12 Year Old Japanese Becomes Youngest Ever Qualifier for ITTF World Tour Main Draw

Tomokazu Harimoto becomes youngest ever qualifier for main draw of an ITTF World Tour event

Japan's Tomokazu HARIMOTO is now the youngest ever player to qualify for the main draw of an ITTF World Tour event at the age of 12 years, 3 months and 26 days, after topping his group at the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Polish Open qualifications. HARIMOTO accomplished the achievement after beating Croatia's TAN Ruiwu 4-3 (8-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 13-15, 11-9) in an intense 7-game thriller in the qualifications stage. Earlier yesterday, he beat Czech Republic's Tomas POLANSKY 4-0. "I'm happy that I'm the youngest to ever make it to the main draw," shared an elated Japanese. "I started playing table tennis when I was only 2 years old, because of my parents. They were table tennis players too, and they inspired me to play. When I was a little boy, I would sit on a chair and try to play table tennis, now, I practise 9 hours every day!" "Now I will join my idol FAN Zhendong in the main draw, and I hope I can win as many matches as I can here in Warsaw! Regardless it's junior or senior level, I want to play my highest level." "Even though I won against TAN Ruiwu, and finished first in my group here, my block is still not perfect, and it's one area that I will have to improve on." Qualified for the men's singles main draw, HARIMOTO will now face 2015 World Champion, MA Long in the Round of 32 tomorrow. Main draw for the Polish Open will begin from 23 Oct - 25 Oct, with the final battle for gold on Sunday, 25 October.

Saarbrücken Wins Bid to Host Liebherr 2016 ITTF Men's World Cup

Ma Long edges closer to his Grand Slam dream after 2015 Men's World Cup victory!

The International Table Tennis Federation is excited to announce that the Liebherr 2016 Men's World Cup will be held in Saarbrücken, Germany. The prestigious event, which only 20 of the world's best table tennis players qualify for, will be staged in Saarlandhalle between 01 - 03 October 2016. Saarbrücken will be the third German city and the 12th European city to host the event since the first World Cup in 1980. Magdeburg was the host in 2010, more recently in 2014, Düsseldorf was the home; notably on both occasions, China's Zhang Jike, the reigning Olympic champion reached the final. "We hope for a full house on all three days," said Michael GEIGER, President of the German Table Tennis Association. "Spectator interest in the region is enormous; the tournament starts on a Saturday and concludes on Monday, the Day of German Unity, a public holiday throughout the country." "German table tennis fans can easily visit the three day table tennis festival" , added GEIGER. "It is quite some time ago since we had a top event in this part of the country." Klaus BOUILLON, the Saarland Minister of the Interior was equally excited about the city securing the bid for the prestigious world title event: "I look forward to this high profile event at which we will certainly experience high level and exciting matches in the Saarlandhalle; the Saarland will prove worthy host." It will be the 16th time that Europe has staged the event since first being the host in 1995 in Nîmes. Furthermore, it will be the 12th consecutive time that Europe has been the home. The unbroken run started in Liège in 2005; in Saarbrücken the local fans would welcome a repeat of that edition, where German superstar Timo Boll beat the Chinese trio of Wang Liqin, Ma Lin and Wang Hao to win the title! The 2015 edition, which was held in the Swedish city of Halmstad from 16 - 18 October 2015, saw World number one, Ma Long winning his second consecutive World Title event after the World Championships in May, moving him closer to accomplishing his Grand Slam dream.

Shanghai Is The National Men’S Team Champion at Chinese National Championships

Zhang Jike managed to adhere with the competition in this week’s Chinese National Championships. He even contributed to the victory of Shandong in the semifinals. However, in the ultimate final stage, he was absent and Shandong played without the Grand Slam champion. With this, Shanghai took advantage and swept Shandong for the title. 

Following his participation in the Singles, Zhang Jike continued to adhere with the competition in the Chinese National Championships. He also played in the team event for Shandong. 

Sina Sports. The 2015 Chinese National Championships ended with the team competition. In the men’s division, Shandong faced Shanghai in the finals. 

In the semifinals, Shandong faced PLA, which didn’t have the 18-year old Fan Zhendong in the lineup. Fang Bo started with a 3-1 score against Xu Chenhao but PLA managed to overtake to a 2-1 lead after Zhou Kai defeated Zhang Jike (10-12, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6) and Zhou Yu sweeping Kong Lingxuan. 

Fang Bo returned into the arena and won 3-1 over Zhou Kai. Zhang Jike played in the decider and this time, posted a victory over Xu Chenhao. He scored 8-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-6, 11-4. 

In the other part of the draw, Shanghai battled against Guangdong. Xu Xin scored two points after winning over Zhang Chao and Lin Gaoyuan. Shang Kun sealed the victory for Shanghai after surviving Zhang Chao in the decider (11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8). 

Today, Shandong and Shanghai fought the ultimate prize, the championship title. In the lineup of the Shandong Team, Zhang Jike was not included. 

Fang Bo and Shang Kun were the first players into the arena. Both players were fierce and levelled in 2-2. However in the decider, Shang Kun had better control over the table and eventually won in 3-2 (8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7). 

Xu Xin was the second player and faced Shandong’s young player Quan Kaiyuan. As a more experienced player, Xu Xin displayed good authority and sealed the match with 11-5, 11-7, 11-3. 

At this point, Shanghai was one match away to victory and their player, Zhao Zihao ended it. He survived Shandong’s Kong Lingxuan in 3-2. Shanghai won the match in 3-0 and is the men’s team champion. 

Shanghai Is The National Men’S Team Champion at Chinese National Championships

There is a good number of strong teams in the women’s division and the strongest were Shanxi and the hosting team, Heilongjiang. Both reached the finals and fought today. In just four matches, Wu Yang and company got the championship title to the Shanxi Team. Wu Yang continued her wonderful performance from the Super League to the National Championships. 

The Women’s Team competition of the Chinese National Championships ended today and Shanxi defeated the hosting team for the crown. 

After playing in the individual competition, the Grand Slam champion Li Xioxia eventually retired in the team competition. Last weekend, the event has decided there finalists. 

In the semifinals, Shandong was defeated by the hosting team, Heilongjiang who fought hard in a full-stretch battle. In the other part of the draw, Shanxi also survived a difficult challenge. They had to go through the decider against PLA before sealing their seats in the finals. 

Today, the victors fought for the ultimate challenge to win the championship title. Last year, Shanxi and Heilongjiang met in the quarterfinals. Heilongjiang won at that time. 

Heilongjiang had a good start with Wang Manyu sweeping Li Xiaodan. Wu Yang led Shanxi to level in 1-1 after she scored 3-1 against Che Xiaoxi. Shanxi gained their momentum when they also won the third match. Lyu Tingting swept Heilongjiang’s Wang Xuan. 

Wu Yang returned into the arena and faced Wang Manyu. Wu Yang ended the match to her favour in 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6. 

With this, Shanxi is the Women’s Team National Champion. This is the team’s first title in history of the competition. 

Ma Long Aiming to Create More History at Liebherr 2015 Men's World Cup

World Champion MA Long is aiming to etch his name in table tennis history by winning the Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men's World Cup, which starts tomorrow 16 October in Halmstad, Sweden.

The 27 year old Chinese needs to win the second ITTF world title event of the year, in order to keep his hopes of becoming a table tennis grand slam alive. The table tennis grand slam consists of winning the World Championships, the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

The last man to achieve this was his team mate ZHANG Jike, who complete the feat by becoming the 2011 World Champion, 2011 Men's World Cup Champion and the 2012 Olympic Champion.

MA who has been struggling with a back injury recently stated: "Of course it is my goal to complete the prestigious grand slam. But right now I am focusing on winning this event after losing a tight final last year to ZHANG (who did not qualify for the event this year). My back is feeling much better and I can't wait to get started!"

The Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men's World Cup only consists of 20 of the world's best players. 17 of the players competing here had to qualify through their respective Continental Cups, which means only the best of the best can compete.

The only three other players to receive the golden ticket to play in the 2015 ITTF Men's World Cup are the current World Champion MA Long (CHN), one host country representative Kristian KARLSSON (SWE), and 18 year old Anton KALLBERG (SWE) who received a wildcard into the event.

Kicking off the event are seeds nine to 20, playing round robin in four groups of three players (two matches each). 

In the first stage, all eyes will be on Jimmy BUTLER (USA), who is returning to the Men's World Cup for the first time since 1992! The 44 year old came out of his 11-year retirement through injury only last year to get back to the top of international table tennis.

After his final training session before the action begins tomorrow, the American stated: "I am overwhelmed being back. It is amazing to be amongst the world's elite again. When I started my comeback I did not think this would be possible. I will do my best tomorrow to cause some upsets!"

The second round, which starts on Saturday, is a straight knockout with the eight players that progressed from the first round, facing off against the top eight seeded players. The players play the round-of-16 and quarterfinals on Saturday, with the semifinals and final on Sunday.

Ovtcharov: There Is Pressure In Playing In The Super League

The German star Dimitrij Ovtcharov is not a new figure in the Chinese Super League. In fact, last season, he contributed greatly to the wonderful record of Jiangsu. However, this season, he was not able to repeat such success and he is not satisfied. According to him, there is always pressure when he played in China compared to in Germany. 

PingPang World. Dimitrij Ovtcharov is not satisfied with his performance in this season’s Super League. He said that there is always pressur

Dimitrij Ovtcharov played for the Jiangsu Club for the second time this season. Compared to his performance last year where he led the team into the playoffs, this season’s performance was far from that. 

“I suffered some injury problems this season. I was not in the best condition. Aside from that, my tight schedule made me really tired and resulted to a lot of defeats.” He said, saying that there was pressure playing in the Super League. 

Jiangsu finished in the ninth place with 4 wins and 14 losses while Ovtcharov’s personal record had 4 wins and 9 losses. He was ranked at 27th place. With this, Ovtcharov was not that satisfied. 

“In Germany, I basically don’t lose but in China, I need to have a very high degree of focus every match in order to play out my best level. Some Chinese player that I don’t know are also very good, not to mention the world best players like Fan Zhendong, Ma Long, Xu Xin among others.” Dimitrij Ovtcharov concluded.  

Jang Woojin In The Top-25!

Jang Woojin was rewarded for his victory over Zhang Jike at the 2015 Asian Championships. The South Korean player got into the top-25 for first time. Although Ma Long didn't compete in the singles event, he remained at the top of the ranking. Dimitrij Ovtcharov won the 2015 European Championships, but it wasn't enough to replace Zhang Jike in the fourth place. 

Jang Woojin reached new heights after the 2015 Asian Championships held in Pattaya, Thailand. The South Korean player was rewarded after his victories over Zhang Jike in the team and singles events. Jang jumped from the 41st to 24th spot. 

On the contrary, Fan Zhendong won the singles event but he didn't see improvements in this month. He stays in the third place after Ma Long and Xu Xin. Although Zhang Jike suffered an early elimination, he remains in the 4th place. 

 Dimitrij Ovtcharovdidn't move in Oct ober either. The German player defended the title at the 2015 European Championships, but he didn't get enough points to replace Zhang Jike. Marcos Freitas, runer-up in the European Championships, went up from 9th to 8th spot. Chuang Chih-Yuan went back to the top-10 after reaching semifinals of the 2015 Asian Championships. 

[[Ruwen Filus was also rewarded for his performance at the 2015 European Championships. The German player moved from 48th to 33rd place. Alexander Shibaev is in the 33rd as well after claiming from the 58th place. Mattias Karlsonreached the top-100 for first time. The Swedish player went up from 106th to 74th place