This Saturday and Sunday (March 3-4) many champions across Europe will be crowned
The upcoming weekend March 3-4 are reserved for many National Championships in Europe. Here we are presenting some of them…
SWEDEN
Swedish Championships are played in Idrottens Hus Helsingborg Sweden.
First time Para Swedish Championships will be held during National Championships.
Favorites will be following:
WD Jennifer JONSSON/Linda BERGSTRÖM
MD Pär GERELL/Jens LUNDQUIST or Viktor BRODD/Hampus NORDBERG
XD Pär GERELL/Michael KARLSSON
WS Matilda EKHOLM
MS Kristian KARLSSON Anton KÄLLBERG Pär GERELL Jon PERSSON Jens LUNDQUIST. Mattias KARLSSON is injured and not competing
Last year`s winners:
WD Erika FRONTH/Tilda JOHANSSON
MD Viktor BRODD/Hampus NORDBERG
XD Matilda EKHOLM/Mattias KARLSSON
WS Matilda EKHOLM
MS Anton KÄLLBERG
NETHERLANDS
The best table tennis players of Holland will battle each other this weekend in Landstede Sportcentrum in Zwolle during the National Championships. Player of the national team Rajko GOMMERS wants to defend his first title in the men’s tournament. LI Jie won the national title in the woman’s tournament of 2017 for the second time in her career.
GOMMERS is the favourite for the tournament of this year but there are good players who are likely able to beat the champion. Ewout OOSTWOUDER and Laurens TROMER where National Champions in the past and they are playing for another title in the men’s tournament. Ladies like Britt EERLAND and Kim VERMAAS are serious candidates for the victory in the woman’s tournament this year. The current champion LI Jie is absent in Zwolle. She uses this weekend to take some rest because her calendar is full with lots of games and LI Jie wants to be in good shape for the World Cup in Halmstad in Sweden in April. Britt EERLAND replaces her as number one in the ranking.
The tournament starts on Saturday the 3th of March and the finales will take place on Sunday the 4th.
DENMARK
The 76th Danish Championships will be played in the coming weekend in Hjørring in the North western part of Denmark. A total of 75 players will participate. Jonathan GROTH and Michael MAZE will not participate.
Top seeded in men´s singles is Anders LIND before Tobias RASMUSSEN and the two veterans Allan BENTSEN and Finn TUGWELL. IN men’s singles there are 58 players fighting for the Danish crown
Five participants won titles before. They are Tobias RASMUSSEN (2017) Kasper STERNBERG (2011) Christian KONGSGAARD (2010) Finn TUGWELL ( 2001 2004 2005 2009) and Allan BENTSEN (19991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1999 and 2006)
In women’s single the reigning champion Stefanie CHRISTENSEN is top seeded before Pernille AGERHOLM. Four of the participating players have won before: Stefanie CHRISTENSEN (2017) Pernille AGERHOLM (2014 and 2016) Mie BINNERUP JACOBSEN (2015) and Pia TOELHØJ (1995)
In men’s doubles the top seeded are Allan BENTSEN and Finn TUGWELL who have won six times before.
ITALY
The Italian Championships of first and second categories is scheduled from Wednesday to Sunday (March 4th) in PalaTennistavolo “Aldo De Santis” in Terni. They are organized by Italian Table Tennis Federation in collaboration with the City of Terni and the Region of Umbria. The event will be taking place with the partnership of Aeronautica Militare Polizia Penitenziaria Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Terni e Narni and Fondazione Città della Speranza Onlus and the sponsorship of Stag and Iset Marketing.
In Men’s Singles of first category all the best athletes of national ranking will be present: Mihai BOBOCICA the last year winner Leonardo MUTTI and Marco RECH (Aeronautica Militare) Matteo MUTTI (Milano Sport Tennistavolo) Jordy PICCOLIN (Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre) Antonino AMATO (Top Spin Messina) Niagol STOYANOV (Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre) Paolo BISI (Cral Comune di Roma) Stefano TOMASI (Marcozzi Cagliari) and Federico PAVAN (Cral Comune di Roma).
BOBOCICA won the title six times (2007-2009-2011-2012-2013-2017) and four other players once each: TOMASI (2010) STOYANOV (2014) Leonardo MUTTI (2015) and Rech DALDOSSO (2016).
In Women’s Singles the Top 10 is formed by TIAN Jing who won for the firt time in 2017 and Chiara COLANTONI (they both play for Tennistavolo Castel Goffredo) Giorgia PICCOLIN (Anspi Tennistavolo Cortemaggiore) Veronica MOSCONI (Tennistavolo Vallecamonica) Debora VIVARELLI (Centro Sportivo Esercito) LE Thi Hong Loan (Tennistavolo Castel Goffredo) Katja MILIC (Sportni Krozek Kras) Giulia CAVALLI (Eppan Tischtennis Raiffeisen) Cristina SEMENZA (Polisportiva Bagnolese) and Jamila LAURENTI (Tennistavolo Vallecamonica).
TIAN Jing climbed the top step of the podium in 2017 and Mosconi in 2015.
FRANCE
National Championships of France will be held from March 2 to 4 in Rouen (Normandy). Friday is reserved for the qualifications.
Main favorites: Emmanuel LEBESSON – Simon GAUZY and YUAN Jia Nan – Carole GRUNDISCH – YANG Xioa Xin
Last year`s winners: Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jia Nan
ROMANIA
Romanian National Championships will be held at Sports Hall in Buzau on March 2-4th.
Main favorites are
Men`s Singles: Ovidiu IONESCU Constantin CIOTI Cristian PLETEA Rares Sipos
Women`s Singles: Elizabeta SAMARA Adina DIACONU Andreea DRAGOMAN.
2017 Men`s Singles Winner: Ovidiu IONESCU
2017 Women`s Singles winner: Adina DIACONU
2017 MD winners: Ovidiu IONESCU/Constantin CIOTI
2017 WD winners: Irina CIOBANU / Camelia IACOB
2017 MD winner: Cristian PLETEA / Adina DIACONU
PORTUGAL
A total amount of 187 athletes (136 male and 51 female) will be competing for the National Championship title this weekend in São João da Madeira a town near Oporto.
In the male competition the player with best ranking is Diogo CARVALHO the reigning champion who plays for Sporting Clube de Portugal the team qualified for the Champions League Semi-Finals. Last year runner-up Diogo CHEN who represents the Germans from TTC Frickenhausen will also be playing in the National Championship.
In the female competition last year’s winner JIENI Shao won’t be defending her reign leaving Leila OLIVEIRA as the player with best ranking.
SLOVENIA
The Slovenian national championship will start at Otočec on March 3 and 4 at 10 am.
The favorites in the men’s competition are Darko JORGIĆ Jan ŽIBRAT Deni KOŽUL Uroš SLATINŠEK.
The favorites in the women’s competition are Alex GALIČ Manca FAJMUT Ana TOFANT Katarina STRAŽAR
The title of the national champions will be defended:
Men: Darko JORGIĆ
Women: Alex GALICH
Men’s doubles: Darko JORGIĆ / Uroš SLATINŠEK
Women’s doubles: Alex GALICH / Manca FAJMUT
Mixed doubles: Matic SLODEJ / Ivana ZERA
CROATIA
Croatian National Championships will be held this weekend (March 2-4 2018) at the Spa & Sport Resort Sveti Martin once again. Tomislav Frane KOJIC is set to defend the titles he won in 2016 and 2017 which will not be an easy task seeing as the best Croatian players will participate at the championship. After two years of being away from the National Championships the highest ranking Croatian player Andrej GAĆINA will compete this year. Further on some of the most serious title contenders for this year’s title include Tomislav PUCAR Tomislav KOLAREK Filip CIPIN Ronald REDJEP and Luka FUCEC.
In women’s category Mirela DJURAK will try to defend her last year’s title competing against Ida JAZBEC Ivana MALOBABIC Andrea PAVLOVIC Mateja JEGER Petra PETEK and Ivana TUBIKANEC among others.
In 2017 the winners in the men’s doubles category were Roko TOSIC and Tomislav JAPEC and in the women’s doubles category Ivana MALOBABIC and Ida JAZBEC.
This year the championship will include the mix doubles competition with the finals scheduled for Saturday at 20:45. Men’s and women’s doubles finals are scheduled for Sunday at 15:00 women’s singles finals at 15:45 and men’s singles finals at 16.30.
WALES
Charlotte CAREY and Callum EVANS are favourites to lift the cups in the women’s and men’s singles respectively this coming weekend. Both won the titles in 2017 and will hope to hold off all their rivals in Cardiff this Sunday.
Charlotte will have to contend with the Commonwealth Games team mates Chloe THOMAS and Anna HURSEY. Chloe who won the cup in 2016 is seeded 2nd with 11 year old HURSEY at number 3. There is no entry from both ANGHARAD or Megan PHILLIPS this time around. Beth ROBERTS who will participate at the World Championships in Sweden this April is seeded 4th.
CALLUM will need to hold off Josh STACEY Dean CUNDY and Ryan OYLER to add to his sole title which he won 12 months earlier. Others in the frame are Ryan OWEN and Chris GRIFFITHS.
Anna HURSEY who is now 25th in the World at U15 level will try to win the U13 U15 U18 U21 and women’s singles all in the same weekend. The youngster from Cardiff also has doubles events to participate in.
Others to look out for are Lee THOMAS Regina GRECH Lara WHITTON Beth RICHARDS Lauren STACEY Benedict WATSON Yameen AI-DAHIRI Joseph ROBERTS Louie EVANS Ruby ELLIOTT Evan WILLIAMS and Jamie LEE-HARLEY.
POLAND
Polish National Championships will be held in the city Raszkow (March 3-4). In the tournament will take participation 64 men`s and women`s players.
The main favorites will be Jakub DYJAS Daniel GORAK Marek BADOWSKI and Patryk ZATOWKA (MS) and Natalia PARTYKA Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC Natalia BAJOR and Klaudia KUSINSKA (WS). 2-
In 2017 champions became: LI Qian (WS) – she isn’t playing this year Daniel GORAK (MS) Natalia PARTYKA/Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA-FRANC (WD) Jakub DYJAS/Daniel GORAK (MD) and Patryk ZATOWKA/Julia SLAZAK MXD.
