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Seeded player participating in the Polish Open to be held at Warsaw end of this month :

1 BOLL Timo GER
2 MAZE Michael DEN
3 CHEN Qi CHN
4 OH Sang Eun KOR
5 OVTCHAROV Dimitrij GER
6 CHUANG Chih-Yuan TPE
7 CHEN Weixing AUT
8 PRIMORAC Zoran HRV
9 GAO Ning SIN
10 SUSS Christian GER
11 BAUM Patrick GER
12 CRISAN Adrian ROU
13 GARDOS Robert AUT
14 GIONIS Panagiotis GRE
15 KIM Jung Hoon KOR
16 TOKIC Bojan SVN
17 STEGER Bastian GER
18 KUZMIN Fedor RUS
19 SMIRNOV Alexei RUS
20 WANG Zeng Yi POL

Legout is seeded at no. 21, followed by Saive and Korbel at no. 22 and no. 23 respectively.

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It is on Today, folks.
The last places in the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals to be staged in Macao from Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th January 2010 will be known on the evening of Sunday 29th November 2009(at the end of this weekend) where the concluding and fourteenth ITTF Pro Tour tournament of the year, the Polish Open, comes to a conclusion in Warsaw. The majority of the places in the Men’s and Women’s Singles events are already confirmed but there are players competing in the Polish capital city who could book a place in Macao, if matters go their way.

Gao Ning (Singapore), seeded no.4 in the Men’s Singles event behind Germany’s Timo Boll, Korea’s Oh Sang Eun and Timo Boll’s colleague, Dimitrij Ovtcharov will have a good chance to enter the Pro Tour Grand Finals. A semi-final finish for Gao Ning would secure a place in Macao.

The following players are confirmed in the Pro tour Final : Timo Boll, Oh Sang Eun, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Christian Suss and Patrick Baum

In the Women’s Singles event there are three players with a realistic chance of claiming a place in Macao; China’s Guo Yue, Zhang Yining, Cao Zhen and Fan Ying all occupy top 16 places but none can meet the qualification criteria to play in Macao. Furthermore, at the time of entry for the Polish Open, 13 of the top 30 are not eligible. China’s Yan, Singapore’s Feng Tianwei and Korea’s Kim Kyung, the respective top three seeds are all set to appear in Macao as is the no.5 seed, Kim Kyung Ah’s doubles partner, Park Mi Young.

In the Men’s Doubles, the top seeds are Gao Ning and Yang Zi (no.1 seeds) followed by Emmanuel Lebesson and Adrien Mattenet; Timo Boll and Christian Suss are seeded no.3 with the Polish duo of Lucjan Blaszczyk and Wang Zeng Yi at no.4. Antonin Gavlas and Petr Korbel occupy the no.6 seeded position behind the Russians, Alexei Liventsov and Igor Rubtsov.

There will be under-21 category too for the Men and Women events.

The Play Schedule starts on Wednesday 25th November 2009 with the qualification stage of the Men’s and Women’s Singles events

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

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Players who have benefited from playing on the ITTF Junior Circuit showed their worth in the opening exchanges in the qualification stage of the Women’s Singles event at Polish Open in Warsaw on Wednesday 25th November 2009; the first day of play at the concluding ITTF Pro Tour tournament of the year. Alena Dubkova of Belarus, Russia’s Yana Noskova, Romania’s Cristina Hirici, Sweden’s Malin Pettersson plus the Hungarian duo of Dora Madarasz and Kristina Ambrus all secured opening match victories.

Sadness for the host nation in the opening exchanges in the qualification stage of the Women’s Singles event but there were successes. Daria Luczakowska and Marta Golota both overcame German opposition; the former beat Kathrin Mulbach whilst the latter accounted for Rosalia Stähr.
Impressive performances and similarly Antonina Szymanska, Katarzyna Grzybowska and Monika Pietkiewicz were in form.

Similarly, as the qualification stage of the Men’s Singles event made its opening gambits there were successes for young players who had experienced competition on the ITTF Global Junior Programme and mixed fortunes for Poland.

Croatia’s Borna Kovac defeated Chile’s Bruno Levis, the Czech Republic’s Mattias Oversjo overcame overcame Germany’s Philipp Floritz whilst the young Frenchman Quentin Robinot and Romain Lorentz were also in form.

The former defeated Hong Kong’s Li Kwun Nagai, the latter Robert Floras, also from Germany.

(Note : Sourced from ITTF News)

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Timo Boll overcame German national team colleague Bastian Steger in the final of the Men’s Singles event at the Polish Open in Warsaw on Sunday 29th November 2009 to add to his collection of prestigious titles. Furthermore, BOLL, the top seed in Warsaw, can add one further ITTF Pro Tour title to his collection; in December 2005 he won the Men’s Singles crown at the Volkswagen Pro Tour Grand Finals in the Chinese city of Fujian. For the record, Boll had won the Men’s Singles crown on three previous occasions, in 2004, 2005 and in 2008.
Meanwhile, for Bastian STEGER, the no.12 seed, there was consolation in defeat; it was his first ever appearance in a Men’s Singles final on the ITTF Pro Tour. Steger had never previously progressed to a Men’s Singles final on the ITTF Pro Tour; five quarter-final appearances and one semi-final outing being his best. He reached the quarter-final stage in Japan in 2001, Austria in 2004, Chinese Taipei in 2006 and in Austria two years earlier before in the current year reaching the round of the last eight in Japan.

Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Christian Süss tend to form what can be regarded very much as the first team but in Warsaw both Ovtcharov and Süss made early exits; whilst Patrick Baum reached the semi-final stage and Steger advanced to the final.

China’s Fan Ying marked a new milestone in her career by winning the Women’s Singles crown at the Polish Open in the country’s capital city of Warsaw. She recovered from an opening game deficit to record a five games win over the no.5 seeded Korean, Park Mi Young. Seeded no.9, Fang Ying won 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9. It was for Fan Ying her fourth appearance in a Women’s Singles final on the ITTF Pro Tour, on each of the three previous occasions silver had been her lot, in Warsaw it was gold.

Both defenders, relying on the art of backspin, they had excelled at the semi-final stage by ousting the top two seeds. Fan Ying had overcome no.1 seed, compatriot Guo Yan; whilst Park Mi Young had accounted for second seed, FENG Tianwei (Singapore).

Gold for Fan Ying in the Women’s Singles event and there was also gold in the Women’s Doubles competition; in harness with Wang Yu and not seeded, the pair overcame compatriots Guo Yan and Wang Xuan, the no.6 seeds in the final.

In the Men Doubles, it was a reverse scenario. Korea’s KIM Jung Hoon and OH Sang Eun, seeded no.7, beat the French pairing of Christophe LEGOUT and Abdel Kader-Salifou to clinch the top prize.

Results :
Men’s Singles
Semi-Finals
Timo BOLL (GER) bt Patrick BAUM (GER) 11-5, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6
Bastian STEGER (GER) bt Robert GARDOS (AUT) 14-12, 11-3, 11-4, 14-12

Final
Timo BOLL (GER) bt Bastian STEGER (GER) 11-9, 12-10, 11-2, 11-7

Women’s Singles
Semi-Finals
FAN Ying (CHN) bt GUO Yan (CHN) 11-6, 6-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8
PARK Mi Young (KOR) bt FENG Tianwei (SIN) 9-11, 7-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7

Final
FAN Ying (CHN) bt PARK Mi Young (KOR) 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9

Men’s Doubles
Final
KIM Jung Hoon/OH Sang Eun (KOR) bt Christophe LEGOUT/Abdel-Kader SALIFOU (FRA) 9-11, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7, 6-11, 11-7

Women’s Doubles
Final
FAN Ying/WU Yang (CHN) bt GUO Yan/WANG Xuan (CHN) 8-11, 11-2, 8-11,11-6,11-3, 11-8

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

[ejunkie]

Good for her, Fan Ying. I have seen videos of some of her matches over the years and each time her offense (fh) has improved. Varghese, she play a very modern chopping game with spin variations on the bh and (now) a great fh to go with it.