Individual championships of Russia was held in Sochi. Both champions are actual No. 133 on ITTF World ranking list
Two World No. 133 players Alexey LIVENTSOV and Olga VOROBEVA are crowned individual champions of Russia. They concluded championships in Sochi by their victories against Grigory VLASOV and Yulia PROKHOROVA respectively.
In the final clash of Men`s Singles Event LIVENTSOV overcame second seed World No. 75 VLASOV in six games 4:2 (7:11 11:8 10:12 11:3 11:7 11:6). UMMC`s player VLASOV was two sets down (0:2 1:3) in the semi-final duel against Vasily LAKEEV (World No. 130) but won 4:3 while LIVENTSOV defeated Taras MERZLIKIN in five games.
Men`s top seed World No. 85 Mikhail PAIKOV was beaten by Fedor KUZMIN (No. 153) in the second round after full seven games. Former World Top 30 player Kirill SKACHKOV (actual No. 103) lost to LAKEEV in the quarter-final stage.
VOROBEVA prevailed against No. 83 Yulia PROKHOROVA (No. 83) in the gold medal contest 4:1 (9:11 11:8 11:9 11:2 11:9). World No. 133 was earlier extended to full distance by Yana NOSKOVA (No. 73) playing semi-final match. In other semis PROKHOROVA was better than Ekaterina GUSEVA (No. 160).
World No. 88 Anna TIKHOMIROVA created biggest upset as she eliminated in the Round 2 top seeded Polina MIKHAILOVA (World No. 42) after full saven games. One more big surprise came from No. 210 Daria CHERNORAY who beat World No. 67 Maria DOLGIKH.
Regarding other events champions are: Grigory VLASOV/Fedor KUZMIN (Men`s Doubles) Yulia PROKHOROVA/Eketerina GUSEVA (Women`s Doubles) and Viacheslav BUROV/Olga VOROBEVA.
The chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Table Tennis Federation of Russia Igor LEVITIN congratulated to all medal holders and stressed that they showed that Russian table tennis is in good shape.
Text and photo by Alex Lomaev
