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[729 fx]

Michael MAze never ceases to amaze me. He won the match against Timo Boll in the Team final between Germany and Denmark. At the ultimate hurdle, Germany overcame Denmark by three matches to two. The star of the final which amazed all is none other than Michael Maze, as he had been in the semi-finals against Austria, was on fire. He beat both Christian Süss and Timo Boll; the latter victory being somewhat of a surprise. Timo Boll and Michael Maze have met on no less than 20 occasions in world ranking events, prior to the meeting in Stuttgart, Boll had won all 20!
Finn Tugwell lost to both Timo Boll and Christian Süss whilst Martin Monrad was beaten by Dimitrij Ovtcharov.

Meanwhile, in the Women’s Team final, Elena Timina from Netherland was the heroine.
The vastly experienced defender, who hails from Moscow and played many times for Russia before marrying and moving to the Netherlands, adopts the policy of “thou shalt not pass” with her stonewall defence; this combined with an occasional backhand attack in the style of the 1930s won the vital third match of the proceeding. She beat Xu Jie in five games after Li Jiao had lost to Li Qian and Li Jie had defeated Natalia Partyka. Timina’s win gave the Netherlands the advantage, it reduced the pressure on Li Jiao, the next to enter the court and playing freely she brought gold to the Netherlands. She defeated Natalia Partyka in straight games.

In short, Germany and the Netherlands retained their respective Men’s and Women’s Team titles at the Liebherr European Championships in Stuttgart, in so doing, reinforced their status as the leading opposition from the continent to current Asian excellence.

Meanwhile, in the Challenge Division for teams outside the top 16, Portugal (Marcos Freitas, Andre Silva, Tiago Apolonia) finished in top place ahead of Greece (Kalinikos Kreanga, Dimitrios Papadimitriou, Konstantinos Papageorgiou, Panagiotis Gionis) in the Men’s Division with England (Paul Drinkhall, Darius Knight, Danny Reed) next in line.

In the Women’s Championship Division, Sweden (Matilda Ekholm, Carina Jonsson, Malin Pettersson, Marie Persson) and Luxembourg (Ni Xia Lian, Simone Haan, Tessy Gonderinger, Sarah de Nutte, Danielle Konsbruck) occupied the respective top two places with Slovakia (Barbora Balazova, Eva Odorova, Lenka Kmotorkova) in third spot.

All in all three teams promoted, three teams are relegated.

Departing from the Men’s Championship Division are Belgium (Yannick Vostes, Benjamin Rogiers, Kilomo Vitta, Jean-Michel Saive), Hungary (Daniel Kosiba, Krisztian Nagy, Daniel Zwickl) and Slovenia (Bojan Tokic, Sas Lasan, Mitja Horvat, Jan Zibrat); whilst from the Women’s Champion Division it is Russia (Irina Kotikhina, Elena Troshneva, Anna Tikhomirova) who depart alongside Lithuania (Ruta Paskauskeine, Lina Misikonyte, Ausra Stirbyte) and Italy (Wang Yu, Laura Negrisoli, Nikoleta Stefanova, Wenling Tan Monfardini).

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

[729 fx]

Women’s Singles event at the Liebherr European Championships in Stuttgart started on Thursday 17th September 2009. Georgina Pota (Hungary) & Elizabeta Samara (Romania) were the notable names to suffers shock defeat. Georgina Pota was beaten by Margaryta Pesotska (Ukraine), a player to benefit from the efforts of the ITTF Global Junior Programme. Margaryta is a young lady who is now maturing into a senior player of distinction having enjoyed a quite illustrious junior career. She won the Girls’ Singles crown at the ITTF Cadet Challenge in November 2005 in the Dominican Republic.

Austria’s Liu Jia, the no.1 seed, defeated England’s Kelly Sibley and Russia’s Yana Noskova whilst Li Jiao of the Netherlands, seeded no.2, accounted for Ukraine’s Polona Trifonova and Turkey’s He Sirin. It was a safe passage to round four for Poland’s Li Qian, Hungary’s Krisztina Toth, Romania’s Daniela Dodean, Germany’s Wu Jiaduo, Li Jie of the Netherlands, Croatia’s Tamara Boros, the Czech Republic’s Iveta Vacenovska plus the Belarus twins Veronika and Viktoria Pavlovich.

All are players who at international level have underlined the fact that they can succeed at high level but as yet the golden prize of being European Women’s Singles champion has proved elusive.
Meanwhile, for the defending Women’s Singles champion, Ruta Paskauskiene of Lithuania, hopes of retaining the gold medal are still in tact.She beat Hungary’s Dora Madarasz and Bulgaria’s Asya Kasabova to book her place in the fourth round.

As for the Men Singles Event, there was a shock defeat for the third seeded player, Dimitrij Ovtcharov(Germany). He was beaten by Carlos Machado (Spain)in the first round of the Men’s Singles event in Stuttgart. Dimitrij Ovtcharov stands currently at no.13 on the ITTF Men’s World Rankings whilst Carlos Machado is at no.117.

Two established stars, Petr Korbel withdrew in his third round encounter against Germany’s Ruwen Filus, and Kalinikos Kreanga (Greece) also withdrew after losing the first two games against Stefan Fegerl (Austria).

Germany’s Timo Boll, seeded no.1, defeated Latvia’s Vladislav Agurjanovs and Norway’s Geir Erlandsen whilst Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, seeded no.2, overcame the Czech Republic’s Antonin Gavlas and Abdel-Kader Salifou. Similarly, there was no stopping Michael Maze; he defeated Sweden’s Andreas Tornqvist and Finland’s Benedek Olah.

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

[729 fx]

At least one of my prediction was spot on in the European Table Tennis with Wu Jiaduo (Germany) delivering the goods. In the final she overcame Margaryta Pesotska (Ukraine). The the young Ukrainian, who in 2005 won the Girls’ Singles title at the ITTF Cadet Challenge in the Dominican Republic had caused surprises in the Women's Singles event. At the semi-final stage she overcame Ruta Paskauskeine (Lithuania), the defending champion with a score 13-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-3, 14-16, 11-9.
Wu Jiaduo, who had booked her place in the gold medal round by beating Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus with a score of 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-6 before accounting for Margaryta Pesotska 11-8, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 in the Final.

In the Men's Singles event there was disappointment to the home fans at the penultimate stage, Michael Maze overcame the defending champion, Germany’s Timo Boll. I would have thought that the Men’s Singles final will be a repeat of the previous European Championships when Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov had faced each other, both three time winners of the title and seeking to create a record by winning a fourth but it was not to be. Michael Maze, unbeaten in the Men’s Team event, had his eyes set on singles gold. Maze staved off a Timo Boll recovery in the semi-finals to win in seven games 11-6, 13-11, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 7-11, 11-5 before overcoming Werner Schlager (Austria) with a score of 11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7. Schlager had beaten Fedor Kuzmin (Russia) in the semi-finals in five games (11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-8, 18-16).

Romania won the the Women’s Doubles event. Daniela Dodean and Elizabeta Samara clinched the top prize by beating Nikoleta Stefanova and Wenling Tan Monfardini(both from Italy) in four straight games at the final hurdle. (Score was 11-7, 11-7, 13-11, 11-4).

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

[ejunkie]

I would like to see all Maze's matches. He must be in very good form. I remember the way he hits the fh like he is going for one shot, with all his power, but amazingly he can recover and loop a second time! (I think it was in the recent USA magazine.)

[varghese]

I have Maze's videos. I have not uploaded any video in the last few days in our channel. We are making a change and going to have our own video channel. I'm working on it. It will be another one more week before I can have the video site working.

I will make an announcement of the video site next week.

[ejunkie]

What are the scores for all his rounds? Just curious.
BTW, with Maze having hair again and wearing a headband for a minute there I thought Kreanga won.

[729 fx]

I have Maze's videos. I have not uploaded any video in the last few days in our channel. We are making a change and going to have our own video channel. I'm working on it. It will be another one more week before I can have the video site working.

I will make an announcement of the video site next week.

Good for you, varghese.
At least the difference between ttjunkie forum and the rest is that tt junkie forum will have good & high definition video for its members to enjoy.

[ejunkie]

Oh BTW Schlager rocks too! He won a big tournament recently (don't remember which for the life of me now) and made it to the final here. I love his style! Schlager you're the man!

[729 fx]

What are the scores for all his rounds? Just curious.
BTW, with Maze having hair again and wearing a headband for a minute there I thought Kreanga won.

I do not have the score for Maze for all his rounds. But the penultimate & Final are :
Final : Schlager by the margin of 11-8, 11-8, 12-10, 6-11, 11-7.
Semi-finals : Boll with 11-6, 13-11, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 7-11, 11-5.

[ejunkie]

Have you had time to upload some vides of the EC, Varghese?