The 2016/17 ECLW starts reigning champion hosts Postas

This Friday all four Round 1 games will be held as TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE E.V plays against POSTAS SPORT EGYESULET (19:00 CET). Second seeded KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg against SKST Stavoimpex Hodonin (live on LAOLA1.tv 18:00)

The 2016/17 European Champions League Women commences this Friday September 30th with all four Round 1 matches together: TTC Berlin Eastside – Postas Sport Egyesulet (Group A 19:00) UCAM Cartagena – TuS bad Driburg (Group B 19:00) BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR – ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly (Group C 18:30) and KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg – SKST Stavoimpex Hodonin (Group D 18:00).

Defending champion from Berlin is clear favorite against Hungarian side having five players ranked among the best 46 at the ITTF World Ranking list: Petrissa SOLJA (No. 14) SHAN Xiaona (No. 25) Georgina POTA (No. 36) Yui HAMAMOTO (No. 37) and Miyu KATO (no. 46 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE E.V.). German side is composed to reach new ECLW crown starting again as No. 1 seed. They will play for their fourth ECLW title. Last year they finished unbeaten.

Postas changed its squad last summer as now has two former individual European champions LI Jiao (current World No. 34) and Ruta PASKAUSKIENE (No. 111).

In Group B No. 3 seed UCAM Cartagena hosts newcomer from Germany TuS bad Driburg. Spanish side is much stronger than last season signing three Top 50 players CHENG I Ching (World No. 8) Matilda EKHOLM (No. 42) and Tetyana BILENKO (No. 49). Cartagena is huge favorite against last placed team on the seeding list.

Current ETTU Cup runner-up Turkey’s BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR starts new season on its soil against ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly from France. Turkish side engaged strong Singaporean player YU Mengyu (No. 16) to make respectable line-up with HU Melek (No. 24) and Alexandra PRIVALOVA (No. 97). On the opposite side most familiar name is the 2013 individual European champion LI Fen (No. 39).

Second seed and actual ECLW runner-up KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg did one change in its line-up: two times individual European champion Viktoria PAVLOVICH (World No. 55) replaced Natalia PARTYKA (No. 80) who became a new member of Czech Republic’s SKST Stavoimpex Hodonin. And these two clubs will meet in the Group D Round 1 game.

The upcoming ECLW season gathers many top class players. Among them are: HAN Ying (World No. 7 KTS – TARNOBRZEG) CHENG I Cheng (No. 8 UCAM CARTAGENA) YU Mengyu (No. 16 BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR) Petrissa SOLJA (No. 14 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE E.V.) LIU Jia (No. 18 LINZ AG FROSCHBERG) HU Melek (No. 24 BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR) SHAN Xiaona (No. 25 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE E.V.) ZENG Jian (No. 27 TT SAINT QUENTIN) Elizabeta SAMARA (No. 28 METZ TT) FU Yu (No. 30 METZ TT) LI Qian (No. 33 KTS – TARNOBRZEG) LI Jiao (No. 34 POSTAS SPORT EGYESÜLET) Georgina POTA (No. 36 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE E.V.) Yui HAMAMOTO (No. 37 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE E.V.) LI Fen (No. 39 ALCL TT GRAND QUEVILLY) Matilda EKHOLM (No. 42 UCAM CARTAGENA) Polina MIKHAILOVA (No. 45 SZEKSZARD AC) Miyu KATO (No. 46 TTC BERLIN EASTSIDE E.V.) Tetyana BILENKO (No. 49 UCAM CARTAGENA).

The 2016/17 ECLW Round 1 (September 30th)

Group A 19:00 TTC Berlin Eastside – Postas Sport Egyesulet

Group B 19:00 UCAM Cartagena – TuS bad Driburg

Group C 18:30 BURSA BÜYÜKŞEHİR BELEDİYESPOR – ALCL TT Grand-Quevilly

Group D 18:00 KTS Siarka-ZOT Tarnobrzeg – SKST Stavoimpex Hodonin (live on LAOLA1.tv)