08/09/2010 – HE Zhi Wen and FU Yu won the title at the 25th VIC International Open Gran Prix Barcelona held at the Sports Pavilion Castle Plans Vic and organized by FOTOPRIX Vic. HE Zhi Wen (TT Angers) in the final beat Andrew BAGGALEY (Nice TT) 3-0

08/09/2010 – At the press conference in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen Michael MAZE was elected as a player of the year in Denmark. Jonathan GROTH gained the title as a talent of the year. Unfortunately at the same occasion reigning champion MAZE https://www.ettu.org 08/09/2010 – At the press conference in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen Michael MAZE was elected as a player of the year in Denmark. Jonathan GROTH gained the title as a talent of the year. Unfortunately at the same occasion reigning champion MAZE announced his withdrawal from the 2010 LIBHERR European Championships in Ostrava. Michael MAZE is very sorry not to defend his title. “I hope soon I will be back but now it is not possible to play at the highest level due to a knee injury. Probably it is a virus inflammation.” The mens team will be composed by Allan BENTSEN Kasper STERNBERG Jonathan GROTH and Christian KJONGSGAARD. Coach Peter SARTZ said: “Without Machael MAZE we will have to change the target a little bit. With Maze we would have ambitions to play for medals. Realistically we will not be able to do this without Michael MAZE now”. (by Arne MADSEN courtesy of DBTU) Photo: Michael MAZE (Photo Roscher)

07/09/2010 – French men’s line up for the 2010 LIEBHERR European championships in Ostrava is the same as it was for World Championships in Moscow but in women’s team leader YIAN Yi Fang is still absent. In Men’s Teams Event in Gr https://www.ettu.org 07/09/2010 – French men’s line up for the 2010 LIEBHERR European championships in Ostrava is the same as it was for World Championships in Moscow but in women’s team leader YIAN Yi Fang is still absent. In Men’s Teams Event in Group stages France will play against Romania Belarus and Spain. “Our group is homogeneous. Belarus is a favorite with Vladimir SAMSONOV who has proved he is in great shape. That team is regularly in the last four. Romania and Spain will be easier to beat: they will have to fight hard to reach the quarter-finals. On the other side the French team is still inexperienced. In Moscow players were performed well but we still suffered from lack of consistency ” said Stephane HUCLIEZ head coach of men’s team. Girls will meet adversaries from Poland Spain and Slovakia in the first stage of the Team’s Event. “It will be very difficult to play against Poland and Spain. They are big favorites for the medal rostrum. Both teams have the same profile: a strong leader and two girls who are very strong behind. Poland’s LI Qian XU Jie and PARTYKA line up a very strong team which reached the quarterfinals of the last World Championships. SHEN Yanfei will play for the first time for Spain she returned in great shape after pregnancy. She won the Open in South Korea in addition. Without Eva ODOROVA Slovakia will have little chances to reach the quarters ” explained Rozenn JACQUET-YQUEL. French men’s team: Christophe LEGOUT (Istres Ouest Provence no. 55 at wr) Adrien MATTENET (AS Pontoise-Cergy no. 89) Emmanuel LEBESSON (Levallois SCTT no. 134) Abdel-Kader SALIFOU (EP Isseenne no. 154) – Simon GAUZY (Levallois SCTT no. 295). Head coach: Stephane HUCLIEZ French women’s team: Carole GRUNDISCH (US Kremlin Bicetre no. 82) Audrey MATTENET (ALCL TT Grand Quevilly no. 192) Aurore DESSAINT (TT Saint-Quentin no. 242) Laura GASNIER (Mayenne CA no. 268).Head coach: Rozenn JACQUET-YQUEL (by Hubert GUERIAU courtesy of FFTT) Click here for more information about 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships Photo: Christophe LEGOUT (courtesy ITTF)

07/09/2010 – At the 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships in Ostrava Czech men’s team will face three difficult opponents: Germany Poland and Greece. “The Germans are in Europe similar to Chinese worldwide. To play against them will be e https://www.ettu.org 07/09/2010 – At the 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships in Ostrava Czech men’s team will face three difficult opponents: Germany Poland and Greece. “The Germans are in Europe similar to Chinese worldwide. To play against them will be extremely difficult. – said national men coach Thomas DEMEK – We like to play against the Poles they are really good. The strength of Greece is much influenced by the presence or absence of the 15th player in the world Kalinikos KREANGA.”Women’s team coach Miroslav CECAVA does not want to talk about the pressure of defending bronze medal from Stuttgart 2009 especially in the light of the fact that the team playing at home. “I think we have a reasonable group and we will certainly fight for the quarterfinals. The girls are experienced and I believe that this fact will resist at home ” said coach Miroslav CECAVA . “I consider our group the second hardest. We could also get Germans and uncomfortable Turks. Belarus has traditionally two defenders; next to Victoria PAVLOVIC is DUBKOVA who we know well from the Czech league where she plays in Breclav. We beat Hungary in Stuttgart but Hungary has always been a very strong team. The third team in the group is Sweden who are relatively the weakest opponent. ” said CECAVA and warns that the Czech team must precede step by step and think first of the progress of the group. Semifinalist from the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta Petr KORBEL will be the home team favorite in single’s event. Dmitrij PROKOPCOV showed a good form by winning Prague Open tournament a week ago beating KORBEL in the semifinals and Dmitrij OTVCHAROV from Germany in the finals. In women’s singles event it will be Renata Strbikova. The entire team except SIRUCEK (who played in Istanbul at the Youth European Championships) trained in Karlova Studanka for one week in July. After that nine nominated players and two players from a larger squad (JANCARIK J. KLEPRLIK) went to training camp in Vitkovice in August. “In late August teams from Hungary Poland Serbia Russia and Austria joined us and gave us great opportunity for excellent sparring. “ said coach Tomas DEMEK. Group of four VACENOVSKA HADACOVA MATELOVA and KUCEROVA completed a three-week camp in China. The first nine days in July they spent in Shanghai the rest in training camp of the Chinese team in the Tong-chou about 130 km away from Shanghai and near the town of Nan-Tong. They trained with players of the B-national team of China and other European women. The players spent at the tables around seven hours a day. Since 27th August to 4th September all the Czech national women? team prepared in the center of the Italian Association near Bolzano with the domestic table tennis players Spanish and Hungarians. It was great to train together with TOTH POTA LOVAS MONFARDINI STEFANOVA or Spanish of Chinese origin SHEN Yanfei and ZHU Fang. After that they continued training in Havirov and from 8th September They should practice two days directly in CEZ Arena. Renata STRBIKOVA spent three weeks in Australia duirng summer. “It’s definitely one of the highlights of my career. I waited for it for a really long time. I’m glad I will be a part of the team at the European Championships in the Czech Republic – said the Czech’s no. one Petr KORBEL -.Germans are the main favorites for the title but the Poland and Greece can also succeed. Second place in the group is open.So I’m really happy that I’ll be finally able to play before the home crowd. Of course that if the championships were held here a decade ago when I was at the top it would be better. Even so I’ll do the maximum for the good result.” Renata STRBIKOVA who will defend last year’s bronze medal from the team competition at the European Championship with Iveta VACENOVSKA and Dana HADACOVA added:” Actually I’m in the team for sixteen years and I am very pleased that I could play before the home crowd. It’s mentally challenging because at home we will be more under pressure than last year in Stuttgart. Women’s team (coach Miroslav CECAVA): Iveta VACENOVSKA Renata STRBIKOVA Dana HADACOVA Katerina PENKAVOVA Martina SMISTIKOVA Lenka HARABASZOVA and Hana MATELOVA. Men’s team (coach Tomas DEMEK): Petr KORBEL Dmitrij PROKOPCOV Josef SIMONCIK Tomas KONECNY Jiri VRABLIK Tomas TREGLER Michal OBESLO Antonin GAVLAS and Pavel SIRUCEK. (by Katarina PETRIKOVA) For further information click here Photo: Czech player Iveta VACENOVSKA (Photo ROSCHER) Photo: Czech player Iveta VACENOVSKA (Photo ROSCHER)

07/09/2010 – Bastian STEGER has a severely bruised his chest (rib) at the China Open in August. It seemed okay for a while; STEGER played in Bundesleague/DTTL and participated in the EC training camp last week in Rotenburg. However the pain has some https://www.ettu.org 07/09/2010 – Bastian STEGER has a severely bruised his chest (rib) at the China Open in August. It seemed okay for a while; STEGER played in Bundesleague/DTTL and participated in the EC training camp last week in Rotenburg. However the pain has somehow increased. Now he is forced to withdraw from the 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships in Ostrava. “He needs to have a break. It does not make sense to play European Championships with only 70 or 80 per cent of his actual capacity ” says Jorg ROSSKOPF the new national coach and Richard PRAUSE’S successor since August. The cancellation is not only a setback for STEGER himself and the team but also for Patrick BAUM. Doubles BAUM/STEGER won the Korea Open in August and had chances to win a medal in Ostrava too. Baum’s new partner will now be 18-year-old Patrick FRANZISKA the reigning European Junior Boys Champion. Timo BOLL is in good shape but broke his blade last week. For him it is not a catastrophe but anyway he had to find new material at the training camp in Rotenburg last week. “It usually takes about a month to get used to a new blade – he says – but I hope that this time it goes a little quicker”. The broken blade has not changed his aim for Ostrava. “Our team is the top favorite. Anything but the title would be disappointing to be open. As we all are strong single players a lot of things would have to go wrong if we had lost a whole team match. Anyway: We must take every opponent seriously and must be alert from the first match on”. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV pointed that Germany will have difficult job against Greece Poland and Czech Republic in their group. “Many teams are after us. That was the situation the Swedish team was in for many years. I hope that for us too it will take a while until others catch up with us ” says ROSSKOPF. “If we win again the team’s title it will be easier to play singles and doubles afterwards. The pressure on us as the favorites is high but the players are able to stand it”. So far Germany has won the team’s title 3 times in a row 2007 2008 and 2009. Timo Boll could score another triple. Last year he won the team’s and doubles’ events but lost to Michael MAZE in the semi final in singles. “As I only became third last year I am the challenger this time. Before Stuttgart last year I suffered from an injury for several weeks. This year I am in good shape and want to make it further up. But it won’t be easy ” he reckons. His main competitors will be Vladimir SAMSONOV and his team mates. Michael MAZE’S shape was not easy to judge after his long break. 29-year-old BOLL has won 10 titles at European Championships so far. Top ranked in the European “hall of fame” is Jan-Ove WALDNER. The Swedish legend scored 11 titles in his career. Catching up with WALDNER is not a hot topic for Boll. “It’s always the press who tells me about such details. I’m not focusing on that. I’m not a record chaser”. Like the German women the men’s team will arrive in Ostrava on Thursday. The ladies’ formation will consist of the quartet who surprisingly won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Moscow in May plus ZHENQI Barthel who became third in Stuttgart in the doubles competition together with Kristin SILBEREISEN. For top player WU Jiaduo Kristin SILBEREISEN Sabine WINTER and Elke SCHALL the surprise from Moscow does not count any more as German Sports Director Dirk SCHIMMELPFENNIG explains: “In Ostrava we have to start all over again. Especially among the ladies the level in Europe is rather even. In our group Croatia Austria and our team could play for the medals. And also Turkey’s HU Melek is capable to score points and put any opponent under pressure”. Anyway the team’s aim is clear: “As 5th in Stuttgart we narrowly missed a medal. In Ostrava we want to win one”. Elke SCHALL will play European Championships for the 10th time in Ostrava. “European Championships are always something special ” the 37-year-old says. “I will try and show my best performance and then see where it’s leading me”. Even though she is the most experienced player of her team she does not consider herself being the team leader. “In the end every player is responsible for herself. Once the match has started nobody can help you.Anyway a good team spirit can spur you on. That’s what made our team strong in Moscow”. Strong in Moscow: That’s how the European title holder performed. “Of course I now feel under more pressure than e.g. before Stuttgart ” explains WU Jiaduo. “But I always think positively. I hope to win a medal this year too – in singles doubles or with our team. It’s important that we do not put a strain on us by possible results but think from match to match only”. (by Simone HINZ courtesy of DTTB) Click here for more information about 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships Photo: 2010 German men’s team

06/09/2010 – Greece will be represented at the 2010 European Championships in Ostrava by seven players. Panagiotis GIONIS Kostas PAPAGEORGIOU and Dimitris PAPADIMITRIOU line up alongside Kallinikos KREANGA. In the women team are Katerina NTOULAKI https://www.ettu.org 06/09/2010 – Greece will be represented at the 2010 European Championships in Ostrava by seven players. Panagiotis GIONIS Kostas PAPAGEORGIOU and Dimitris PAPADIMITRIOU line up alongside Kallinikos KREANGA. In the women team are Katerina NTOULAKI Maria CHRISTOFORAKI and Filareti EXARCHOU. In the Group Stages of the Men’s Teams Event Greece will play against Germany Czech Republic and Poland. “The fact that we have in our group the European Champion and the host country makes our work more difficult. Furthermore Poland has also strong team which may even reach the medal” – said the national coach of men’s team Kostas VATSAKLIS – and added: “Every match is like final for us. The basic target is to qualify in positions 1-8. If we succeed then we will go for the best possible position. Kalinikos KREANGA is in good shape and his performance play important role in order to get a high position”.The national coach of women’s team George KARYTSAS stressed: “We have difficult group. We will face a former European champion and Slovenia which showed at the World Championship its value. Respect of course must be shown in match against Azerbaijan. We will try to qualify in positions 17-24 and we are preparing for another derby against Slovenia. After a successful presence in Moscow our national team will try to have a similar positive trend in Ostrava”. The men’s team took the first part of the preparation in the altitude of the village Trikala Corinthia and worked exclusively on physical fitness. Then they prepared for a week in Sport Camp Loutraki and the last part was in Athens (Peace & Friendship Stadium). The women’s team started the preparation in Athens make also camp in Loutraki for a week and returned in Greek capital. For the individual events except KREANGA Greek could have success with GIONIS who is always looking for something more after round of “16″. In women NTOULAKI can pass two or three rounds. In every case the big names of Greek mission must wait the draw of individual events. KREANGA will not take part in the event of double. The best pair is GIONIS/PAPAGEORGIOU. (by Ioannis FAKAROS courtesy of Hellenic Table Tennis Federation) Click here for more information about 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships Photo: Greek star Kalinikos KREANGA (Photo ROSCHER) 06/09/2010 – Greece will be represented at the 2010 European Championships in Ostrava by seven players. Panagiotis GIONIS Kostas PAPAGEORGIOU and Dimitris PAPADIMITRIOU line up alongside Kallinikos KREANGA. In the women team are Katerina NTOULAKI Maria CHRISTOFORAKI and Filareti EXARCHOU. In the Group Stages of the Men’s Teams Event Greece will play against Germany Czech Republic and Poland. “The fact that we have in our group the European Champion and the host country makes our work more difficult. Furthermore Poland has also strong team which may even reach the medal” – said the national coach of men’s team Kostas VATSAKLIS – and added: “Every match is like final for us. The basic target is to qualify in positions 1-8. If we succeed then we will go for the best possible position. Kalinikos KREANGA is in good shape and his performance play important role in order to get a high position”.The national coach of women’s team George KARYTSAS stressed: “We have difficult group. We will face a former European champion and Slovenia which showed at the World Championship its value. Respect of course must be shown in match against Azerbaijan. We will try to qualify in positions 17-24 and we are preparing for another derby against Slovenia. After a successful presence in Moscow our national team will try to have a similar positive trend in Ostrava”. The men’s team took the first part of the preparation in the altitude of the village Trikala Corinthia and worked exclusively on physical fitness. Then they prepared for a week in Sport Camp Loutraki and the last part was in Athens (Peace & Friendship Stadium). The women’s team started the preparation in Athens make also camp in Loutraki for a week and returned in Greek capital. For the individual events except KREANGA Greek could have success with GIONIS who is always looking for something more after round of “16″. In women NTOULAKI can pass two or three rounds. In every case the big names of Greek mission must wait the draw of individual events. KREANGA will not take part in the event of double. The best pair is GIONIS/PAPAGEORGIOU. (by Ioannis FAKAROS courtesy of Hellenic Table Tennis Federation) Click here for more information about 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships Photo: Greek star Kalinikos KREANGA (Photo ROSCHER)

05/09/2010 – Having reached bronze medals 2008 and 2009 the Austrian men’s team will start the 2010 team event at the LIEBHERR European Championships in Ostrava with legitimate hopes for the third medal in a row. After two training camps in Au https://www.ettu.org 05/09/2010 – Having reached bronze medals 2008 and 2009 the Austrian men’s team will start the 2010 team event at the LIEBHERR European Championships in Ostrava with legitimate hopes for the third medal in a row. After two training camps in Austria (Faakersee and Stockerau) Werner SCHLAGER and his teammates will arrive in Ostrava already on Monday 6th Sep for getting the finale touch. “For Werner SCHLAGER and CHEN Weixing the team event has definitely highest priority. If these two and Robert GARDOS can show their best performance a medal should be reachable. With some luck it might be more than bronze like the last two years” Sport-Director Hans FRIEDINGER pins his hopes on the three routiniers. In the Austrian women’s team the fitness of number one LIU Jia will be the great question mark. Suffering from serious problems with her elbow (which forced her already to withdraw from the World Team Championships inMoscow) she is not entirely recovered yet. After a long and intense medical treatment her conditions have been improved but we have to see how she can manage the high physical strain of such a long lasting tournament. For this reason aims are set low. “First of all we have to avoid relegation and would be quite satisfied to reach the quarter final” FRIEDINGER shows untypical modesty. The Austrian men’s team: Werner SCHLAGER CHEN Weixing Robert GARDOS Daniel HABESOHN Stefan FEGERL FENG Xiaoquan (Mathias HABESOHN and Christoph SIMONER only plays men’s doubles) Women’s team: LIU Jia LI Qiangbing Monica JURIC Karina KOVACS (by Wolfgang PAULIK ?? Press Officer) Click here for more information about 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships Photo: Robert GARDOS (Photo Roscher)

05/09/2010 – Both Italian teams at the 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships in Ostrava from 11th to 19th September will play in the Challenge Division. Men are in group with Slovakia Latvia and Wales whilst girls will play against Slovenia Greece

04/09/2010 – Reigning European Champion Danish Michael MAZE participation to the upcoming 2010 LIEBHERR European Championships in Ostrava (cZE September 11th-19th) is still under question mark. In January this year Michael MAZE had an accident dur