The last two editions of the CCB Europe Top 16 Cup saw the same winners with Darko JORGIC of Slovenia and HAN Ying of Germany clinching titles in the Men’s and Women’s singles events in Montreux in 2023 and 2022. For the 53rd edition of the tournament scheduled to take place on Saturday January 20th and Sunday January 21st 2024 Darko JORGIC will try to defend his title.
Darko JORGIC is seeded at position no. 4 and is currently ranked 14th in the world. Last week he played at the WTT Finals returned to Germany for the semis and finals of the Germany’s Cup where his 1. FC Saarbrücken TT lost to Borussia Düsseldorf. Immediately after he returned to Doha where he was playing at the WTT Star Contender.
“I am in pretty good shape not perfect but I am okay. In Doha I had a very good match against China’s FAN Zhendong. I lost 2-3 but after a long time I was happy with my performance. I had a few chances for victory. Eventually I lost but I boosted my self-confidence with a good performance ” explained JORGIC.
Similar oscillations JORGIC faced in the final of the Germany’s Cup in the match against Timo BOLL which he also lost by a narrow margin.
“It was the same in Germany a lot of variations good shots and some unsatisfying play. There is some fine-tuning needed to reach the right shape for one of the most important tournaments for me CCB Europe Top 16 Cup.”
Speaking about winning the titles in Montreux we asked Darko when it was more difficult: to win it for the first time or to defend it.
“It was much harder to defend it in 2023. My matches against QIU Dang in the final and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV in the semis last year were very difficult on the edge of the knife. Especially difficult was to play against QIU who beat me in the final of the European singles championships. The competition is very fierce this year.
“I will play for the fifth time at the tournament and I cannot recall we had fiercer competition. To defend the title and clinch it for a third time will be extremely difficult.”
Winning at such a tournament with a long history and being among the creme de la creme of Europe is a special feeling for JORGIC.
“It is a phenomenal feeling to be invited and to play at Top 16. Everyone from Europe loves to play there. It is something special. It is a short tournament but packed with suspense top-quality matches fantastic audience and the fabulous city of Montreux and Lake Geneva. I enjoy it to the fullest each time. I feel Montreux like ‘my’ town.”
The list of participants includes Felix LEBRUN of France the World’s number 12 Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Dang QIU of Germany Swede Anton KALLBERG Marcos FREITAS of Portugal Truls MOREGARD of Sweden Alexis LEBRUN of France Liam PITCHFORD of England Danes Jonathan GROTH and Anders LIND Portugal’s Joao GERALDO Spain’s Alvaro ROBLES Croatia’s Tomislav PUCAR Ukraine’s Yaroslav ZHMUDENKO and the host nation representative Loic STOLL.
“They are all in top shape especially Germany’s Sweden’s and French players. They are top favorites for the title. I hope to be better than them. I also hope to have a good draw. If I open the tournament well and gain the audience on my side from the beginning to lift me up I hope I can repeat the success.”
Looking back at 2023 JORGIC said “One of the highlights of the season was the win at Top 16 at the very beginning of the year. I remained among the top 20 players in the world. I am not that happy with the second half of the season because I had a few lows. It showed at the rankings since I went from position 8th to 14th. Privately I became a father of a son. That is something special that fulfills me as a person.”
What is the goal for 2024?
“We could already feel the tension of the Olympic year among all the players. We are all running and fighting to gain more points in the rankings. Not only the Europeans it is the same nerve-wracking feeling we can feel among the Asian players. Same for me. My goal is to be at the Olympics again. Primarily I hope that team Slovenia will play at the Olympics again. It would be difficult since Bojan TOKIC is not playing for the national team anymore and we have a very young lineup.”
