1st Championships for Table Tennis Match Officials
The 1 st Championships for Match Officials concluded this Saturday in Austria. Umpires and Referees from Russia Sweden Germany Hungary Czech Republic Poland and Austria played two days. Germany Poland and Austria won the first titles.
In the team’s event Sweden and Germany faced no big difficulties on their way to the finals. The German Team (Lothar JANDER Hans-Peter WÖRNER Stefan LABITZKE and Jörg BAUMGART) won 3:0 against Liam SCHOUG his brother Lukas and Anders NILSSON from Sweden. Czech Republic finished third.
In Women Individual Events Poland and Austria met in the final matches. The Austrian players Renate BURG and Pia STRAUSS won the Women Doubles but the Single Event was in control of Poland. Malgorzata FIDALA won 3:0 against her teammate Agata BIESAGA.
In the Men´s Double Event Hans-Peter WÖRNER and Stefan LABITZKE won against Jan BENES and Emanuel VOTIPKA from Czech Republic.
In Men Individual Events Sweden and Germany met again in the semifinals. Stefan LABITZKE who already won the gold medal in the team event and the Men´s Double title halted the progress of the SCHOUG brothers from Sweden. He beat Liam in the Semifinal and Lukas in the Final.
During the official dinner on Friday the president of the Austrian Table Tennis Association Hans FRIEDINGER and the mayor from Haid/Ansfelden congratulated the players for their dedication to table tennis as match officials but also for their performance as players. At the same time the Austrian umpires Erich and Norbert TRAXLER finished their career as umpires after 30 years and both of them received the silver badge of honour for his work for the Austrian Table Tennis Association.
