbyshire when he became the Under-21s National Champion after beating DRINKHALL 3-1 in the final in Sheffield. During the tournament he also reached the doubles final with DRINKHALL and the semi-final of the mens’ singles. He showed this form again in July when he helped the Junior Boys team to the semi-finals of the European Youth Championships in Russia before they lost to the host nation while he also reached the quarter-finals of the singles event. However despite all this he was still ranked 275 in the world and second in England in the August rankings – and then one tournament changed everything. In October he hit the headlines with victories over Vladimir SAMSONOV (9) Alexey SMIRNOV (20) and Dmitrij PROKOPCOV (51) among other scalps which catapulted the teenager into the limelight at the European Championships in Poland. PITCHFORD said his victory over SAMSONOV didn’t feel any different or special despite the incredible result: “To be honest I didn’t feel that I was playing that well. It was my first game of the tournament and I didn’t feel amazing. “However he knows this experience can help him next year with the added confidence he has grown. He said: “I’m hoping to do as well as I can in all the tournaments I can play in and hopefully qualify for the Olympics. I have proved I can beat the top 20 players if I play well so I don’t see why not.” He followed his success in Poland with more in Bahrain when he reached the quarter-finals of the World Junior Championships. He beat Chinese player Jiaji Wu 4-2 en-route while also reaching the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles with his partner Petrissa SOLJA. His run of excellent results propelled him up 104 places in the world to 171st in the December rankings as well as becoming the new English number one and the world number 14 Under-18 player. What lies ahead for the youngster in 2012 is anyone’s guess but we can expect more fireworks from this prestigious talent in the coming year and perhaps a shock or two if he is selected for the Olympic Games in the summer. (by Russell MOORE courtesy ETTA) Photo: Liem PITCHFORD (Photo Roscher) Photo: Liem PITCHFORD (Photo Roscher)

29/12/2011 – After elections held on the 28th of December 2011 the Belarus Table Tennis Federation has the new President – Mr. Vladimir AMARIN. President AMARIN previously held a post of the Deputy President. That was the main decision of the

29/12/2011 – The General Assembly of the French Table Tennis Federation was held last Saturday in the French “Maison du Sport” in Paris. During this General Assembly the new President of the FFTT has been elected. New leading person in t https://www.ettu.org 29/12/2011 – The General Assembly of the French Table Tennis Federation was held last Saturday in the French “Maison du Sport” in Paris. During this General Assembly the new President of the FFTT has been elected. New leading person in the Federation is Christian PALIERNE. After the speech Jacques H

27/12/2011 – In the second round of the Russian Club Championships held from 22nd to 25th December in Saint-Petersburg duel between Championships leaders Fakel GAZPROM from Orenburg and UMMC from Verhnyaya Pyshma highlighted the end of the year. Fa https://www.ettu.org 27/12/2011 – In the second round of the Russian Club Championships held from 22nd to 25th December in Saint-Petersburg duel between Championships leaders Fakel GAZPROM from Orenburg and UMMC from Verhnyaya Pyshma highlighted the end of the year. Fakel GAZPROM main rivals for the title and came forward with two points ahead of UMMC. Now they have a good chance to take overall victory after four rounds of Russia’s league. Vladimir SAMSONOV won all three points for the winning team. Belarus star overcame Michael MAZE 3:1 HOU Inghcao by same margin and with Alexey SMIRNOV beat HOU and SCHETININ in doubles. Alexander SHIBAEV scored for UMMC. He accounted at Dimitrij OVTCHAROV whilst HOU beat Alexey SMIRNOV so after three matches UMMC was in the lead 2:1. However Fakel returned to the winning track in doubles and OVTCHAROV beat MAZE 3:2 to secure less stressful finish for SAMSONOV in duel against HOU. There is no space for error any more for UMMC. This was their second defeat in two seasons. Also in this round Ukraine’s Ivan KATKOV showed great performance in SDUSHOR-13 Nizhny Novgorod. In the last match against Fakel Ivan beat Vladimir SAMSONOV and Alexey SMIRNOV. The following rounds will be held in January and April 2012. (by Alex LOMAEV) Photo: the match between HOU and SAMSONOV (Photo Serghey MAKARENKOV)

26/12/2011 – The Royal Spanish Tennis Federation Board has reached an agreement with the firm Tamasu BUTTERFLY Europe GmbH to take charge of dressing the national teams of all categories to represent Spain in international competition. The Japanese

20/12/2011 – In Spain Cajasur Priego T.M. took DKV Borges VALL’s top position at the standings in direct duel. New leader beat Borges in full distance match last week to secure spot no. one. San Sebastian De Los Reyes is at the position no. th 20/12/2011 – In Spain Cajasur Priego T.M. took DKV Borges VALL’s top position at the standings in direct duel. New leader beat Borges in full distance match last week to secure spot no. one. San Sebastian De Los Reyes is at the position no. three. They preserved their place despite the defeat against Irun Leka Enea last week. Arteal – Santiago beat CTM Hispalis and moved up at the standings whilst UCAM-Floymape Cartagena went one position down. Caja De Burgos – Banca Civica lost against C.E.R. L