The International Table Tennis Federation has signed a partnership agreement with Prague-based trophy company World Sport Design.
World Sport Design, who was also the Official Trophy Supplier of the GAC Group 2015 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, will be the Official Trophy Supplier of the ITTF from 2016 to 2018, providing trophies for the ITTF Star Awards and ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.
On the cooperation, ITTF President Mr. Thomas WEIKERT expressed: “The trophies at the 2015 Grand Finals were very well-designed, and I am certain that World Sport Design will continue to outdo themselves and produce prestigious trophies fitting the Star Awards and World Tour Grand Finals. We are looking forward to a long and successful partnership.”
Table tennis players will be now fighting it out for World Sport Design trophies from 2016
World Sport Design President Mr. Jiri SMIDL said: “World Sport Design specializes in creation of luxury sports trophies, medals and design sets handmade from glass, precious metals and other materials. This is the start of a long-term cooperation with ITTF, other national federations and sport event organisers. We anticipate the opportunity to deliver our design trophies to more events, with high quality awards to represent real and lasting value for the awarded.”
The race to the 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals is on, as the 2016 ITTF World Tour kick starts on 20 January 2016 with the Hungarian Open.
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.
Ma Long celebrates his victory at the Liebherr 2015 ITTF Men’s World Cup
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.
Ma Long celebrates becoming the most successful World Tour Grand Final player in history
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.
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.
2014 Finallists Ovtcharov & Mizutani will face off in the first round here in Lisbon
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.
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