Monteiro And Ovtcharov In The Europe Top-16'S Final

 

Joao Monteiro enjoys success at the Europe Top-16. After an amazing performance in the previous rounds, the host player reached the final match to face European champions Dimitrij Ovtcharov. In semifinals Monteiro overcame Russia's Alexander Shibaev, the German player defeated Sweden's Kristian Karlsson. 

Joao Monteiro and Dimitrij Ovtcharov will meet again at the Europe Top-16. They will clash in the final to be held in some hours. The Portuguese player reached the final after eliminating Vladimir Samsonov by 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 and 15-13, and Alexander Shibaev by 11-13, 11-4, 10-12, 11-9, 11-4, 11-13 and 11-9. 
On his way to the final, Ovtcharov overcame Tiago Apolonia by 11-6, 11-7, 11-9 and 11-2. In semifinals, the European champion had a hard match against Kristian Karlsso but he managed to succeed by 12-14, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 2-11, 11-8 and 11-8.

 

Kong Linghui: Chinese Overseas Players Not A Threat Anymore

The Chinese Team is a strong force in the women’s division but they can also be defeated. This was proven by Singapore’s Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Li Jiawei in 2010. All of them are Chinese overseas players. According to the head coach, Kong Linghui, the new generation of the Chinese overseas players can still be a dark horse in the Olympic Games. 

Beijing News. Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Li Jiawei have once given the Chinese Women’s Team a painful defeat. According to Kong Linghui, it will be difficult to happen again. 

Over the past decade, Chinese playing for other teams, also known as Chinese overseas players, were the main opponent of the Chinese Team. In the 2010 Moscow World Team Championships, Singapore’s Wang Yuegu, Li Jiawei and Feng Tianwei gave the Chinese Women’s Team the most painful defeat, after they won the championship title. They were Chinese overseas players. 

In a recent meeting, the head coach Kong Linghui once again talked about the Chinese overseas players. He identified Singapore’s Zhou Yihan, Lin Ye and South Korea’s Jeon Jihee. 

“They can be the dark horse who can impact the Chinese Team in the Olympic Games.” Kong Linghui admitted.  

However, compared to the past generation, the current overseas players don’t have much experience in the Chinese Team. Due to lack of capacity, it could still be difficult for them to pose a threat to the Chinese players. 

World Number one Ma Long beats 39-year-old Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus 4-1 (11-7, 11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5) to defend his German Open title

The first 2016 ITTF World Tour Super Series event, the German Open, concluded today, 31 January 2016, at the Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin. The star-studded tournament attracted a capacity 4,200-cheering crowd in the final day, where four gold medals were awarded.

For the highlight match of the day, it was a Men's Singles battle between 39-year-old Vladimir SAMSONOV of Belarus and 27-year-old MA Long of China, the two players with the highest number of World Tour Men's Singles titles.

Eventually, it was world number one MA who proved to be unstoppable, dropping only one game in the entire tournament to defend his German Open title. The 4-1 (11-7, 11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5) win over the world number 11 added on to his current tally of 24 World Tour Singles title, closing in to SAMSONOV's record of 27 Singles title, including one from the 2005 German Open.

"It was not that easy to win this final! I don't have a great winning record against Vladi, so I had to prepare more. But I'm really happy to defend my title, and keep playing well on the World Tour!" commented MA.

In the Women's Singles, China's WU Yang faced off with second-seed Kasumi ISHIKAWA of Japan.The Chinese defender's consistency in returning every point ensured her a 4-1 (11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7) win, despite best efforts from ISHIKAWA.

The trend continues where no Women's Singles winner has ever defended their title at the German Open.

It's a great feeling to win the 1^st World Tour Super Series of the year! Both of us are in good form and played a fantastic match. I was a bit conservative when I was leading, which caused the loss in the third game. However, I overcame the problems and won the final.

Despite the German home crowd fully behind them, HAN Ying and Irene IVANCAN could not stand up to top seeded JEON Jihee and YANG Haeun of Korea. The duo, who also clinched the Women's Doubles title last week at the Hungarian Open, won 3-1 (11-3, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7) to maintain their perfect World Tour record this year.

And in the last Final of the day, MORIZONO Masatakaand OSHIMA Yuyaof Japan faced off against HO Kwan KitandTANG Pengof Hong Kong in the Men's Doubles. The Japanese duo, who were the 2015 World Tour Grand Finals winner, took the match in four games, winning 3-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 11-2).

The German Open also included the Under-21 Finals which were played on Saturday. Japanese HAMAMOTO Yuidefeated her compatriot HAYATA Hina 3-1 (5-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-6) to clinch the Under-21 Women's Singles title, while MURAMATSU Yuto of Japan beat GERALDO Joao of Portugal 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-6).

With the first out of six Super Series completed, the players will put their race to the year-end ITTF World Tour Grand Finals on hold, as they prepare for the 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 28 February to 6 March 2016.

2016 World Championships Table Tennis Table Unveiled

The table on which history will be made at the Perfect 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships has been released by Butterfly, who is the official table supplier for the world's biggest table tennis event this year.

The best table tennis players on earth will all battle it out on the newly unveiled 'Trusspeed' table which Butterfly believes will be the perfect table for quick, exciting rallies to enthrall the global audience.

The 'Trusspeed' table is different from past Butterfly tables, as it steps away from its round and curved undercarriage to a stronger, and bolder design.

The pink fluro lights on the attractive Trusspeed table reflects Butterfly's corporate colour and its revamped logo which was launched in 2014.

ITTF's Marketing Director Steve Dainton stated: "Butterfly in recent years have gone to great lengths to ensure pleasing designs for the ITTF's major events. This year is no exception and with great co-operation between all our suppliers, we have even taken it an extra step further this year to present a new field of play color scheme which matches very nicely with the Butterfly equipment."

Butterfly is no stranger to supplying world class tables for the biggest table tennis events, being the table supplier for the 2009, 2012 & 2014 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships.

The Perfect 2016 World Team Table Tennis Championships to be held 28 February to 6 March 2016in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is set to be one of the biggest World Championships of all time, with the world's best 91 men and 81 women's competing at the 54^th edition.

ARCHANA MAKES HISTORY, FIRST INDIAN TO ENTER QUARTERS of 2015 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals

Archana Girish Kamath’s epoch-making run at the 11Even Sports 2015 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals came to an end when top-seed Romanian Adina Diaconu beat the Indian 4-0 in the quarterfinals at the Abhay Prashal here today.

Archana, who became the first Indian to enter the last-eight stages, could not repeat her feat against French girl Pauline Chasselin in the third round which paved the way for her quarterfinal entry. Yet, the Bengaluru girl, who finished fifth, can look up to going a few places higher in her rankings. In addition, the 16-year-old will pocket $1,050 for her efforts.

Archana was completely out of sorts against the attacking Romanian whose backhand winners became the talk of the town. That Adina was not only fast but even furious with her approach against the 14th seeded Indian was evident right from the word go. She ran into a 9-2 in the first game, sounding the alarm bell for Archana.

The pattern continued despite Archana trying to slow down the game as none of her tricks, including backhand topspin services, worked. Interestingly, Adina was in a hurry to finish the match and she made no bones about it. She will take on Park Seri of Korea in the first semifinaltomorrow.

However hard the Indian tried, the 10th standard student from Sadashivanagar’s Poorna Pranja Education Centre in Bengaluru could not counter the pace of Romanian.

“She was too good and I was completely lost,” admitted Indian after the loss. But in the morning, it was a different Archana against Pauline. She was not only attacking but her strategy of feeding her French opponent with long balls helped. Though the French tried to come back when she made it 3-2 in the fifth set, Archana was focused on the job at hand to end Pauline’s ordeal.

“My coach advised me to keep her away from the table and I just followed Sandeep Sir’s instructions. His assessment was precise and he kept telling me to keep Pauling away from the table,” said Archana, praising Sandeep Gupta.

Siddhesh justifies

The two Indian boys, Mudit Dani and Siddhesh Pandey finished thirteen—those in 13-16 brackets are considered 13th—but national champion Siddhesh had a far better junior finals outing than Mudit. Siddhesh, who was a last-minute entrant owing to the pullout by Qatari Abdulrahman Al-Naggar, not only justified his inclusion but even performed beyond expectations. He should have won a couple of close encounters but lacked maturity at crucial junctures.

Mudit, on the other hand, has had wider exposures outside the country and gained entry because of his better world rankings. Yet when it came to performing in the finals here, Mudit fell short of expectations as he failed to take a single game off his opponents in all the matches.

Siddhesh led 2-0 in the consolation match against Germany’s Johah Schile but let his rival off the hook as the German struck a nice rhythm to take the next four games to push Siddhesh to the corner.

Match of tournament

In men’s first quarterfinal, Zhag Kai of the USA surpassed all expectations to beat Taipei’s Chun-Yu Tsai 4-3 in a gripping encounter to earn a semifinal meeting with Japanese Izumo Takuto who sdnt second-seeded Darko Jorgic packing.

In what turned out to be the best match of the tournament so far, the Japanese had everything going for himself as he should have won 4-1, then 4-2 when he led 5-0 and 5-1 in the respective games. But his cardinal blunder was the long ball which kept the Slovenian in the match as he kept returning when he was pushed away from the table. But the 16-year-old Japanese got his focus back in the decider and won with a minimal point to go through.

The other quarterfinals in both categories are slated for tonight.

Results:

Junior Boys:

Quarterfinals: Zhang Kai (USA) bt Chun-Yu Tsai (TPE) 4-3 (7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-4, 12-10), Izumo Takuto (JPN) bt Darko Jorgic (SLO) 4-3 (11-8, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 10-12, 9-11, 11-9).

Consolation: Cristian Ple tea (ROU) bt Mudit Dani (IND) 4-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-5, 11-9), Ali Alkhadrawi (RSA) bt Helshan Weerasinghe (ENG) 4-3 (9-11, 5-11, 11-3, 3-11, 11-5, 12-10, 11-6), Jonah Schile (GER) bt Siddhesh Pande (IND) 4-2 (7-11, 2-11, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9), Issac Zauli (BRA) bt Mohammad Abdulwahhab (QAT) 4-2 (12-10, 21-19, 7-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5).

Junior Girls:

Quarterfinals: Adina Diaconu (ROU) bt Archana Girish Kamath (IND) 4-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6), Park Seri (KOR) bt Lin Chia-Hsuan (TPE) 4-0 (14-12, 13-11, 13-11, 14-12).

Consolation: Angela Guan (USA) bt Wu Jiamuwa (AUS) 4-3 (13-11, 7-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4), Tamolwan Khetkhuan (THA) bt Amira Yousry (EGY) 4-0 (11-2, 11-8, 11-4, 12-10), Lin Po-Hsuan (TPE) bt Leticia Nakada (BRA) 4-2 (12-10, 10-12, 11-8, 2-11, 16-14, 11-5), Pauline Chasselin (FRA) bt Bruna Takahashi (BRA) 4-2 (11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9).

China Announces Basic Olympic Lineup

The Olympic Games is less than a year from now and the schedule for the Olympic Asian Qualifier has been set already. This year, there will be a change and it will require the candidates for the Singles event to participate in the qualifier, that is instead of the Olympic third person. Each association can register 2 to 4 players for the competition in Hong Kong. 

Guangzhou Daily. The Asian Olympic Qualifier is already scheduled April this year and the Chinese Team has already disclosed their basic lineup. 

2016 is a critical year for all athletes because of the Olympic Games. For table tennis, the Asian Olympic Qualifier is scheduled on April. 

There are some changes in this year’s qualifier competition. Before, the Olympic third person of every team needs to participate in the qualifier. Now, it should be the candidates for the Singles event who need to participate in the competition. 

According to the rules, each association can register 2 to 4 players. In this case, head coach Liu Guoliang disclosed their basic Olympic lineup. For the men, they are  Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong. For the women, they are Ding Ning, Liu Shiwen, Li Xiaoxia, Zhu Yuling,

The qualifier will be held in Hong Kong on April 13 to 17. The deadline of registration for each association will be on June 15. 

2016 Hungary Open's Main Draw Released

The ITTF 2016 World Tour has begun. Yesterday the qualification groups of the 2016 Hungary Open kicked off and today top seeds know their rivals. Chuang Chih-Yuan, Li Pin, Ai Fukuhara, Kasumi Ishikawa and Feng Tianwei will make their debut tomorrow.  The ITTF 2016 World Tour has kicked off with the 2016 Hungary Open. The qualifiers have been decided and the top seeds will see action since tomorrow. Chuang Chih-Yuan, top seed, will play against Iran's Nima Lamian, while Li Pin of Qatar, second seed, will face Sweden's Hampus Soderlund.   
Top players such as Simon Gauzy of France and Kim Donghyun of South Korea will meet Serbia's Marko Jevtovic and Singapore's Chew Zhe Yu Clarence, respectively.   
Other interesting matches of the 1st round: Poland's Wang Zengyi vs Japan's Yuto Kizukuri, France's Romain Lorentz vs Sweden's Jon Persson, Russia's Mikhail Paykov vs Spain's Carlos Machado, Nigeria's Quadri Aruna vs Brazil's Thiago Monteiro, Brazil's Cazuo Matsumoto vs Serbia's Aleksandar Karakasevic, France's Quentin Robinot vs Sweden's Jens Lundqvist.  
 In the women's event Japanese top players will also make their debut. Ai Fukuhara, top seed, will face South Korea's Yoon Hyobin in the first round, while Kasumi Ishikawa will meet Brazil's Lin Gui. Feng Tianwei of Singapore will play against Japan's Natsumi Nakahata, while Mima Ito will face Slovakia's Barbora Balazova.   
 Other interesting matches in the 1st round: Viktoria Pavlovich vs Czech Republik'sDana Checova, Czech Republic's Renata Strbikova vs Hong Kong's Tie Yana, South Korea's Park Youngsik vs Singapore's Zeng Jian, Hong Kong's Lee Ho Ching vs Japan's Mizuki Morizono, Japan's Honoka Hashimoto vs Germany'sPetrissa Solja, Puerto Rico's Adriana Diaz vs Singapore's Lin Ye, South Korea's Seo Hyowon vs Taipei's Cheng Hsien-Tzu.