Draw to be held this Friday July 6th in Saarbrucken
The meeting and draw for the 2018/19 Table Tennis Champions League Men will take place this Friday July 6th at the Victor’s Residenz-Hotel in Saarbrücken (13h30 to 19h00 CET). As usual top 16 European clubs are going to participate in this prestigious competition divided in four groups.
After seven years Fakel Gazprom Orenburg will not be drawn no. 1 seed as this place belongs to the actual TTCLM champion and 11-times winner Borussia Dusseldorf. Last time Timo BOLL & Co. topped the seeding list seven years ago and this time they have 37 121 points followed by two Russian clubs Orenburg (36 775) and TTSC UMMC (28 001) Germany`s Saarbrucken (24 063) Poland`s Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (21 903) two-times TTCLM winner AS Pontoise Cergi (France 21 871) GV Hennebont (Frnce 20 298)…
A total 34 players ranked among the Top 100 at the ITTF World Ranking list are promising spectacular season with some new names like UMMC`s FANG Bo from China (actual No. 32) the runner-up from the 2015 ITTF World Championships in Suzhou.
Many clubs have made significant changes in their line-ups. Defending champion Borussia signed the 2018 ITTF African-Cup winner Omar ASSAR (WR 17) instead of Stefan FEGERL while 2017/18 TTCLM runner-up Orenburg has parted ways with former Assian champion Jun MIZUTANI and signed 2015 ITTF European Championships silver medalist Marcos FREITAS (WR 16). Four-time TTCLM champion Fakel Gazprom now has three former Borussia`s players: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (WR 3) Marcos FREITAS and Vladimir SAMSONOV (WR 26).
No. 3 seed and 2012 runner-up UMMC strengthened its line-up with one more world class player Jonathan GROTH (WR 19) from Denmark. No. 4 Saarbrucken kept just one member from its last year`s starting trio Patrick FRANZISKA (WR 25) while LIAO Cheng-Ting (WR 46) and Darko JORGIC (WR 67) are new names.
Sporting Clube de Portugal actual No. 9 seed and last season`s semi-finalists is continuing with the same line-up from their debuting campaign: Aruna QUADRI (WR 22) Joao MONTEIRO (WR 71) Diogo CARVALHO (WR 194).
German Post SV Mühlhausen 1951 e.V the 2018/19 No. 10 seed will be unique TTCLM newcomer. They will be represented by former Niederosterreich`s Daniel HABESOHN (WR 53) Ovidiu IONESCU (WR 64) Lubomir JANCARIK (WR 113) and Steffen MENGEL (358).
2018/19 Table Tennis Champions League Men
1 Borussia Düsseldorf (GER) 37121
2 Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg (RUS) 36775
3 TTSC “UMMC” (RUS) 28001
4 FC Saarbrücken TT (GER) 24063
5 KS Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (POL) 21903
6 AS Pontoise Cergy TT (FRA) 21871
7 GV Hennebont TT (FRA) 20298
8 K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo (POL) 19760
9 Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR) 18726
10 Post SV Mühlhausen 1951 e.V. (GER) 18477
11 VS Angers TT (FRA) 15850
12 Stella Sport La Romagne (FRA) 12615
13 Table Tennis Club Ostrava 2016 (CZE) 11323
14 Roskilde Bordtennis BTK 61 (DEN) 9648
15 SPG Walter Wels (AUT) 9577
16 Eslövs AI BTK (SWE) 8845
