Other Events | 14 Dec 2019
Lists of inviting players for Varazdin announced: DIACONU and SGOUROPOULOS in new quest for gold
Photo: Courtesy ITTF
2020 European Under 21 Championships, Varazdin, Croatia (March 4-8)
Lists of the inviting players for the 2020 European Under 21 Championships, Varazdin, Croatia (March 4-8) has been announced, based on the current U21 European ranking. Defending champion from 2019 BUTTERFLY Under 21 European Championships, Romania’s Adina DIACONU tops women’s list, while men’s reigning champion, Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece are actual no.12.
Adina DIACONU beat Maria MALANINA of Russia in the 2019 women’s gold medal contest, while bronze medalists were Tania PLAIAN of Romania and Nadezhda BOGDANOVA Belarus.
Two times European junior champion Ioannis SGOUROPOULOS of Greece won the title in Gondomar as he overcame Gerrit ENGEMANN of Germany. Vladimir SIDORENKO of Russia and Rares SIPOS of Romania shared third step at the medal rostrum.
A 56 players in each, men’s and women’s singles events, have been invited: 48 according U21 European ranking and eight by wildcard. Croatian city of Varazdin will host fourth edition of the European Under 21 Championships, after 2017 Sochi (Russia), 2018 Minsk (Belarus) and 2019 Gondomar (Portugal). The Draw for singles and doubles events will take place on Tuesday 3rd March 2020 at 18:00 at the venue.
Top 10 ranked men’s names include 2018 runner-up Cristian PLETEA (actual no.2, Romania) and 2019 bronze medalists Vladimir SIDORENKO (no.4, Russia) and Rares SIPOS (no.3, Romania).
Regarding Top 10 women’s names, Varazdin will see, among others, 2018 champion Mariia TAILAKOVA (current no.8, Russia), 2019 bronze medalist Nadezhda BOGDANOVA (no.6, Belarus) and multiple medalist from European Youth Championships Andreea DRAGOMAN (no.4, Romania).
Top 10 at the current men’s U21 European ranking (December 2019): Bastien REMBERT (no.1, France), Cristian PLETEA (2, Romania), Rares SIPOS (3, Romania), Vladimir SIDORENKO (4, Romania), Florian CNUDDE (5, Belgium), Jules ROLLAND (6, France), Laurens DEVOS (7, Belgium), Tobias HIPPLER (8, Germany), Gerrit ENGEMANN (9, Germany), Denis IVONIN (10, Russia).
Top 10 at the current women’s U21 European ranking (December 2019): Adina DIACONU (no.1, Romania), Lisa LUNG (2, Belgium), Daria TRIGOLOS (3, Belarus), Andreea DRAGOMAN (4, Romania), Leonie HARTBRICH (5, Hungary), Nadezhda BOGDANOVA (6, Belarus), Tatiana KUKULKOVA (7, Slovakia), Mariia TAILAKOVA (8, Russia), Sofia-Xuan ZHANG (9, Spain), Ana GARCIA (10, Spain).
