Antibes rejoices as Simon GAUZY powers past Timo BOLL

Cheers of ‘ALLEZ SIMON!!!’ filled the Azur Arena in Antibes after the host nation’s Simon GAUZY put in a delightful showing to defeat five-time champion of the tournament Timo BOLL at the quarterfinal of the 2017 ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup.

 

GAUZY overcame BOLL at both the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships and the Liebherr 2016 European Championships and now the Frenchman has beaten BOLL in their first encounter of 2017 in the quarter-finals stage of the Europe Top 16 competition.

 

After the opening three games it was BOLL who held the advantage but with the help of the home crowd GAUZY continued to fight and the capture of three successive games gave the 22-year-old the win (11-8 3-11 4-11 11-7 11-8 11-7).

 

“I performed quite well. I’ve beaten him the last four times so it was hard for him to play against me. But in the end he’s the kind of guy that doesn’t allow himself to lose four or five times in a row to the same player so I had to think about two three four different types of tactics against him because he played incredibly aggressive in the second and third games so I had to play a little bit faster a little bit more aggressive and it worked out” Simon GAUZY.

 

Alexander SHIBAEV was a big headline maker at the 2016 Europe Top 16 event in Gondomar Portugal where he surprisingly managed to finish in third position.

One year later in Antibes the Russian player will once again have the chance to finish on the podium after he edged out the no.7 seed Tiago APOLONIA in seven games to move into the semi-finals (11-5 5-11 9-11 11-8 11-5 10-12 11-5).

 

“I’m quite happy with the performance I gave and my psychological feelings. Maybe it wasn’t my best match but I’m quite happy and tomorrow we will go again… I’m quite okay with playing Simon GAUZY in the last four and I’m going to be ready for tomorrow’s game” Alexander SHIBAEV.

 

Also moving through to the last four is Ukraine’s tournament debutant KOU Lei after he saw off Croatia’s Andrej GACINA across seven games. KOU who defeated Vladimir SAMSONOV in his last match of day one put in a strong display in his match with GACINA on the second day of the event and was able to prevent the Croatian player from stealing the result (11-7 11-7 8-11 9-11 11-9 8-11 11-6).

 

The other semi-finalist is Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV following his straight games win over Stefan FEGERL of Austria (11-4 11-8 11-5 11-9).

 

OVTCHAROV is the Men’s Singles winner of the previous two Europe Top 16 competitions and he is just two match wins away from potentially picking up the 2017 title.

 

Related News

ETTU to Launch Coach Education System in 2025

ETTU is proud to announce the launch of the ETTU Coach Education System (CES), developed in cooperation with ASCENT Academy, with implementation starting in 2025. You can see the document...

Read more

Havířov to Host U23 Para-Eurotalents Development Camp in September

ETTU is pleased to announce that the U23 Para-Eurotalents Development Camp powered by JOOLA will be held in Havířov, Czech Republic, from 7 to 12 September 2025. Organised in close...

Read more

ETTU Launches EUROSPINS: New Development Program for Europe’s Brightest Young Talents

The ETTU is proud to unveil EUROSPINS, a brand-new development initiative designed to support Europe’s most promising young table tennis players. The program will offer selected athletes the unique opportunity...

Read more

Eurotalents Selection Camp II Set for August in Riga

The ETTU Eurotalents Selection Camp II powered by JOOLA will take place in Riga, Latvia, from August 3 to 9, 2025, gathering Europe’s most promising young table tennis players. Hosted...

Read more

Contact

About Us

Privacy Policy

Terms and Conditions

The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe, and is the only authority recognized for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ETTU deals with all matters relating to table tennis at a European level, including the development and promotion of the sport in the territories controlled by its 58 member associations, and the organization of continental table tennis competitions, including the European Championships.

Powered By

All Competitions

Senior Competitions

Club Competitions

Youth Competitions

More Competitions