Europe Top-16 Cup | 4 Jan 2023
HAN Ying and Truls MOREGARD topping the CCB Europe Top 16 Cup list
Photo: Last year's winners HAN Ying and Darko JORGIC
ETTU announced the list of invited players for the CCB Europe Top 16 Cup to be held in Montreux, Switzerland from 25 to 26 February 2023. Leading names in both Men's and Women's lists are Truls MOREGARD of Sweden and HAN Ying of Germany.
The best European players will play for the prestigious title at the tournament (100.000 Euros in total prize money). The winner will receive a check for €10,000, runners up will get €6,000, semifinalists will receive €4,000, quarterfinalists will receive €2,500, and those in the Round of 16 will get €2,000.
Players are selected by World Ranking Week #1 2023.
In Men's Singles Event Swede MOREGARD played in the final last year. The 2021 World Championships finalist was a substitute player last year. Truls was one of the youngest finalists ever. Truls concluded the tournament as a runner up, beaten by the hands of no. two seed this year Darko JORGIC of Slovenia. JORGIC was the first Slovenian to win this event. He won the youngest final in the history of the Top12/Top16, since the two players being together were only 43 years old. MOREGARD will play at CCB Europe Top 16 Cup for a second time, whilst for JORGIC it will be his 4th appearance.
No. three seed Dang QIU of Germany is invited for a first time, whilst his compatriot Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, no 4 seed, won the tournament five times, last time it was in Montreux in 2019 (after titles in 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2012). The list goes on with another Swede Kristian KARLSSON, Liam PITCHFORD of England, Andrej GACINA of Croatia, Alexis LEBRUN and Simon GAUZY of France, the winner from the 2015 edition in Lausanne Marcos FREITAS of Portugal, WANG Yang of Slovakia, Robert GARDOS of Austria, Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia, Jonathan GROTH of Denmark, Joao GERALDO of Portugal and Swiss player who will be selected in following days.
No. one seed and the title holder, Germany's HAN Ying will play for a third time at the tournament. HAN Ying is the oldest winner of a Top 12/Top 16 in the history of the event. Last year, HAN won at 38 years and 10 months, breaking LI Jiao's record (38 and 1 month at her last victory in 2011). Next in the list is Austria's Sofia POLANCOVA; she recorded her best results in 2020 and in 2019, when she finished third. The winner of the 2021 edition held in Thessaloniki, Nina MITTELHAM of Germany is no. three seed, followed by Jia Nan YUAN of France and YU Fu of Portugal. The winner from 2018, Bernadette SZOCS of Romania is seeded at the position no. six. Hana MATELOVA of Czech Republic, NI Xia Lian of Luxembourg, Margaryta PESOTSKA of Ukraine, Elizabeta SAMARA of Romania, Barbora BALAZOVA of Slovakia, Linda BERGSTROM of Sweden, SHAO JIeni of Portugal, Britt EERLAND of Netherlands and Georgina POTA of Hungary completed the list of top 15 players. Last name of the list is reserved from the host nation representative.
The 2023 CCB Europe Top 16 may be qualification for the 2023 ITTF World Cup, pending confirmation from ITTF.
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