Ma Long Becomes Most Successful World Tour Grand Finals Player Ever

Ma Long celebrates becoming the most successful World Tour Grand Final player in history

After 22 World Tour events in 2015, the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champions are MA Long and DING Ning, after an action filled event concluded today 13 December in Lisbon, Portugal. MA Long became the most successful ITTF World Tour Grand Finals player, winning his fourth title in dramatic circumstances in the final match of 2015. The world champion, who has only lost one match in 2015, had a titanic battle with his team mate, 18 year old FAN Zhendong, in one of the most exciting finals in history. The world number one raced to a 2-0 lead only for FAN Zhendong to win the next three games and looked like he was going to do the unexpected of to beat the world number one. However he was left heartbroken, as MA Long closed out the match 12-10, 12-10, 11-13, 7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9. The newly crowned champion stated: "We had a tough match, the feeling wasn't the best for both of us, and neither of us could lead in the match. I had to just stay calm, as I knew I would have a chance to win the match if I just kept my level high." "I am very happy to beat my ex-captain WANG Liqin's record of World Tour Grand Finals victories. He is a well respected athlete, so I'm happy to have made this history." "I wasn't thinking much about the records, but just played the best I could." 2015 World Champion DING Ning won her first World Tour Grand Finals, after losing four of her previous finals. Despite being exhausted after a packed year, DING made it fifth time lucky and defeated her team mate CHEN Meng, who earlier beat world number one LIU Shiwen en route to the final. The 25-year-old was pushed by her younger team mate but her experience that has lead her to two World Championships titles led to her victory: 13-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-2, 9-11, 11-7. A relieved DING stated after the match: "I have made it to the World Tour Grand Finals Singles final for the past 4 times, but lost all 4, this is my fifth attempt." "Before the match, I have a strong desire for victory, and break the 'curse'. Since I started playing in the ITTF World Tour, every time I qualified for the Grand Finals, I could always reach the final, so I really hoped to win. Now that I have won, I feel really happy about it." Masataka MORIZONO & Yuya OSHIMA became the first ever Japanese pair to win the World Tour Grand Finals Men's Doubles title. In the process, the young Japanese duo broke the hearts of the capacity Portuguese crowd, beating local favorites Tiago APOLONIA &Joao MONTEIRO 11-6, 8-11,13-11, 12-10, 11-8 in a thrilling gold medal match. The women's defending champions, 15-year-olds Miu HIRANO & Mima ITO could not make it two doubles victories for Japan, losing to the Chinese pair DING Ning & ZHU Yuling 11-5, 11-3, 11-9, 11-4 in a one sided final. Yuya OSHIMA added a second gold medal to his collection, by winning the men's under 21 title. OSHIMA, who had a breakthrough year winning two under 21 events and a senior World Tour event in 2015, beat ZHAI Yujia (DEN) 11-5, 11-4, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8 to secure the title. Singapore's LIN Ye won her second under 21 title by defeating Yui HAMAMOTO (JPN) 12-10, 8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 in the women's under 21 final. The GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour was the year-ending finale to the US$3,000,000 ITTF World Tour, whereby the top 16 singles and 8 doubles pairs qualified through collecting #Race2Lisbon points throughout the 2015 ITTF World Tour. The GAC 2015 ITTF World Tour is split into three tiers (highest first): Super (6 events), Major (6 events), Challenge (11 events). The higher the series, the more prize money, world ranking points, Race to Lisbon points and higher quality of competition on offer.

2014 Decider Kicks off 2015 World Tour Grand Finals

2014 Finallists Ovtcharov & Mizutani will face off in the first round here in Lisbon

The world’s best table tennis stars have gathered in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon in preparation for the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals which starts today 10 December and runs until 13 December 2015. Finalists at the GAC Group 2014 ITTF World Tour last year in Bangkok, Europe’s top player Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (GER) and Jun MIZUTANI (JPN) are set to an early face-off in the first round of the Men’s Singles event. MIZUTANI claimed the title eventually in Bangkok, but at their latest encounter at the Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men’s World Cup, it was OVTCHAROV who prevailed. “It’s a very hard draw for the both of us,” shared OVTCHAROV after the draw ceremony. “We have played seven times in the last 12 months, of which I won four times, but he has won three out of the four times we played at major international tournaments, so the results is going to be very open.” The 27-year-old German added “Often the one with the better start wins, but the scores will be very close. I will of course try my very best to win this!” Local hero Marcos FREITAS (POR) has the toughest draw out of everyone, with the European Championships runner up facing world number one and World Champion MA Long in the first round. The fans could also expect a matchup between the reigning World Champion DING Ning and newly crowned 2015 Female Table Tennis Star LIU Shiwen in the Women’s Singles event. The duo last played internationally at the epic gold medal match at the 2015 World Championships, where DING overcame her injury in the decider to take her second World Championships title. The GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour is the year-ending finale to the US$3,000,000 ITTF World Tour, whereby the top 16 singles and 8 doubles pairs qualified through collecting #Race2Lisbon points throughout the 2015 ITTF World Tour. The GAC 2015 ITTF World Tour is split into three tiers (highest first): Super (6 events), Major (6 events), Challenge (11 events). The higher the series, the more prize money, world ranking points, Race to Lisbon points and higher quality of competition on offer

Ma Long & Liu Shiwen are the 2015 Male & Female Table Tennis Stars

A star filled selfie of all the 2015 ITTF Star Award winners

2015 World Champion MA Long, and 2015 Women's World Cup Champion LIU Shiwen are the respective 2015 ITTF Male & Female Table Tennis Stars at the 2015 ITTF Star Awards. The 2015 ITTF Star Awards was held on 9 December at the Patio da Gala in Lisbon, Portugal, to honor and celebrate the table tennis stars, athletes and coaches, for their achievements in 2015. Eight prestigious awards were given out on star-studded evening in the city's emblematic landmark. The two most eyed awards of the year, the Male and Female Table Tennis Stars were determined by the 60,000 public votes from fans all around the world, combined with the judging results from an expert panel consisting of ITTF Athletes' Commission, the ITTF President, and various international media. Hot favourite for the night, MA did not disappoint the majority of the fans who voted for him on the ITTFStarAwards.com voting page to claim the 2015 Male Table Tennis Star Awards presented by Seamaster, after becoming the 2015 World Champion and 2015 Men's World Cup Champion. After fending off contest from compatriot FAN Zhendong, European Champion Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, and 2014 World Tour Grand Finals Champion Jun MIZUTANI, the current world number one shared "Thank you for the award and to everyone who has supported me, this award is recognition of my best ever year in 2015. This award means a lot as it's the first time I have won it and I want to win it again and again. I will continue to work hard and success next year." The Female Table Tennis Star Awards presented by Nittaku saw hot contest between DING Ning (CHN), Kasumi ISHIKAWA (CHN), LIU Shiwen (CHN), and Petrissa SOLJA (GER). It was LIU who secured the most votes to take home the prestigious award with her. The four time Women's World Cup title holder stated: "It is a great honour to receive this award; my thanks to the ITTF and everyone who has supported me. This award is a very special way to finish 2015 and I hope for even more success in the Olympic year next year." The 'Point of the Century' played by FANG Bo and MA Long at the Qoros 2015 World Championships Men's Singles final that generated over 2 million views on YouTube, was also named the 2015 Table Tennis Star Point presented by DHS. The Male and Female Table Tennis Stars for the Para Table Tennis category went to Indonesia's Class 9 player David Jacobs and Serbia's Borislava PERIC-RANKOVIC (Class 3) respectively for their achievements in the 2015 Continental Para Championships and Para events around the world. With the spectacular results posted by the Chinese team in 2015, the Head Coach LIU Guoliang was the natural winner for the Star Coach of the year presented by Butterfly. New to the 2015 ITTF Star Awards, a Breakthrough Star award presented by TMS International was given out to Japan's 15-year-old sensation Mima ITO. ITO was not only the youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour event, but also made it to the Japanese Olympic team line up for Rio 2016 Olympic Games at a young age of 14. In addition, a Fair Play Star award was handed out to Linor CITAKU and Vlona MALOKU from Kosovo for their act of fair play at the Qoros 2015 World Championships. The pair lent their spare rackets to their opponents in the first round of the mixed doubles competition who failed their racket testing, to ensure that the match continued

Borussia Düsseldorf Swept In The Ecl

Borussia Düsseldorf suffered a sweeping defeat in the 2015-16 European Champions League's 5th round. The German club fell against Chartres that remains unbeaten in the group D. Despite this defeat, Borussia stays in the second place, waiting for the results of Bogoria vs Sten Ostrov. 

Borussia Düsseldorf couldn't win at home. The German club faced its second defeat against Chartres, leader of the group B. For this match, Danny Heister, Borussia's coach, replaced Patrick Franziska. Timo Boll is still recovering from his surgery. 

Par Gerell got the first point as he defeated Sharath Kamal Achanta by 13-11, 11-7 and 11-8. Gao Ning overcame Panagiotis Gionis by 11-5, 11-6 and 11-7. In the third match Robert Gardos stood victorious over Danny Heister by 12-10, 16-14 and 11-8. 

Despite the defeat, Borussia Düsseldorf stays in the second place. Tomorrow Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki and Sten Ostrov Havlickuv Brod will meet for the 5th round of the group B. 

China’s WANG Manyu defends Junior World Champion crown in Vendée

China's Wang Manyu and Liu DIngshuo claims Singles World Junior Championships titles in France

China’s WANG Manyu has successfully defended her Junior Girls’ World title at the ITTF 2015 World Junior Table Tennis Championships that concluded today, 6 December, in Vendée, France. 16-year-old WANG is now the first player to ever win 2 consecutive Singles World Junior Championship titles, after coming back from 1-3 to beat compatriot WANG Yidi 4-3 (11-6, 18-20, 7-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7) in a 7-games thriller. “It feels great, and I’m really excited to be able to defend my singles title, “ shared WANG after her victory. “It’s been a tough journey having to face many strong players along the way to the final, and playing against Wang Yidi in the final.” “When I was 1-3 games down, I knew I had to fight all I can in order to win, I changed my tactics and played few risky shots to come back.” The Boys’ Singles Gold medal match was a battle between the shakehand style and the traditional penhold style, which had the local crowd cheering throughout the match. It was LIU Dingshuo (CHN), the shakehand player, who eventually prevailed over XUE Fei (CHN), the sole male penholder player in the tournament. LIU accounted for XUE 4-0 (11-7, 11-8, 11-5) to win his first World Junior Championships crown. The pleased 17-year-old shared “Of course I’m happy to be able to win here, it’s a good way to prove myself. But I see this as a short term milestone, to move further, I still have to work harder to achieve more.” China continued their dominance in the Doubles event, sending 5 out of the 6 finalists pairs. In the Women’s Doubles, Korea DPR duo KO Un Gum & RI Yong Hae faced Chinese pair CHEN Ke & WANG Manyu, despite pushing the Chinese to their limits, CHEN & WANG won in four straight games (11-9, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7). In an all-Chinese final, defending mixed doubles champions WANG Chuqin & CHEN Xingtong surrendered their titles to XUE Fei & CHEN Ke 3-4 (11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 4-11, 11-6, 9-11). Success in the Mixed Doubles, XUE joined hands with WANG Chuqin in the Boy’s Doubles Final to claim the title from LIU Dingshuo & ZHU Cheng 4-3 (2-11, 11-13, 11-13, 12-10, 13-11, 11-8, 11-6). Presented by the Swaythling Club International, the Fair Play Award at the 2015 World Junior Table Tennis Championships was won by Egypt’s Aly Ghallab for his act of fair play at the tournament. Mr. Khaled El-Salhy, President of the African Table Tennis Federation, shared “He’s a very honest player; always he plays fairly. He is always very positive when he plays, he tries to win the point not save the point: I am very proud of his efforts.” With the 2015 World Junior Table Tennis Championships concluded, all eyes now turn to the 2015 ITTF Star Awards on 9 December, followed by the year-ending GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in Lisbon, Portugal from 10-13 December 2015. Winners: Boys’ Team: China Girls’ Team: China Boys’ Singles: LIU Dingshuo (CHN) Girls’ Singles: WANG Manyu (CHN) Boys’ Doubles: WANG Chuqin (CHN) & XUE Fei (CHN) Girls’ Doubles: CHEN Ke (CHN) & WANG Manyu (CHN) Mixed Doubles: XUE Fei (CHN) & CHEN Ke (CHN)

Ströck Stood Victorious In The Women's Ecl

Ströck emerged successfully in the 2015-16 Women's European Champions League. The Austrian club posted a close victory over Szekszard AC and leads the group B. Berlin Eastside also stood victorious in the group B and is already in the main draw. 

SVNO Ströck and TTC Berlin Eastside emerged successfully in the Women's European Champions League. TTC Berlin Eastside defeated Bursa Büyüksehir Belediyespor by 3-0 and remained unbeaten in the group A and reached the main draw. 

Petrissa Solja overcame Sibel Ismail Remzi by 11-5, 11-4 and 11-7. In the second match Georgina Pota stood victorious over Polina Mikhailova by 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 10-12, 11-8. In the third match Yui Hamamoto beat Maria Dolgikh by 3-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-7 and 11-7. 

In the group B Ströck beat Szekszard AC and is the new leader. The qualifiers will ve defined in the last round. Petra Lovas got the first point for Szekszard AC. She overcame Tetyana Bilenko by 11-8, 14-12 and 11-6. Matilda Ekholm won against Li Fen by 8-11, 11-3, 16-14 and 11-8, and leveled for Ströck. 

Wang Yu beat Lea Rakovac and collected the second point for the Turkisch club. Bilenko redeemed herself after defeating Li Fen by 11-8, 12-10 and 11-3. In the deciding match Ekholm stood victorious over Dora Madarasz by 11-6, 7-11, 12-10 and 11-3. 

Jean-Michel Saive Says Good-Bye To International Competition

Jean-Michel Saive said good-bye to the international scene. The living legend announced in a press conference today that he retires from the international competition but he will continue playing at the ITTF Legends Tour. 

A living legend announced his retirement from the international scene today. Jean-Michel Saive informed on a press conference in Belgium that he won't participate in international competition anymore. The 1991 European champion also published a letter  on his website to thank everyone who was part of his successfull career. 

Saive began his professional career in 1983 and since then he has collected important titles, such as the European Championships in Birmingham 1983, the 1994 Europe Top-12, two European Leagues, 6 European leagues with La Villete Charleroi, 19 Belgian National Championships, 3 Pro Tour tournaments. 

He also shares a record with other legends such as Jorgen Persson and Zoran Primorac. They are the only players who have competed in 7 Olympic Games. They have participated since Seoul 1988, when Table Tennis was introduced, until London 2012. 

Fortunately, we will more of the Belgian player because he will be one of the player at the ITTF Legends Tour tobe held on 5 February in Belgium.