June 23, 2010
Celebrated German Club Seeks Hat-Trick of European Champions League Titles
 Once again Timo Boll will lead Borussia Düsseldorf |
Courtesy of ITTF They will face SF SKK EL NINO Praha, who list amongst their squad ITTF Pro Tour regulars Dmitrij Prokopcov, Tomas Tregler, Tomas Konency and Michal Obeslo. |
A total of 14 teams will compete for the prestigious title with the first stage of proceedings seeing teams being drawn into four groups.
There are two groups with four teams, two groups with three teams. The teams finishing in first and second places progress to the quarter-final stages.
French Opposition
Borussia Düsseldorf competes initially in a group of three teams, the remaining outfit being Angers Vaillante of France, who list amongst their leading players the Greek defender Panagiotis Gionis, the evergreen Spaniard He Zhi Wen and Brazil’s hard working Thiago Monteiro.
Welcome Back
Returning to duty in the European Champions League after one year’s absence is Vladimir Samsonov.
He leads the powerful Russian club side, Fakel of Gazprom Orenburg with Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov plus the home nation’s Alexei Smirnov and Fedor Kuzmin in support.
They play French Club G.V. Hennebont, who name Ryu Seung Min, Kalinikos Kreanga, Bai Fengtian and Wang Xin amongst their leading players, plus German Club TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau. The German club lists an impressive squad that includes Robert Gardos, Lucjan Blaszczyk, Kenji Matsudaira and Tomas Pavelka.
Strong Russian Teams
German club teams have always been powerful in European competitions.
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen underline that fact with Seiya Kishikawa, Tiago Apolonia, Marcos Freitas and Ruwen Filus in the lineup field a most competitive team.
However, there is a definite challenge to German dominance and it comes from Russia. In addition to Fakel of Gazprom Orenburg, TTSC UMMC fields a formidable outfit.
Notable Names
They name the reigning European champion, Michael Maze alongside the vastly experienced Zoran Primorac plus the Chinese stars Chen Qi and Hao Shuai in their squad. They face the German club, TTC Rhon Sprudel Fulda-Maberzell in their opening match, who name none other than Jan-Ove Waldner amongst their leading players, with China’s Wang Xi and Waldner’s Swedish compatriot, Robert Svensson, amongst their leading players.
In the same group appears two stalwart European clubs, Belgium’s Royal Villette Charleroi and Levallois Sporting Club of France.
Present Yet Again
Jean-Michel Saive, as he has done for most of his sporting life, is named in the Royal Villette team alongside Andrej Gacina, Wang Jianjun and Oleg Danchenko; with the French club listing Chuang Chih-Yuan, Igor Rubtsov, Patrick Chila and Emmanuel Lebesson amongst its elite.
Tough opponents for TTSC UMMC and also for TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, who face A.S. Pontoise Cergy of France in their opening fixture, the French club lists Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth, Chiang Peng-Lung, Peter Franz and Adrien Mattenet amongst its elite.
Formidable Opponents
Difficult opening encounters and the two remaining clubs in the group are formidable opponents.
SVS Niederösterreich led by Werner Schlager, Chen Weixing, Daniel Habesohn and Stefan Fegerl comprise the Austrian challenge with Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 completing the group to present the Danish challenge.
Winner of the Men’s Singles title at the recent World Veterans’ Championships leads the Danish challenge with Finn Tugwell and Roko Tosic the notable names in support.
First Contests
The first round fixtures in the group stage of proceedings are scheduled to be played between Fridat 3rd and Monday 6th September 2010.
Click Below for List of Teams & First Stage Fixtures
Teams
First Stage Fixtures
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