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[729 fx]

Last August, on the 25th and 26th, the first part of the Europe versus Asia Challenge was completed in Beijing, now the table tennis world will focus on the return in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Tuesday 10th and Wednesday 11th November 2009.

Asia won the contest in China’s capital city with an aggregate score of six matches to four.
Europe line-up will be led by World No. 3 (or no.4, not sure the current ranking) Timo Boll(Germany), Michael MAze(Denmark), and Werner Schlager(Austria) the respective winners and runners up in the Men’s Singles event at the recent Liebherr European Championships in Stuttgart, Vladimir Samsonov (Belarus), Kalinikos Kreanga (Greece) and home-grown hero, Gencay Menge (Turkey).

Coaches for the Europe team are Alexander Petkevitch (as he has done for the last 20 years) will advise Vladimir Samsonov, Konstantinos Vatsaklis will be the mentor of Kalinikos Kreanga whilst Ferenc Karsai will coached Werner Schlager. Denmark’s Kim Larsen will be the physiotherapist and thus help Timo Boll as well as other members of the team; whilst, in return ,Richard Prause will be the coach of Michael Maze.

The Asian team has yet to officially announced their line-up but it is anticipated that Korea’s Joo Se Hyuk and Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan will both play as they did in Beijing, together with Wang Hao of China leading the team.

[729 fx]

Finally the list is out for the Asia-Europe Challenge in Istanbul, Turkey. The date is November 10 - November 11 2009 and the representatives of each continents are -

Asia Team:
Wang Hao, CHN
Chuang Chih-Yuan, TPE
Joo Se Hyuk, KOR
Li Ching, HKG
Gao Ning, SIN

Europe Team:
Vladimir Samsonov, BLR
Timo Boll, GER
Michael Maze, DEN
Werner Schlager, AUT
Kalinikos Kreanga, GRE

Looks like European has the heavyweights with Boll, Samsonov (winner of the recently concluded Men's World Cup in Moscow) and Maze (winner of European Table Tennis Championship). From the Asian team, only Wang Hao stands in the way of the European team, but he is just one person and this is a team event. In my humble opinion, European team shall prevail this round.

[iluvtt]

Judging by the players involved this time, the European team looks really strong & could win it quite easily but anything can happen.

[ejunkie]

You can't really say that because there are two strong players on the Asian team, namely Wang and Joo. I have seen many local team matches where two good members can help the team win.
How do they play the event? How many singles and doubles?

[iluvtt]

I know Wang is untouchable but Joo's performance in the Men's World Cup was disappointing. Chuang lost all 3 matches but may be he was a bit unlucky! Not too sure about Gao Ning & Li Ching though.

[varghese]

I know Wang is untouchable but Joo's performance in the Men's World Cup was disappointing. Chuang lost all 3 matches but may be he was a bit unlucky! Not too sure about Gao Ning & Li Ching though.

The best performance - charisma, motivation and struggle - I have seen of Joo was him playing at the 2003 WTTC. I have not seen a better performance from him than that. I have watched him playing Wang Liqin just few feets away. I was asking myself why Joo plays lousy sometimes although he can win.

When I have spoken to the Korean coaches, they mentioned to me that Joo has a kind of hip (right upper hip bone) problem bothers him sometimes. When the game prolongs to like 3 or 4, the pain bothers him much as the coaches have told me.

[iluvtt]

I'm not sure if he will ever rediscover his 2003 WTTC form again. That was modern defensive play at its finest! He was soooo close to winning!

[729 fx]

Well, we will have to wait till 11/11/09 to find out.

[729 fx]

Well, guys and gals, it is on. The experienced European team with Boll, Samsonov, Maze, Schlager and Kreanga will challenge the an Asian team led by world no.1 Wang Hao plus Joo Se Hyuk, Chuang Chih-Yuan, Li Ching and Gao Ning. Both days of competition in the Fatih Sport Complex in Istanbul will be broadcasted "live" by Eurosport on Tuesday 5:30 - 7:30 pm CET and 5:00-7:00 pm CET on Wednesday.

The European team seems confident through press conferences by Schlager as well as Kreanga, who almost overcame Olympic champion Ma Lin in the first leg, said: "Most important, I do not have any injuries and that gives me a great deal of confidence before the start of the competition."
Werner Schlager said about the Asian team: "Wang Hao is always very competitive and he is the most difficult player to beat. The other adversaries will also be hard to overcome. They definitely have a famous and strong team."

Excerpts :
"05/11/2009 - International TV rights holder Contenthouse announced the details about the TV Coverage of the Euro Asia All Stars Event. The inauguration day of the Event in Istanbul last summer already provided historical figures speaking about the world wide coverage, and the Second leg promises even greater success.

"The coverage of the Euro Asia All Stars Series 2009 in Istanbul is truly comprehensive and worldwide," said Contenthouse Managing Director Andreas NEUMANN.

Eurosport International will broadcasted live the event from 5.30 PM to 7:30 PM CET on Tuesday and from 5 PM to 7 PM on Wednesday.

In addition the picture from Istanbul will be seen on TRT Turkey, Eurosport Asia, ESPN Taiwan. The following Chinese TV channels will also broadcasted the Event: Beijing TV, Shanghai TV, Guangdong TV, Jiangsu TV, Fujian TV, Shandong TV, Liaoning TV, Hubei TV, Neimenggu TV, Xinjiang TV, Jiangxi TV.

"All TV partners will show the Euro Asia Cup extensively live or delayed, in full length or highlights," explained NEUMANN.

On the internet, the Euro Asia Cup will be webcasted on Eurosport Player (http://video.eurosport.de/eurosport-player/teaser.shtml) on a pay basis (Thesday, 5.30 - 7.30 PM CET LIVE, Wednesday, 5 - 7 PM CET LIVE), on www.DTTL.tv delayed (all matches in full length 1-2 days after the event). "

For more information : http://www.euroasia-ettu.com/

[729 fx]

Watch the matches live on Eurosports.

My comment : Wang Hao looks chubbier after the long rest. But he did not play 100%, only 60%-70% of his true strength. Maze was superb, and Li Ching has no luck as Maze's numerous shot hit the net or net pole before going in Li's side of the table. Boll-Joo SH match was awesome. The best between an attacker and a defender.

Day 1 Results :
1. Kreanga vs Gao Ning 1:3
2. Maze vs LI Ching 3:1
3. Samsonov v Wang Hao 1:3
4. Timo Boll v Joo Se Hyuk 3:2
5. Schlager v Chuan Chih Yuan 0:3

Asia leads 3:2