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A total of 375 players from 42 national associations have entered the Velenje Slovenian Open, the first tournament on the 2010 ITTF Pro Tour, to be staged from Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd January.

Established European stars Timo Boll, Vladimir Samsonov and Viktoria Pavlovich plus the rapidly rising stars Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Margaryta Pesotska will all be present in Velenje. It will be the 11th time the event has been organised, the sixth time as a member of the ITTF Pro Tour.

Eleven years ago the prize was a washing machine and a small financial donation; from humble beginning the event has grown from rags to riches. In 2006 the tournament became an ITTF Pro Tour Major event with a total prize fund of US$100,000 with 2008 seeing a further US$22,000 added.

(Note : Excerpts from ITTF News)

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Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth and Bastian Steger both booked semi-final places in the Men's Singles event at the Petrol Slovenian Open in Velenje, following impressive quarter-final victories on Friday 22nd January 2010.

Bastian Steger, seeded no.5, ousted Chinese Taipei's Chuang Chih-Yuan, the no.2 seed; whilst Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth, seeded no.23, overcame Austria's Chen Weixing, seeded no.3.

The wins underlined the current strength in depth of the German Men's Team. Neither Timo Boll nor Christian Süss are competing in Slovenia, whilst Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the no.1 seed and Patrick Baum, the no.4 seed, both departed proceedings before the quarter-final stage in Velenje.

In the semi-finals Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth faces the athletic 19 year old Korean, who upset the odds by beating Russia's Fedor Kuzmin, the no.11 seed at the quarter-final stage, whilst Bastian Steger faces Sweden's Jens Lundqvist.

Seeded no.10, Lundqvist ended the progress of Grigory Vlasov, who like Lee Sang Su, had negotiated two days of qualification matches.

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Meanwhile, in the Women's Singles event it was mixed fortunes for the Pavlovich twins in the quarter-finals. Vikoria, seeded no.4, was beaten by Hungary's Krisztina Toth, seeded one place below but for Veronika, seeded no.19, tit was the reverse. She defeated Spain's Galia Dvorak, a qualifier who had caused a major upset in the third round of the Women's Singles event by beating Germany's Wu Jiaduo, the no.2 seed.

At the semi-final stage Veronika Pavlovich meets Krisztina Toth whilst in the top half of the draw it is the battle of the defenders. Korea's Park Mi Young, the no.1 seed, faces Poland's Li Qian, the no.6 seed.

At the penultimate stage Park Mi Young overcame colleague and qualifier Seo Hyon Won; whilst Li Qian ended the hopes of Germany's Kristin Silbereisen, the no.24 seed.

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Meanwhile, in the Men's Doubles event the final will see Germany's Patrick Baum and Bastian Steger, the no.2 seeds confront surprise finalists Russia's Alexander Shibaev and Alexei Smirnov.
Four attacking players in action but in the Women's Doubles final four defenders are on duty.
Russia's Svetlana Ganina and Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus face the Netherlands partnership of Li Jie and Elena Timina.

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Lee Sang Soo won the Slovenian Open!

He is a player who had been required to compete in the qualification stage of a Men’s Singles event on the ITTF Pro Tour finally standing proudly on the top step of the medal podium. Korea’s 19 year old, Lee Sang Su created history in Velenje on Saturday 23rd January 2010 when he overcame Sweden’s Jens Lundqvist in the Men’s Singles final at the Petrol Slovenian Open to clinch the top prize and a cheque for US$16,000.

Furthermore, not only has Lee Sang Su set a record of being the first qualifier to win an ITTF Pro Tour Men’s Singles title; he played the most matches ever to reach the final and eventually clinch gold. In addition to playing two qualification round matches, Lee Sang Su had to compete in a preliminary round to qualify for the main draw and then win six matches to clinch the title.
A total of nine matches; no ITTF Pro Tour champion has played more to win an event!

Success for Lee Sang Su and also there was success for his colleague Kim Min Seok in the Under 21 Men’s Singles event. In an all Korean final, Kim Min Seok clinched gold beating Seo Hyun Deok. He won 11-7, 12-14, 10-12, 12-10, 16-14, 11-5 to once again leave his compatriot in second place.