Euro-Asia All Stars Challenge | 31 Jul 2018

Great showdown in Nantong

Asia - Europe Challenge

The Asia – Europe Challenge will once again see tops stars from both Continents go head to head on 4^th and 5^th August in Nantong, China. At the showcase event that started in 2009 in Istanbul as the Asia-Europe All Stars Series, the impressive line-ups include three players in the world top 10 lining up for Asia.

The event has been played eight times so far, with Europe's legendary player and three times European Champion Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus appearing seven times. Vladimir will once again line up in Nantong, as will Europe's team leader Marcos FREITAS of Portugal, Jonathan GROTH of Denmark, Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden, and Bastian STEGER of Germany. Players were invited according to May's World Rankings.

WONG Chun Ting of Hong Kong, ranked at number 7 in the world leads the line-up for Team Asia. LEE Sangsu of Korea, Japan's Koki NIWA, CHUANG Chih-Yuan of Chinese Taipei and former World and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike of China make up a very strong Asia Team.

"Our European players are looking forward to going head-to-head with the best in Asia. Of course it will be a tough challenge, but the event is not only a table tennis spectacle where the audience in Asia enjoy watching their heroes taking on our very own, but the event is a positive symbol of Europe's relationship with Asia, something the ETTU is fully committed to," explained ETTU President Ronald KRAMER.

	EUROPE		ASIA
1	Marcos Freitas (POR) WR15	1	WONG Chun Ting (HKG) WR7
2	Kristian Karlsson (SWE) WR18	2	LEE Sangsu (KOR) WR8
3	Jonathan Groth (DEN) WR19	3	NIWA Koki (JPN) WR9
4	Vladimir Samsonov (BLR) WR24	4	CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE) WR16
5	Bastian Steger (GER) WR26	5	ZHANG Jike (CHN) WR168

(Selection was made acc. to WR of May)

Europe made history in 2015 in Zhangjiagang when they beat Asia for the only time.

In the last encounter in Dongguan in 2016, Asia won the My Hills International Trade Center Asia-Europe All Stars Challenge having fielded another strong team of China's FAN Zhendong, Chinese Taipei's CHUANG Chih-Yuan, Hong Kong's WONG Chun Ting, Singapore's GAO Ning, and Korea's JOO Saehyuk who won 6:4 (4:1 and 2:3). On that occasion, Team Europe was represented by Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus, Tiago APOLONIA of Portugal, Andrej GACINA of Croatia, Alexander SHIBAEV of Russia, and CHEN Weixing of Austria.

The event takes place over two days. The five-player teams face off in singles, with each player playing once match each day. The overall winners are crowned based on the aggregate score over both days.

"We are looking forward to representing Europe in Nantong in what is a great event. It will be a tough test for us given the world rankings, and of course Asia is fielding the former World and Olympic Champion ZHANG Jike who has come back onto the World Tour. But, we are ready and will look to get off to a positive start which will put the pressure on the Asia team with the audience in China," said Ulf "Tickan" CARLSSON.

Richard Scruton, ETTU Secretary General, will also be in attendance in Nantong as Team Manager.

The exciting line-up will be as follows:

Euro – Asia Challenge Series 2018

4^thand 5^thAugust Nantong

	Day 1:
	NIWA Koki (JPN)		Vladimir Samsonov (BLR)
	CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE)		Jonathan Groth (DEN)
	WONG Chun Ting (HKG)		Kristian Karlsson (SWE)
	LEE Sangsu (KOR)		Marcos Freitas (POR)
	ZHANG Jike (CHN)		Bastian Steger (GER)

	Day 2:
	NIWA Koki (JPN)		Bastian Steger (GER)
	ZHANG Jike (CHN)		Jonathan Groth (DEN)
	LEE Sangsu (KOR)		Kristian Karlsson (SWE)
	WONG Chun Ting (HKG)		Marcos Freitas (POR)
	CHUANG Chih-Yuan (TPE)		Vladimir Samsonov (BLR)