Golden boy ZHANG Jike awaits Europe

March 14, 2013
12:00 am
Euro-Asia All Stars Challenge

This weekend, Qingdao (China) on 16th and 17th March, will host first leg of 2013 Euro-Asia All Stars Series match. Host Continent’s elite will be led by the reigning Olympic and World champion, China’s ZHANG Jike, whilst best ranked player in European te,

In the past two years, it seems that everything ZHANG Jike has touched had turned to gold. World’s no. three made fantastic progress since October 2009, when he made his debut for the Chinese National Men’s Team at the World Team Cup in the Austrian city of Linz. On a first day he will play against World’s no. 11 Vladimir SAMSONOV, three times European champion, player who never missed Europe-Asia All Stars Event in five years series.

On Day 2 , Chinese super star will meet Old Continent’s best player in Qingdao – World’s no. 7 and Europe’s no. two – Dimitrij OVTCHAROV. It will be re – run of the Olympic Games semi final. In London ZHANG beat OVTCHAROV in five games.

On the opening day Jun MIZUTANI World’s no 9 and experienced Austria’s CHEN Weixing will kick off the Event. CHEN is currently ranked at position no. 30 at the rankings.

JOO Sehyuk of Korea placed at position no. 13 at the rankings and Romania’s Adrian CRISAN World’s no 19 will play second match of the day and the competition will goes on with the duels between ZHANG Jike and SAMSONOV. World’s no 6 and 7 Chinese Taipei’s CHUANG Chih Yuan and OVTCHAROV will show their skills in match number 4, whilst Hong Kong’s JIANG Tianyui and Portugal’s Marcos FREITAS will close the day one program.

Total prize money is 95,000 Euros. Winning team will receive 63,000.

Team Europe will lead former World Champion in doubles and actual head-coach of German national team Jorg ROSSKOPF. Physiotherapist who will travel with the team is Birgit SCHMIDT (GER).

Photo: ZHANG Jike, Olympic and World Champion (Photo Roscher)

Croatia and Poland shine in decisive ties in London

At the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026, 11 European women’s teams secured places in the knockout phase following Stage One and the preliminary round. Sweden, Serbia,...

Europe sends 14 men’s teams into knockout stage as London challenge heats up

At the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals London 2026, 14 European men’s teams secured their place in the knockout phase after the group stage and preliminary round. Denmark,...

Perfect Sweden and Serbia book direct main draw spots at the ITTF World Team Championships Finals

In the women’s competition at the TTF World Team Championships Finals London 2026, the opening phase has progressed with eight groups completed, while other half remain in play. Among the...

Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Romania and Poland progress unbeaten in London

The opening phase of the TTF World Team Championships Finals London 2026 has been largely completed, with four men’s groups and eight women’s groups still to be played later today....