The first guests and participants of the international table tennis tournament "Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals" are already beginning to arrive in Astana. It is the largest table tennis event in the world after Olympic Games and world championships. Participation in the Grand Final will be TOP-16 strongest athlete in the world ranking among men and women. Prize fund is USD 1,000,000. And, by the way, the organization of such a tournament in Astana will be the first experience of the International Table Tennis Federation in the territory of the CIS countries.

The site site invites you to get acquainted with the participants of the tournament in singles among men.

Let's start with the athlete for whom home stands will be important. Kazakhstan in the "Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour r Grand Finals" will be represented by a participant in the 2016 Olympic Games and the leader of the country's national table tennis team Kirill Gerasimenko who takes part in the Grand Final as a representative of the host country. Kirill is included in the TOP-100 of the world rating. The first table tennis athlete in the history of Kazakhstan to win gold medal in the youth category under 21 years old ITTF World Tour (Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open). Of course, it is difficult to compare his achievements with other participants, but Kirill has already proved that he can compete with the leaders of the competition.

Kirill Gerasimenko

It is worth noting especially the members of the Chinese national team, where this sport is considered hardly national, - Olympic champion 2016 in Rio de Janeiro in the team category, 8-time world champion in various categories Xu Xin, three-time world champion, champion of Asia-2017 Fan Zhendong, winner of the 2017 Asian Table Tennis Cup, 2017 Asian champion in doubles, five-time world champion in table tennis among juniors in various categories Lin Gaoyuan, 2016 world champion as part of the Chinese team Fan Bo.

Among the Japanese athletes, the arrival of the modern "prodigy" of table tennis can be noted. 14 year old Japanese athlete Harimoto Tomokazu started playing tennis at the age of 2, and at the age of 13 he became the world champion among juniors. At the same time, he became the youngest athlete in history to win a medal in the World Tour. Harimoto at 13 became the youngest quarter-finalist of the World Table Tennis Championship in history. In August 2017, at the Czech Open 2017, he became the youngest athlete ever to win a World Tour in singles.

Harimoto Tomokaz at

In addition, his teammates are the winner of the 2006 Junior World Championships. Kenta Matsudaira, winner of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, winner of the 2010 Junior World Championships in doubles and 2011 in individual events KokiNiva, silver medalist of the 2015 Universiade in the team category Yoshida Masaki, oh winner of two singles and six doubles titles in the ITTF World Series since 2014, winner of the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in doubles in 2015 Yuya Oshima.

Two representatives of Germany will take part in singles competitions among men - winner of the 2017 Table Tennis World Cup, 4-time Olympic medalist, multiple medalist of the World Championships and World CupsDmitry Ovcharov and multiple champion Europe, two-time winner of the World Cup, 7-time medalist of the World Championships, vice-champion of the 2008 Olympic Games in the team, twice bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in the team category (in 2012 and 2016), 5-time winner of the Europe Top-12 tournament ", Ex-first racket of the world in singles Timo Boll. By the way, exactly Bollcarried flag of Germany at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Timo Boll

The geography of the participants in the Grand Final was also expanded - winner of the 2013 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in singles among men under 21, French table tennis player Simon Gauzi, three-time World Cup winner, 6-time European champion in various categories and 4-time winner of Euro-Top12 Vladimir Samsonov from Whiterusii, medalist of the 2015 world championship from Hong Kong Won Chun Ting... Also, as the official website of the International Table Tennis Federation notes, without this participant, this tournament "would be different" - it is Taiwanese player Chuan Chi-Yuan... He won the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals 2002, was the 2013 world doubles champion, the 2014 world championship medalist team competition... Six-time prize-winner of the Asian championships, three-time prize-winner Asian Games(2000, 2003, 2007, 2013). The grand final in Astana will be his 18th tournament in a row, more than anyone else among men and women. Since 2000, during his Australian debut, he has never missed a Grand Final.

Chuan Chi-Yuan

The tournament starts on December 14 and ends on December 17. On December 14-15, the competition starts at 10:00, December 16-17 - at 13:00. Full Schedule you can see.
Read the information on the composition of the participants in the singles among women.

The draw held on Thursday in Buenos Aires determined the Russians' rivals in individual table tennis tournaments at the III Summer Youth Olympic Games. Competitions in this sport are among the first to start.

On group stage Maria Tailakova will meet with athletes from Thailand, Hong Kong and Finland. For Vladimir Sidorenko, the tournament fate also chose the representative of Thailand, but added to him serious opponents from Chinese Taipei and South Korea. To continue the fight in the 1/8 finals, you need to take one of the first two places in the group.

- Taylakova should leave the group, let her rivals from Asia show their teeth, but Sidorenko has a really difficult company, - David Sargsyan commented on the results of the draw for Team Russia, Main coach Russian women's table tennis team, supervising our juniors in Buenos Aires.

The preliminaries kick off in Buenos Aires on October 7th, and the singles medals will be played on October 10th.

“There was no full preparation for the Games, because both of our athletes took part in the adult European Championship, which was held in Spanish Alicante from September 18 to 23,” Sargsyan said. - They performed there in their own power, they did not show anything special. But do not forget that Masha is only 17 years old, and Vladimir is 16.

- Nevertheless, in March, Taylakova won youth championship Europe ( U21) in Minsk, and last year became the bronze medalist of the European Team Championship among adults. True, as far as I know, she was a spare in Luxembourg.

- So after all, the very inclusion in the national team at the age of 16 must be earned! And last spring on team championship peace in Halmstad, Maria already fought with might and main and won the most important match a Swede with a total score of 1: 1. Russia defeated the hostesses of the tournament - 3: 2 and for the first time in the last 14 years was among the top 12, although the group was initially difficult. In addition to China and Singapore, which we lost, there were Sweden, India and Belarus. As a result, they shared 9-12th places, losing in the match for reaching the quarterfinals of the DPRK national team.

- And the representatives of China won both women and men. At the same time, it seems that in table tennis the Chinese are everywhere, including in the European national teams.

- It is estimated that at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, athletes of Chinese origin made up 42 percent of table tennis competitors. Some countries, even African ones, in which our sport is not developed at all, easily issue passports to the Chinese.

- So what is the reason for the Chinese domination? Is this colossal hard work or some kind of genetic predisposition?

“I don’t believe in genetics in this case. It's just that table tennis is considered a national treasure in China, and the preparation of players is on stream. There are many high-class coaches there, and literally millions of children play table tennis professionally. You can always choose from a million, say, twenty athletes. Although, of course, hard work has not been canceled. But it's like in American basketball: black youths are well aware that getting into the NBA means getting a very good piece of bread. So in China, with a huge population, the guys strive to break out into the people with the help of table tennis and provide themselves with money, fame and honor.

- Are the Chinese favorites in Buenos Aires?

- They are always favorites. Although besides them there are very strong athletes. After personal competitions will be held team tournament, in which each match will consist of three meetings - two singles and mixed. In it, China is likely to face tough competition from Japan, which has a truly fantastic national team.

Miu Hirano, now 18, won the Senior World Cup two years ago ( however, the representatives of the PRC did not participate in it- Approx. Team Russia). And last year she won the Asian Championship and became the bronze medalist of the World Championship in singles. She is paired with a boy named Tomokazu Harimoto. At the end of June he was only 15 years old, and as of August he held the 6th position in the world ranking! This year, he beat the entire adult Chinese national team ( it is curious that this player is of Chinese origin, his mother played for the national team, and his father for the junior national team of the PRC; in 1998, they left for Japan to work as coaches, received citizenship there and the surname Harimoto- Approx. Team Russia).

Hong Kong and Singapore are now weaker, but both Koreas are strong in the team event. In addition, at the Youth Olympic Games there is such an option - international teams. From one country only a young man won a license, from another only a girl made it, and together they form a mixed team. So they connect Austria with Poland, Chile with Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, the Swede plus the Serb, who individually claim medals, is a serious force.

- Before leaving, you must have been given some task, right?

- How without it? You need to win a medal. We, of course, will strive for this, but objectively I think that if we get into the eights, it will already be very good.

All news, interviews and competitions in live look at ours dedicated to the Youth Olympic Games!

We cheer for the Russian national team together!

Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) and Mongolian Table Tennis Association have officially announced the date tournament The 24th East Asian Junior & Cadet Table tennis Championship.

ATTU is the governing body for all Asian Table Tennis Associations. The role of ATTU is to oversee the rules and regulations of table tennis and its technological development. ATTU is also responsible for organizing a number of international competitions, the largest of which is the Asian Table Tennis Championship and the Asian Table Tennis Cup.

A total of 44 ATTU member associations are divided into five regional groups.

Mongolian Table Tennis Association is included in the East Asia Group, including China Table Tennis Association, Hong Kong Table Tennis Association, Japan Table Tennis Association, Korea Table Tennis Association, Macau Table Tennis Association, Democratic People's Republic of Korea Table Tennis Association and Taipei.

These countries are leaders not only in the region but also in the world in table tennis.

Table tennis (the name ping-pong is also sometimes mistakenly used) is an Olympic sport, sport game with a ball, in which rackets and a game table are used, delimited by a net. The game can be played between two opponents or two pairs of opponents. The players' task is to send the ball to the opponent's side with the help of rackets so that he cannot return it back in accordance with the rules. The main international tournaments- World Championship and Olympic Games.

The history of the game begins at the end of the 19th century, in 1926 it was formed International Federation table tennis, since 1988 table tennis has become Olympic view sports. For 2017, table tennis is among the most popular types sports on the planet and has over 850 million fans.

Tournament results.

China can be beaten. This conclusion can be drawn after the last Asian Championship. A little more than a month left before the World Cup in Germany (May 29 - June 5, Dusseldorf) and the results of the Asian Championship brought a lot of sensations.

After defeating Xu Xin two years ago and this year, Fan Zhendong became the champion of Asia. But this time in the final he was opposed not by the Chinese player, but by the representative of South Korea Jeong Sangeun, who is not currently mentioned in the current version of the world rankings. Already at the 1/16 final stage, the Korean defeated the first seeded, world and Olympic champion - Ma Long from China. Niwa Koki of Japan defeats another in the quarterfinals Olympic champion Rio - Xu Xin (RP gold in the team). Niwa Koki and Jeong Sangeun met in the semifinals. The stronger was the representative of South Korea, who, due to a long non-participation in tournaments, was removed from the list of the world ranking. In the second semi-final, the representatives of China - Zhang Jike and Fan Zhendong played with each other, where the latter turned out to be stronger. Final match passed completely under the dictation of Fan Zhendong, who easily outplayed his opponent, having experienced minor difficulties only in the second set. Thus, Fan Zhendong became a three-time Asian champion, winning in the men's singles, doubles, and team competition.

Semifinal
Jeong Sangeun - Niwa Koki 3:2 (-6,-9,5,7,11) (video of the match )
Zhang Jike - Fan Zhendong 1:3 (-10,-4,5,-4) (video of the match )
The final
Jeong Sangeun - Fan Zhendong 0:3 (-5,-5,-8) (video of the match )

Hirano Miu from Japan became a sensational champion among women. The best birthday present could not be desired. Hirano Miu, at the age of seventeen, managed to beat the reigning world champion and Olympic champion 2016 at Rio Ding Ning. Before that, the Japanese woman had not won a single game against her rival, and this time she also lost 0: 2 in games. But then she managed to turn the game around and, having played 5 match points in total, sensationally knocked out the favorite from the tournament. But the Japanese woman did not stop there and won two more matches: against Zhu Yuling (semi-final) and Chen Meng (final) with a score of 3: 0. Which ultimately allowed her to win the Asian Championship. Last time Japan won this tournament in 1996.

Semifinal
Hirano Miu - Zhu Yuling 3:0 (7,9,8)
Chen Meng - Liu Shiwen 3:1 (8,-9,8,11)
The final
Hirano Miu - Chen Meng 3:0 (9,8,7) (video of the match )

The men's doubles final was purely Chinese. Where his second title was won by Fan Zhendong alongside Lin Gaoyuan. Also, between the players of the Chinese team, and women's final in doubles. There were two couples in the mixed double from China, and one of them reached the final and won against the representatives of Japan.

Male doubles, the final
Fan Zhendong / Lin Gaoyuan - Fang Bo / Zhou Yu 3:1 (-5,6,7,6)

Women's doubles final
Zhu Yuling / Chen Meng - Wang Manyu / Chen Ke 3:1 (8,-6,7,9)

Mixed doubles final
Zhou Yu / Chen Xingtong - Morizono Masataka / Ito Mima 3:1 (9,7,-9,8)

In the team event, both gold medals were won by the national teams of China. It was already the 21st gold for the Chinese team for men and 17th for women.

Men, final
South Korea- China 0: 3
Jang Woojin - Ma Long 1:3
Lee Sangsu - Fan Zhendong 0:3
Jeong Sangeun - Xu Xin 0:3

Women, final
Japan 0-3 China
Miu Hirano - Liu Shiwen 1:3
Mima Ito - Ding Ning 0:3
Hina Hayata - Zhu Yuling 1:3

30th Asian Table Tennis Cup in India (Ahmedabad, September 15-17, 2017) the first racket of the world Ding Ning for women and the third racket of the world Xu Xin, the champion of the 2016 Asian Cup for men.

As usual, without any explanation.

And here someone "rubbed their palms" - probably, they are moving forward the Chinese # 2 Fan Zhendong (22 Jan 1997), who may be involved in, but he is young and can probably be forgiven even with a promotion to the first racket.

A kind of "gingerbread".

Perhaps he will show loyalty and understanding of the moment.

The women had a chance to improve the situation in the world ranking of the Chinese woman No. 4 Liu Shiwen, otherwise they were completely pushed in somewhere. But the spare Chinese spoiled everything - they were sent to replace them and they won the 2017 Asia Cup: Men # 29 Lin Gaoyuan (March 19, 1995), Women # 3 Zhu Yuling (Jan 10, 1995).

Both finals are not very similar to the "giveaway game".

The athletes fought quite well for themselves. But something went wrong, perhaps even before the start of the 2017 Asian Cup, when the athletes are gathered in a tight circle for a briefing. And they explain the situation. Say, well, you are Komsomol members (communists) and you know the difficult international situation. The ring of enemies shrinks. So, let's rally around "name".

Since there is no private table tennis association in China, everything works as a team, and not because someone suddenly wanted to win the main prize. There is only one relatively good news in this story - we were once again shown the brilliant performance of # 29 Lin Gaoyuan (March 19, 1995), which is rarely released on the international stage.

And, of course, he could, without any additional conditions, if they arose here, replay Fan Zhendong # 2 (Jan 22, 1997) - they are well acquainted, together and the first is two years older.

Knows all the weaknesses of a friend.

The news is not so much that the athlete was shown again, but in the next statement - other young players are also sitting in the Chinese "closets". We may never see them.

But they do exist.

MEN

(4-2) 11:7, 7:11, 11:4, 9:11, 11:5, 11:5

# 14 Lee Sangsu, South Korea - # 45 Chen Chien-An, Taipei

(4-1) 11:7, 11:7, 10:12, 11:3, 12:10

# 29 Lin Gaoyuan, China - # 45 Chen Chien-An, Taipei

(4-0) 11:5, 12:10, 15:13, 11:7

# 2 Fan Zhendong, China - # 14 Lee Sangsu, South Korea

(4-0) 11:5, 11:9, 11:8, 11:7

Other places (5-8)

5th. No. 8 Mizutani Jun, Japan, 6th.# 42 Jeong Sangeun, South Korea, 7th.# 15 Chuang Chih Yuan, Taipei, 8th. No. 9 Niwa Koki, Japan.

# 45 Chen Chien-An, Taipei - # 9 Niwa Koki, Japan 4: 2

# 29 Lin Gaoyuan, China - # 42 Jeong Sangeun, South Korea 4: 1

# 2 Fan Zhendong, China - # 8 Mizutani Jun, Japan 4: 1

# 14 Lee Sangsu, South Korea - # 15 Chuang Chih Yuan, Taipei

Other places (9-16)

9-10th. No. 68 Alamiyan Noshad, Iran, No. 105 Alamian Nima, Iran, 11-16th... No. 55 Ho Kwan Kit, Hong Kong, No. 7 Wong Chun Ting, Hong Kong, No. 47 Achanta Sharath Kamal, India, No. 89 Desai Harmeet, India, No. 213 Tanviriyavechakul Padasak, Thailand, No. 334 Al-Abbad Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabia.

WOMEN

(4-3) 6:11, 11:9, 11:8, 10:12, 11:7, 11:13, 11:6

(4-3) 9:11, 7:11, 11:9, 11:8, 11:3, 9:11, 11:8

(4-0) 13:11, 11:8, 11:2, 12:10

# 4 Liu Shiwen, China - # 5 Ishikawa Kasumi, Japan

(4-2) 15:13, 11:3, 9:11, 13:11, 9:11, 11:6

Other places (5-8)

5th.# 43 Chen Szu-Yu, Taipei, 6th.# 30 Suh Hyowon (formerly Seo Hyowon), South Korea, 7th.# 32 Doo Hoi Kem, Hong Kong, 8th. No. 10 Cheng I-Ching, Taipei.

# 3 Zhu Yuling, China - # 10 Cheng I-Ching, Taipei 4: 0

# 5 Ishikawa Kasumi, Japan - # 32 Doo Hoi Kem, Hong Kong 4: 0

# 4 Liu Shiwen, China - # 30 Suh Hyowon (formerly Seo Hyowon), South Korea 4: 3

Other places (9-16)

9-10th.# 119 Batra Manika, India, # 42 Lee Ho Ching, Hong Kong, 11-16th. No. 35 Yu Mengyu, Singapore, No. 22 Yang Haeun, South Korea, No. 8 Feng Tianwei, Singapore, No. 58 Sawettabut Suthasini, Thailand, No. 297 Shahsavari Neda, Iran, (arch. No. 646-647) Mohamed Aia, Qatar.