Europe Top-16 Cup | 3 Jan 2020

POLCANOVA and FALCK topping the Top 16 Cup list

Photo: Rémy Gros

2020 CCB Europe Top 16 Cup

There is a little more than a month before the start of another glamorous edition of Europe’s most elite tournament. The 2020 CCB Europe Top 16 Cup, once again to be held in dreamy lakeside town, Montreux will be played from Saturday 8th to Sunday 9th February. All Europe’s best players are invited to the shores of Lake Geneva.

Salle Omnisport du Pierrier will be the venue for the mouthwatering clashes against the table tennis greats for the prestigious title and luxury prize money fund. The last year’s winners, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany, are both invited and they are seeded at the position no. three in their respective Men’s and Women’s Events. Top seeded players are Mattias FALCK of Sweden and Sofia POLCANOVA of Austria.

It is FALCK’s third appearance at the tournament with the best result achieved in 2018, when he was seventh. Seeded at the position no. two is legendary Timo BOLL who finished third last year and with six titles at Top 16 under his belt, is the favorite once again. He won the title in 2018 last time, whilst the first one at the same tournament was in 2002 in Dutch city of Rotterdam.

Title holder, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV is third at the list with five titles overall. No. four is Simon GAUZY of France. He was seventh last year and his best result is bronze in 2017 in Juan-Les-Pins, Antibes. At position no. 5 is Liam PITCHFORD of England who played for a first time at the event last year.

One place below is Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus, last year’s runner up and the man who has played 22 times and won 4 titles. The list goes on with Kristian KARLSSON of Sweden, Marcos FREITAS of Portugal who won the title in Lausanne in 2014, Jonathan GROTH of Denmark, Daniel HABESOHN of Austria, Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia, Robert GARDOS of Austria, Darko JORGIC of Slovenia and Lionel WEBER of Switzerland.

The top seed in the Women’s Event Sofia POLCANOVA played four times and she is yet to win the title. The winner of the 2018 edition, Bernadette SZOCS of Romania is no. two seed, followed by title holder Petrissa SOLjA of Germany. Her compatriot HAN Ying is no. 4 seed.

The list continues with another Romania’s star, Elizabeta SAMARA who played at the event 9 times and LI Qian of Poland who won the event in 2009. Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden, Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine, Georgina POTA of Hungary are also invited. The winner from the 1996 Top 12, NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg proved last summer with the place at the 2020 Olympic Games, that she is still in game for top prizes.

At the list of the invited players are also Britt EERLAND of Netherlands, Polina MIKHAILOVA of Russia, Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic, Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia, LI Jie of Netherlands and Rachel MORET of Switzerland as host representative.