Champions League Men | 12 Sep 2019
TTCLM: Biggest stars from Nantes start new battles
Photo: ZHURAVLEV
The 2019/20 Table Tennis Champions League Men commences tomorrow, September 12th, by Round 1 games
The 2019/20 Table Tennis Champions League is going to start tomorrow, September 12th, when four out of eight Round 1 matches to be held: Leka Enea TDM – Post SV Muhlhausen (Group A, 18:30), TTC Ostrava 2016 – TTSC UMMC (Group B, 18:00), Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – SPG Walter Wels (Group B, 19:30) and Saarbrucken TT – Ping Pong Club Villeneuvois (Group C, 19:00).
Reigning champion and five-time winner, Fakel Gazprom Orenburg will be no. 1 seed once again, followed by record holder 11-time champion Borussia Dusseldorf, and 2012 semi-finalist Saarbrucken TT. Each of these three sides has one member of recently crowned European champion in Nantes, German National Team: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Fakel Gazprom), Timo BOLL (Borussia) and Patrick FRANZISKA (Saarbrucken). OVTCHAROV’s teammate in Orenburg, Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) was his opponent in the finals ITTF 2019 European Championships in Nantes.
Three quarter-finalists from the previous season will play in Group A: reigning champion Fakel-Gazprom Orenburg (Russia, no. 1 seed), semi-finalist VS Angers (France, no. 9) and quarter-finalist Post SV Muhlhausen (Germany, no. 5). Fourth team in that group will be TTCLM newcomer Leka Enea TDM (Spain, no. 16). Orenburg continues with same line-up OVTCHAROV, SAMSONOV, FREITAS, while Chinese Taipei’s CHUANG Chih-Yuan will replace China’s YAN An.
Current no. 4 seed Roskilde signed two well-known TTCLM players Liam PITCHFORD (Hennebont) and Bojan TOKIC (Saarbrucken). They will be tested in the opening round by Walter Wels (PARG Ganghyeon, Frane KOJIC, Adam SZUDI), whilst another clash will take place between actual TTCLM runner-up UMMC (Jonathan GROTH, Alexander SHIBAEV, Andrej GACINA) and TTC Ostrava 2016.
Saarbrucken continues in Group C with Patrick FRANZISKA and young guns: Darko JORGIC, Cristian PLETEA, Patryk ZATOWKA, Florian CNUDDE and Tomas POLANSKY. They will fight for the top spot in this group against Bogoria’s GIONIS, SIRUCEK, BADOVSKI and KONISHI, while other two teams are TTCLM newcomers: Club Villeneuvois (Nima ALAMIAN, Yevhen PRYSHCHEPA, Vildan GADIEV) and Juncal (based mostly on domestic players).
Borussia is clear favourite in Group D, having same five players like in the last season; Timo BOLL, Kristian KARLSSON, Sharat Kamal ACHANTA, Omar ASSAR and Anton KALLBERG, while Richardo WALTHER is coming back to the Dusseldorf’s side. Samuel WALKER will try to be right replacement fot Liam PITCHFORD in the Hennebont’s team. One of TTCLM newcomers, Croatian Starr Croatia aims third spot at least in this group, playing with strong Japan’s player Kenta MATSUDAIRA.
TTCLM, Round 1
Group A
Leka Enea TDM – Post SV Muhlhausen (Sep 12, 18:30)
Fakel Gazprom Orenburg – VS Angers TT (Sep 13, 15:00)
Group B
TTC Ostrava 2016 – TTSC UMMC (Sep 12, 18:00)
Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – SPG Walter Wels (Sep 12, 19:30)
Group C
Saarbrucken TT – Ping Pong Club Villeneuvois (Sep 12, 19:00)
GDSC Juncal – KS Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Sep 13, 21:30)
Group D
STK Starr Croatia – GV Hennebont TT (Sep 13, 18:30)
Borussia Dusseldorf – Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sep 13, 19:00)
