[ad_1]
Delayed table tennis tournaments are finally starting in Warsaw, and top continents are hoping for a strong tournament as part of their final preparations for Tokyo 2020.
The European Table Tennis Association postponed the event last August due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in the host country, Poland, as well as increased travel restrictions.
The tournament was originally scheduled to take place on 15-20. September.
Thanks to the European Championships a month before Tokyo 2020, players will have the opportunity to test their shape before the Olympics.
Swedes Mattias Falck will go to the event as the best player in the men’s raffle, due to his world-class eighth place finish.
The winner of the 2019 World Championships is set to face the European Women’s title at Arena COS Torwar.
German stars Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll are his main contenders for the title.
Ovtcharov has been crowned European Champion twice, while Boll has won the event seven times, including the last edition in 2019.
“From a purely training standpoint, I’ve really never been able to better prepare for tournaments – this is true for both the European Championships and the Olympics,” Ovtcharov said.
“While the Olympics are always present, I think the European Championships are an important tournament in itself and not just a preparation.
“It’s the biggest continental tournament and highly regarded.
“But of course everything is different this time: after that, there will be no break and the preparations for the Olympics will continue immediately.”
Germans Patrick Franziska, Frances Simon Gauzy and Austrias Robert Gardos are also among the best seeds in the men’s singles event.
Austrias Sofia Polcanova is the best seed player in women’s singles.
World number 17 may face competition at Germanys Petri with Solja and Han Ying.
Romanias Bernadette Szocs and Elizabeta Samara hope to compete in the latter stages with Bitt Eerland from the Netherlands and Margaryta Pesotska from Ukraine.
Defending champion Poland Li Qian will lose the incident due to injury.
Germanys Qiu Dang and Benedikt Duda lead the men’s singles, ahead of teammates Franziska and Boll.
Slovakia Barbora Balazova and the Czech Republic Hana Matelova are the best seeds of women’s singles, the first of which is at its best in mixed doubles with Lubomir Piste.
[ad_2]
picture credit