Invitation for the 2017 ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup announced
Invitation for the 2017 ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup 3-5 February Antibes (FRA) are announced with 32 names in both competitions altogether plus reserve players. Current ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup winner Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and actual European champion and 2016 Top 16 runner-up HU Melek are on the top of lists followed by Vladimir SAMSONOV and Petrissa SOLJA respectively.
Host audience will have a joy to see two finalists from the recent LIEBHERR 2016 ITTF European Championships champion Emmanuel LEBESSON and runner-up Simon GAUZY.
Men`s invitation list promises fantastic event bearing in mind that all 16 top European players are here: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER European No. 1) Vladimir SAMSONOV (BLR No. 2) Timo BOLL (GER No. 3) Marcos FREITAS (POR No. 4) Simon GAUZY (FRA No. 5) Stefan FEGERL (AUT No. 6) Bastian STEGER (GER No. 7) Tiago APOLONIA (POR No. 8) Kristian KARLSSON (SWE No. 9) Andrej GACINA (CRO No. 10) Mattias KARLSSON (SWE No. 11) Emmanuel LEBESSON (FRA No. 12) KOU Lei (UKR No. 13) Joao MONTEIRO (POR No. 14) Alexander SHIBAEV (RUS No. 15) Jonathan GROTH (DEN No. 16).
Last year`s Women`s champion SHEN Yanfei (Spain) decided to retire from the table tennis but her name is still on the Invitation list due to regulations (European ranking from December 1st is valid). Newly crowned European champion HU Melek (Turkey European No. 2) who finished behind best Spanish player in the latest Europe Top 16 will compete in Antibes.
Twelve out of 16 best ranked women`s players of Old Continent are on the Invitation list (top ranked HAN Ying are not among them). Beside HU Melek they are: Petrissa SOLJA (GER No. 3) Elizabeta SAMARA (ROU No. 4) LIU Jia (AUT No. 4) LI Jie (NED No. 7) LI Qian (POL No. 9) Georgina POTA (HUN No. 10) Matilda EKHOLM (SWE No. 11) LI Jiao (NED No. 12) Sabine WINTER (GER No. 13) SHEN Yanfei (ESP No. 14) Polina MIKHAILOVA (RUS No. 15) Daniela MONTEIRO DODEAN (ROU No. 17) Sofia POLCANOVA (AUT No. 20) Viktoria PAVLOVICH (BLR No. 21) while the 16th name on the list will be the best ranked French player.
