European Veterans Championships | 1 Jun 2013

EuroVeterans, an outstanding success

DTTB Vice-President Mrs. Heike AHLERT looked back on a very successful European Veterans Championships in Bremen. “It was a great event”, said the Vice-President in charge of competitive sports at the German Table Tennis Association. “It was amazing

DTTB Vice-President Mrs. Heike AHLERT looked back on a very successful European Veterans Championships in Bremen. “It was a great event”, said the Vice-President in charge of competitive sports at the German Table Tennis Association. “It was amazing to see the players’ enthusiasm throughout all these days in Bremen – no matter whether they were former professionals or more or less hobby players.”

Even without seeing their faces just by their playing styles you could recognize them all, Mikael APPELGREN, Dmitrij MAZUNOV, Georg Böhm, Olga NEMES or Wilfried LIECK. “The top players of the past have still fun in the game, especially those in the higher age groups”, was the impression of Heike AHLERT. Apart from the matches seeing old fellows and making new friends were the most important aspects for the 2,739 participants from almost 40 countries. They took group pictures before and after their matches and many of them exchanged small presents they brought over from their home towns.

Organization worked out according to plan. Even the premier of the free text message service went well. Players could subscribe a service for receiving their results and the schedule of their forthcoming matches on their mobile phones free of charge. Approximately 1,000 players used this opportunity.

89 volunteers worked behind the scenes of the EVC. “It was once again a huge family of volunteers supporting this tournament. It would not have been possible without their help,” AHLERT explained. The volunteer with the longest trip to Bremen was Leon LIBIN from New York. The US-American participated in the World Veterans Championships in Stockholm in the category over 60 last year when he heard about the tournament in Bremen. “At all costs I wanted to be here, also to learn about the famous German virtues”, he said. “I have not been disappointed. The organization and the atmosphere over here were very good”.