Part 2
April
The third edition of the World Table Tennis Day hosted by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) was held Thursday 6 April 2017. On the eve of World Table Tennis Day ITTF President Thomas WEIKERT shared “The idea behind this day is to gather Table Tennis enthusiasts attract people who usually don’t play table tennis promote the love for our sport and ideally engage new players to the practice in the long term. I can’t wait for the entire world to play table tennis on 6 April.” Together with the National Associations and many table tennis fans around the world there were 378 different events in 85 countries across all continents gathered over 60.000 participants.
The World MiniPingPong Festival was held in Ostrava on the 6th of April which is world widely celebrated as the World Table Tennis Day. ETTU President Ronald KRAMER participated in the opening ceremony and praised the Czech Association of Table Tennis for organizing this unique event. „It is one of the most innovative events I’ve ever seen. The festival is a really great opportunity how to celebrate the World Table Tennis Day. It is also excellent presentation of table tennis and showing the people how to play it in a different way ” said KRAMER.
Borussia Dusseldorf and Fakel Gazprom Orenburg reached 2016/17 TTCLM final as well as KTS Tarnobrzeg and TTC Berlin Eastside Seamaster ECLW final.
With the ultimate play off matches the Qualification process of the 2017 ITTF European Championships has been concluded. The process that started in September 2016 came to the conclusion after two phases of competition. In Men’s Teams Event in Luxembourg from 13th to 17th September in Championships Division will play Austria Germany France Croatia Sweden Portugal Greece Slovenia Spain and Romania. They secured their places by topping their respective groups in first phase of the qualifications. Slovakia Ukraine Russia Poland and Belarus joined them after play off matches. Last on the list is Luxembourg as host nation. In Women’s Teams Event will play Germany Romania Russia Ukraine Poland Austria Czech Republic Portugal France and Hungary – the winners of the group stage. Spain Netherlands Belarus Sweden and Croatia won their respective play off duels whilst Luxembourg will be among them as a host.
Timo BOLL beat Patrick FRANZISKA in all-German final of the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Korea Open. One more gold for Germany secured SHAN Xiaona and Petrissa SOLJA winning Women`s Doubles event.
May
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) has become the first International Federation to achieve a full house of 226 National Associations after the last & final missing piece on the ITTF world map Guinea Bissau Table Tennis Federation was accepted on 6 May 2017.
Fakel Gazprom Orenburg won its fourth TTCLM title. Russian side has defeated Borussia Dusseldorf 3:2 (1st leg 3:0). ETTU President Ronald KRAMER handed over gold medals and the trophy to the winning side.
TTC Berlin Eastside secured its forth Seamaster ECLW crow beating Poland`s Tarnobrzeg 3:1 in the returning leg (1st leg 2:3). SHAN Xiaona got two points against LI Qian and HAN Ying.
Turkish club Bursa and Stella La Romagne from France are crowned champions of ETTU Cup. Bursa beat their compatriots Ankara 3:2 in the returning final leg of ETTU Cup Women whilst La Romagne defeated Angers 3:1 in the all-French final.
The 2017 World Para Team Championships in Bratislava were successful for France and Russia in the relatively recently introduced category for players with an intellectually disability. In group organized events the French combination of Lucas CREANGE and Antoine ZHAO secured the Men’s Class 11 title; the success being achieved as Russia’s Elena PROKOFEVA and Maria GALKINA emerged as the Women’s Class 11 champions. In addition European teams won almost all class events. It was only Taipei to emerge successfully in TM5 and Brazil in TF9.
Thomas WEIKERT (GER) has been elected as the ITTF President by the ITTF Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Dusseldorf Germany during LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships. The incumbent President WEIKERT from Germany defeated Belgium’s Jean-Michel SAIVE 118 votes to 90 to extend his time as ITTF President for another four years.
Jun
Reigning World & Olympic Champion DING Ning has successfully defended her Women’s Singles title at the LIEBHERR 2017 World Table Tennis Championships claiming her third singles title. DING faced off teammate & surprise finalist ZHU Yuling (CHN) in an enthralling final in front of the sellout crowd. Defending champion Ma Long repeated the success at the LIEBHERR 2017 World Championships in Düsseldorf experienced two years earlier in Suzhou when he won the Men’s Singles title. The top seed beat Chinese national team colleague FAN Zhendong the no.2 seed (7-11 11-6 11-3 11-7 5-11 7-11 12-10) to retain the title.
The Team’s Event at the European Universities Table Tennis Championship in Olomouc concluded. The Angelus Silesius State School of Walbrzych from Poland clinched the title in Women category gold medal will travel to Kazan Innovative University from Russia. Winning teams justified their rankings – both were top seeds. They both didn´t lose any match in the tournament and well deservedly celebrated the gold.
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) has claimed Germany’s first China Open title in 11 years at the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum China Open that concluded on 25 June 2017 in Chengdu China. The last time Germany ever won the prestigious title was in 2006 where Timo BOLL defeated China’s WANG Liqin to win Gold.
