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

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.”

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

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.

Ito & Hirano’s Record Recognized By Guinness World Records

Mima ITO and Miu HIRANO’s record breaking women’s doubles win at the GAC Group 2014 World Tour German Open has been officially recognized by the Guinness World Records.

ITO and HIRANO became the youngest ever winner of an ITTF World Tour event, when they became the women’s doubles champions in Magdeburg, Germany, when they were just 13 years old, with a combined age of 27 years and 145 days.

The talented duo received plaques commemorating their achievements in a special ceremony organized by Guinness World Records during the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Japan in Kobe, Japan.

During the ceremony a Guinness World Records representative stated: “This record is very special, due to the immense talent of these two girls. Today is a bright day celebrating this exceptional record, which I am sure will not be broken for a long time.”

The now 14 years old celebrate their official record with a selfie in Kobe!

ITO, who has now ranked 9th in the world at just 14 years of age, stated: “I am very grateful to everyone who helped me break this record. The day we won in Germany was very emotional and a day that I will never forget.”

ITO is used to breaking records, with the Japanese superstar already becoming the youngest ever winner of an ITTF Junior event at 10 years of age, the same age that she won a match at the Senior Japan National Championships, which has never been done before.

HIRANO, who also has a bright future ahead of her added: “I am so proud of this record. I will continue practicing hard, so I can be the best table tennis player that I can, and create more history for Japan.”

Both players are now heading to the GAC Group 2015 World Tour Super Korea Open being held in Incheon, where they will hope to add more titles to their ever growing collection.

Toriola, Quadri, Ajetunmobi in good start at ITTF World Tour in Germany

Nigeria’s trio of Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri and Seun Ajetunmobi began their campaigns at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-sanctioned World Tour tagged German Open on good note on Wednesday with victories in their first matches at the five-day championship.

With over 290 players from 41 countries taking part in the championship holding in Magdeburg, Germany, Ajetunmobi inspired his compatriot early on Wednesday when he overcame homeboy – Germany’s Phillip Floritz in an explosive encounter that attracted the fans to table two.

From the start of the match, the German was confident that he was going to have a good run against the Nigerian and this came to past as he won the first two matches at 11-8, 11-5. But Ajetunmobi fought back to level up at 11-9, 11-9. The German again restored the lead with 1-5 win but as usual Ajetunmobi recovered to win the sixth game at 11-8. However, the final game was beyond the German as he fell 11-5 to Ajetunmobi to concede defeat to the Nigerian.

But Aruna was however, on easy lane as he whitewashed Italy’s Marco Rech Daldosso 13-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-6 while like Ajetunmobi, Toriola did not have it easy against Russia’s Taras Merzlikin but he fought hard to beat the Russian 15-13, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7.

To be certain of playing in the main draw, Ajetunmobi will play his last group match against Russia’s Alexey Liventsou, while Quadri will confront Japan’s Yuto Muramatsu on Thursday. Toriola will also battle Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek.

For the women’s singles pairing, Olaide Atinuke has been drawn in Group 22 alongside Slovakia’s Barbora Balazova and Hungary’s Dora Madarasz, while Ganiat Olatunde-Aruna will tackle Spain’s Galia Dvorak and Russia’s Elena Troshneva in Group 22.

Meanwhile, runner’s up at the 2010 edition in Berlin, China’s Wang Hao is the top seed in the men’s singles event at the tournament.
With the main draw expected to begin on Friday March 28, 30 year-old former world number one is no doubt approaching the twilight years of his international career, as the likes of Fan Zhendong and Yan An make their mark on the scene and press for places in the Chinese Men’s first team.

Like what Hao intends to achieve, Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner was 31 when he was crowned Men’s Singles World champion in Manchester in 1997; Werner Schlager was 30 years of age when he succeeded at the Liebherr World Championships in Paris in 2003.

In Germany, Hao will be seeking to add to the 13 already secured titles with the most recent being in Poland in November 2012.
The host nation’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll are the respective second and third seeds. Ovtcharov won in 2012 in Berlin, while Boll is the most successful of all. He succeeded in 2004 in Leipzig, 2006 in Bayreuth and then in 2008 in Berlin and in 2009 in Bremen.

MA Long & DING Ning Win Asian Cup to Qualify for the ITTF World Cup

MA Long (CHN) and DING Ning (CHN) have won the respective Men’s and Women’s titles at the GAC Honda 2014 Asian Cup, concluded in the city of Wuhan on Saturday, 22 March 2014.

The GAC Honda 2014 Asian Cup is the Asian continental qualification for the Men’s and Women’s ITTF World Cups later in the year, with the top three placed players gaining direct qualification to the prestigious events.

At the Men’s final on Saturday, MA Long beat Chinese National Team compatriot, 17-year-old Fan Zhendong in an enthralling seven games duel (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 11-8). MA Long has now won the title four times, twice as many as his nearest rivals. His past victories were in Sapporo in 2008, Hangzhou in 2009 and Changsha in 2011.

As the current World Champion, ZHANG Jike (CHN), gains direct entry into the ITTF World Cup, and only two players per county can participate, FAN Zhendong misses out on qualification to the LIEBHERR 2014 Men’s World Cup to be held in Düsseldorf, Germany on 24 to 26 October 2014.

MA Long (left) and DING Ning (right) qualify for the ITTF World Cup. Photo by ITTF.

In the Women’s final, DING Ning got revenge over LI Xiaoxia, who beat DING on her way to the recent Olympic and World Championships crowns. DING prevailed in six games (11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6), to win the Asian Cup for the first time in her career.

Japan’s Jun MITZUTANI secured third place in the Men’s Singles event against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An (11-5,4-11, 11-6, 11-7, 13-11), while Singapore’s YU Mengyu accounted for DPR Korea’s RI Myong Sun to secure the bronze medal (5-11, 11-5, 9-11, 4-11, 11-5, 13-11, 11-3).

Apart from FAN Zhendong for reasons explained above, the finalists and bronze medalists are directly qualified for the ITTF World Cups together with the winners of the DHS 2014 Europe Cup, LI Jiao (NED), LIU Jia (AUT), PAVLOVICH Viktoria (BLR), OVTCHAROV Dimitrij (GER), FREITAS Marcos (POR), MAZE Michael (DEN). The DHS 2014 Europe Cup was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 7 to 9 February 2014.

All eyes now turn to the third Super Series of the GAC Group 2014 World Tour in Magdeburg, Germany, which starts on Wednesday, 26 March 2014 to Sunday, 30 March 2014.