Baku 2015 a place and a year…

January 28, 2015
12:00 am
Archives

2015: another year ahead of us. And how the year is starting! Apart from the ongoing club competitions and the many challenges we are meeting in that area we are starting with the NN Table Tennis Club ITTF Europe Top-16 Cup in Baku (AZE) on February 6-8^th. For the first time in history the Azerbaijan Table Tennis Federation (ASTF) is organising one of our most prestigious events.

Baku will also be hosting the first ever European Games in June with table tennis prominent on its programme. When we started preparations for the Top-16 the event would be used as a testing event for the European Games being played in the same venue and most of the conditions would be comparable to those that will prevail in June 2015. It also meant that three partners would have to work closely together: the ASTF with a new board BEGOC the local organising committee and ETTU. Realising that “two is company and three is a crowd” we had very little time to develop an adequate preparation of the event with the ‘last minute’ change of the venue as an upsetting element.

ASTF its President Vice-President and its newly elected Secretary General did an enormous job in the months behind us. Their eagerness to really learn what it means to organise a major table tennis in their country deserves more than our respect. A compliment should also be made to BEGOC: of course we had discussions with them and will continue to do so but always in a good atmosphere of trust shared ambition and optimism. One of Europe’s greatest virtues is its diversity in many respects. Respecting this diversity we will have to continue learning from each other’s successes and failures in all aspects of our sport. And I feel proud to say that we have all learned a lot in preparing for the 2015 NN Table Tennis ITTF-Europe Top-16 Cup and with all ETTU members I am very much looking forward to the result of our cooperation in Baku!

Kindest regards
Ronald KRAMER

Prospectus Published for 2026 European Individual Championships in Ljubljana

The official Prospectus for the 2026 European Individual Championships has now been published. The Championships will be staged in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 11 to 18 October 2026, with the Slovenian...

Bidding Process Opens for the 2027 JOOLA Europe Youth Series

ETTU has officially opened the bidding process for the 2027 JOOLA Europe Youth Series, inviting Member Associations to submit applications to host one of the events on next year’s calendar....

Qualification Pathway Approved for the Mixed Team Event at the 2027 European Games

The ETTU Executive Board has adopted the qualification pathway for the Mixed Team Event at the 2027 European Games in Istanbul. The European Games will feature 16 mixed teams, with...

Registration Open for the 2026 World Table Tennis for Health Festival in Shanghai

Registration is now officially open for the 2026 World Table Tennis for Health Festival, which will take place from 20 to 25 October in Shanghai, China, marking the event’s historic...