Part one
We are counting last days of 2017. Whilst most of the players took a chance for a short break we can use the opportunity to look back at very successful year. ETTU for a first time organised U 21 European Championships in Russia’s city of Sochi The 2017 ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup competition gathered some of Europe’s strongest table tennis players. Germany hosted very successful World Championships European Championships Qualifications and club competitions kept the attention on our sport all over the Continent. 2017 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Luxembourg was pure success and Europe Top 10 in England set a new standard in Youth events….
January
Beginning of the year is always reserved for the German Cup finish . In Women’s Cup TTC Berlin Eastside successfully defended its title as they beat TTG Bingen/Münster-Sarmsheim 3:1 in the final clash held in Hannover. Few days later Borussia Dusseldorf wins 25th German Cup in their history as they beat FC Saarbrucken 3:0 in the final match of the Final 4 held at Ratiopharm-Arena in the city of Ulm in front of 3 100 spectators. In the semi-final games Borussia and Saarbrucken defeated TV Hilpoltstein and Post SV Mühlhausen respectively.
MA Long (CHN) has capped a year to remember by becoming the year end world number one for a fifth time which equals his compatriot WANG Liqin’s (CHN) record.
In European Championships Qualifications Romanian Table Tennis Federation sets new standards for promoting the game; the Romanian women played against the national team of Netherlands in a full TV studio and the match is directly televised on the TVR1 – the national broadcasting organisation in Romania. ETTU President Ronald KRAMER who attended the match was very pleased with what he sees as to be the success of playing ‘home and away’ qualification matches ‘all over Europe’.
“If we want to revitalise European table tennis we should be putting much more effort in playing and presenting our qualification matches. These national team matches being played in almost all our countries get much more local and national attention than the official European Championships normally gets. What I have seen here in Bucharest is an example of how to promote our sport. I would very much like all our federations to follow this example”.
February
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV has been crowned the Men’s Singles champion at the 2017 ITTF Europe Top 16 Cup in Antibes France following his 4-2 victory over Alexander SHIBAEV in the final on Sunday 5th February. LI Jie has won the Women’s Singles title after the Dutch player overcame Germany’s Petrissa SOLJA in the final at the Azur Arena.
At the same weekend in Russia Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia clinched the title in the Men’s Singles Event at the 2017 STAG European Under 21 Championships. In the final he beat Germany’s QIU Dang. In all-German final Chantal MANTZ clinched the crown in Women’s Singles. At the final hurdle she overcame team-mate and club-mate WAN Yuan.
Anders LIND of Denmark and Alexander VALUCH of Slovakia are the surprise winners of the Men’s Doubles title. They beat no. two seeds Tomislav PUCAR of Croatia and Janos Bence MAJOROS of Hungary on their way to the highest step on the medal rostrum. Lisa LUNG and Eline LOYEN of Belgium in the thrilling closure of the Women’s Doubles Event in Sochi overcame Romania’s Adina DIACONU and Andreea DRAGOMAN of Romani.
The winners of the DHS Swiss Open in Lausanne were Dimitrij OVTCHAROV of Germany and Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden. In the final of the Men’s’ Singles Event no. two seed OVTCHAROV beat Marcos FREITAS OF Portugal At the last hurdle in the Women’s Singles Event Matilda EKHOLM also seeded at the position no. two beat her compatriot LI Fen.
Two World No. 133 players Alexey LIVENTSOV and Olga VOROBEVA were crowned individual champions of Russia. They concluded championships in Sochi by their victories against Grigory VLASOV and Yulia PROKHOROVA respectively.
At the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour India Open occupying the top seeded position in the draw Dimitrij OVTCHAROV beat Tomokazu HARIMOTO the no.14 seed and thus stopped the Japanese prodigy from being the youngest player ever to win an ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles title. Matilda EKHOLM of Sweden won gold in Women’s Doubles and silver in Women’s Singles Event.
March
The beginning of March is always booked for National Championships. Will Geir ERLANDSEN and Ilka DOVAL defend their titles in Norway; In Luxembourg Luka MLADENOVIC won gold in the Men Singles Event. Sarah DE NUTTE defeated No. 3 seed GONDERINGER in the gold medal contest. In Belarus Alexandra PRIVALOVA and Alliaksandr KHANIN succeeded to the gold. Estonia’s champions are Aleksandr SMIRNOV and Airi AVAMERI. Benedek OLÁH and Anna KIRICHENKO are Champions in Finland.
For the 11time Timo BOLL won the Men’s Singles Final at the German National Championships. The European Record Champion overcame defender Ruwen FILUS in the finals with an easy 4-0 win and showed up after four weeks in good shape. In Women Singles surprisingly Europe Doubles Champion Kristin SILBEREISEN defended her title from 2016 against favorite number one seed SHAN Xiaona .
At the 87th French National Championships held in Palais omnisports Marseille Grand-Est for a second time in his career Emmanuel LEBESSON become the champion in Men’s Singles Event whilst YUAN Jia Nan succeeded for a third time in Women’s Singles Event. Stefan FEGERL and Sofia POLCANOVA are the crowned champions of Austria. At the 85th Polish National Championships held in Czestochowie LI Qian and Daniel GORAK won gold medals in singles. In Buzau Ovidiu IONESCU and Adina DIACONU clinched the titles in their respective Men’s and Women’s Singles Event at the Romania’s National Championships.
In England Paul DRINKHALL won his sixth Men’s Singles title Tin-Tin HO her second Women’s Singles and Commonwealth Games gold medalists Paul & Jo DRINKHALL won the Mixed Doubles on their return to competition for the first time since Glasgow 2014 as the PG Mutual Championships produced dazzling play. In the Centre Sportif du Blocry Cedric NUYTINCK and Eline LOYEN successfully concluded their quest for throne in Belgium.
