Chinese superstar ZHANG Jike has withdrawn from the Seamaster Qatar 2016 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals with an ankle injury. The injury is the same one that forced the world number four to pull out from the recent Austrian and Swedish ITTF World Tour events last month. The news has left the London 2012 Olympic […]
via Injured Zhang Jike Withdraws from ITTF World Tour Grand Finals — newfanzoneblog
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.”
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.
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.
14 year olds Mima ITO and Miu HIRANO from Japan have made history by becoming the youngest ever ITTF World Tour Grand Finals champions today in Bangkok, Thailand.
The duo, whose peers would have been at school instead of a $1,000,000 table tennis event, became the World Tour Grand Final women’s doubles champions in a gripping match.
ITO & HIRANO defeated the Polish pair in the gold medal match, which included triple Paralympics champion Natalia PARTYKA, an amazing achievement in itself for the class 10 superstar.
After beating PARTYKA and her partner Katarzyna GRZYBOWSKA 11-7, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5, ITO stated: “We beat them in the ITTF World Tour German Open final earlier this year, so we knew we could beat them, but of course this was a new match and it was a very special match. We knew it would be hard to win today.”
A smiling HIRANO added: “We have both practiced such a great deal. So I think we have a very good level of technical skills which helpeda lot.”
When the girls were told that in addition to winning the women’s doubles crown, they would also receive a $40,000 cheque, they could not hide their excitement, jumping up and down hugging each other in disbelief.
“We are going to buy lots and lots of presents for our family and friends, we are so excited about this money,” stated the ecstatic pair.
It wasn’t all sweet for Japan though, as CHO Eonrae and SEO Hyundeok of Korea ruined their dream of completing a doubles clean sweep by defeating Kenta MATSUDAIRA and Koki NIWA to clinch the title.
“During the time-out, our coach told us that we must really focus on our services and play fast from the backhand”, shared CHO. “We were both a little tense during the last 2 points, but the top spin from the backhand by Hyundeok made all the difference.”
The singles event is up to the semi finals stage, with the winners being determined tomorrow in front of the capacity crowd at the Sports Authority of Thailand Indoor Stadium.
The semi finalists shows the depth of international table tennis, with seven different countries making up the four men’s and four women’s semi final positions. The men’s semi finals sees a battle of Asia v Europe and the women’s features one of the most improved player of 2014 Georgina Pota (HUN) play the biggest match of her life!
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