Two Chinese Olympic champions, ZHANG Yining and Yan Sen, led the coaching team at the ETTU Eurotalents Development Camp II, held at the National Sports Institute (INS) in Luxembourg City from 1 to 7 September. Twenty players born between 2013 and 2015, from 11 European countries, took part. All are members of the Eurotalents 2026 Programme.
ZHANG Yining is one of the most successful players in the history of table tennis, with four Olympic gold medals from the 2004 and 2008 Games and ten world titles. YAN Sen won Olympic gold in men’s doubles in Sydney 2000 with WANG Liqin, and the pair also took the world doubles title in 2001 and 2003. They worked alongside ETTU Head Coach Zvonimir KORENIC, CTTC-E General Coordinator Heinz THEWS, assistant coaches Ryan JENKINS and CHENG Xia, and physical coach CAO Ziwei.
The camp was organised by China Table Tennis College Europe (CTTC-E) and the Luxembourg Table Tennis Federation (FLTT) in cooperation with ETTU. CTTC-E is based in Luxembourg and linked to the China Table Tennis College (CTTC), and has hosted Eurotalents camps since 2017. The partnership gives European players regular access to Chinese coaching and training methods without leaving the continent.
Six CTTC players of the same age group joined as training partners, giving the participants daily practice against strong Chinese counterparts.
Four female coaches from the ITTF “My Gender. My Strength.” programme also worked at the camp. The programme supports women coaches in advancing their careers and contributing to development within their national associations, and camps like this one provide its practical coaching component.
