European Table Tennis Union invited 48 players for each Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the 2019 European Under 21 Table Tennis Championships. The Championships will be host by The Portuguese Table Tennis Federation in the venue of Multiusos de Gondomar from 7th to 10th March 2019.
The maximum number of entries for the U21 Championships is 56 men and 56 women players. The ETTU Congress in September 2018 in Alicante gave permission for 2019 to invite the highest ranked 48 men and 48 women players derived from the December 2018 European Under 21 ranking lists. Up to 8 men and 8 women will receive a wildcard. If less than 8 wildcards will be used the next eligible player(s) from the December 2018 European Under 21 ranking lists will be invited.
The winner of the Men’s Singles title in 2018 BELGOSSTRAKH European Under 21 Championships Tomas POLANSKI of Czech Republic is invited to Portugal as no. 25 in Europe now. Last year runner up Cristian PLETA of Romania bronze medalists at the recently finished World Championships is also on the list currently placed at the position no. 6. At the top of the rankings is Darko JORGIC of Slovenia last year’s semifinalist. No. two at the list is Anders LIND of Denmark followed by another semifinalists Rares SIPOS of Romania.
Belgium’s Lisa LUNG head the Women’s European Under 21 list. No. two is reigning champion Mariia TAILAKOVA of Russia followed by her compatriot and last year’s runner up Valeria SHCHERBATYKH. The list of invited players goes on with two French players Audrey ZARIF and Marie MIGOT.
The last available published U21 ranking will be used for the draw and the seeding. In singles events 8 seeded players will be directly placed in stage Two. The remaining 48 players will play in a qualification in 12 groups. The winner and the runner-up from each group will qualify for stage Two.
In Stage Two the 24 qualifiers from stage 1 and the 8 seeded players will be drawn into 8 groups. The winner and the runner-up from each group will qualify for stage Three. The 8 seeded players will be placed in descending ranking order respectively at the top of the groups 13 to 20. The winners of the groups 1 to 8 in Stage 1 shall be drawn on position 2 in these groups the winners and runners-up of the groups 9 to 12 shall be drawn on position 3 and the runners-up of the groups 1 to 8 on position 4.
The Draw for singles and doubles events will take place on Wednesday 6th March 2019 at 18.00 at the venue.
Full list of the invited players you can see here
