Saturday, October 3, 2015

Important Table Tennis tournaments coming up

Two important Table tennis events are coming up soon in the US.

A 4 Star Tournament with $ 5000 cash and prizes will be held at Morrisville, North Carolina (NC).
The event is the 2015 Triangle October Open.
The tournament will be held from Oct. 16 - 18, 2015.

A 3 Star Tournament with $12,000 in prize money will be held at San Diego, California (CA).
The event is the San Diego Open Neil Smyth Memorial and will be conducted by San Diego Table Tennis Association.
The tournament will be held from Oct. 03 - 04, 2015.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Liam Pitchford gives Ovtcharov a run for his money

Liam Pitchford of England fought gallantly against top seed Dmitrij Ovtcharov of Germany in the pre-quarterfinals of the European Table Tennis Championships at Ekaterinburg but eventually lost 2-4 ( 11-4, 7-11, 8-11, 11-6, 3-11, 4-11). The match was actually balanced till the fourth game at 2-2, but Ovtcharov showed his class by beating the Englishman quite handily in the last two games.

Photo courtesy of the ITTF.

Zu Yuling wins the Women's singles title at the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya

Cheng Meng could not complete the final match at the Asian Champions, thus handing the crown to Zhu Yuling. Cheng Meng pulled an upper leg muscle when she was down 1-2.

Incidentally, the two are supposed to partner and defend their doubles title later in the tournament!

2015 Australian Veterans Table Tennis Championships at Queensland

The 2015 edition of the Australian Veterans Championships tournament will be held at Caloundra, Queensland from 17th October to 24 October 2015.

Australian Senior Top 10 Table Tennis tournament

The 2015 National Senior Top 10 Ranking Tournament will be held at Seagulls Table Tennis from October 23 - October 25, 2015.

The cream of Australia and some up coming talent will be seen in action at the tournament.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Australian National Junior Table Tennis Championships

The Australian National Junior Table Tennis Championships is being hfrom September 26 - October 3 at the Golden Grove SA. 

Photo source: ittfocenia.com

Zhang Jike shocked by Jang Woojin again!

Grand Slam winner in Table Tennis, Zhang Jike was again beaten by 2013 World Junior Champion Jang Woojin at the Asian Table Tennis Championships at Pattaya.

Woojin won 4-2 (11-3, 5-11, 11-7, 11-4, 21-14, 11-8). Jike was thus beaten by the young Korean twice in the same event. 

Mascot for the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships to be held at Surat

The mascot for the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at Surat is a lion wearing traditional Gujarat state clothes playing Table Tennis.

Table Tennis tournaments in England in October 2015

Tournaments in England in October (Information source - tabletennisengland.co.uk)

West Midland Junior 2* Open
October 3, 2015
Wood Green Academy, Wood Green Road
Wednesbury, West Midlands WS10 9QU United Kingdom

Halton Para Open Championships (BTTAD Grand Prix Series)
October 4, 2015
Halton Regional Table Tennis Centre, Select Security Stadium, Lowehouse Lane, Widnes
Halton, Cheshire WA8 7DZ United Kingdom

Bishop Auckland Bribar 2* Open
October 4, 2015
Bishop Auckland Table Tennis Club, Bishop Barrington Sports Hall, Woodhouse Lane
Bishop Auckland, County Durham DL14 6LA United Kingdom

BATTS Junior Super Series 1*
October 4, 2015
BATTS of Harlow Table Tennis Club, Norman Booth Centre, Elderfield, Mulberry Green, Old Harlow
Harlow, Essex CM17 0EY United Kingdom

Ormesby 1* Senior and Veteran Open
October 11, 2015
Ormesby TTC, Cargo Fleet Lane
Middlesborough, TS3 8PB United Kingdom

VETTS Midlands Masters
October 17, 2015 - October 18, 2015
Tipton Sports Academy, Wednesbury Oak Road
Tipton, DY4 0BS United Kingdom

Milton Keynes U16, U17, U18 ‘Triple Group’ 2*
October 24, 2015
Milton Keynes Table Tennis Centre, 14 Winchester Circle, Kingston District Centre, Kingston
Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK10 0BA United Kingdom

Stockton-on-Tees Junior 4*
October 24, 2015 - October 25, 2015
Thornaby Pavilion, Thornaby
Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 9EW North Yorkshire United Kingdom

Bristol 1* Veterans’ Ratings Tournament
October 25, 2015
SGS College Bristol Academy of Sport, New Road, Stoke Gifford
Bristol, BS34 8LP United Kingdom

Cirencester U15 & U18 boys 1*
October 25, 2015
Deer Park Table Tennis Centre, Stroud Road
Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1XB United Kingdom

Cramlington Junior 2* Open
October 31, 2015
Sporting Club Cramlington, Cramlington Learning Village, Highburn
Cramlington, Northumberland NE23 6BN United Kingdom

Ma Long and Ding Ning withdraw from the Asian Table Tennis Championships 2015

Ma Long and Ding Ning's fans were disappointed when the two stars decided to withdraw from the Asian Table Tennis Championships singles events due to injury and illness.

World Champion Ma Long could not recover in time from a back injury even though he was largely inactive in the team events. Similarly, Ding Ning, who was also the top seed in the Women's event, was suffering from illness. With this, the draw is now wide open for other contenders.

The Singles events have started and the route to the final rounds is large since the draw is huge. For example, 256 in the Men's singles.