European Masters Cup

The European Masters Cup (EMC) was a table tennis competition for the world's best individual players. It was carried out from 1991 to 1998.

description

The EMC was initiated and organized by the German Table Tennis Association DTTB and the European Table Tennis Association ETTU at the instigation of the German sports warden Eberhard Schöler and the DTTB President Hans Wilhelm Gäb . The all-men event was to take place annually from 1991 and was initially planned for 5 years. After the eighth event in 1998, the tournament was abandoned in favor of the new German Open event .

The 12 best players according to the respective world rankings were invited. The participants were drawn in four preliminary round groups with three players each. The last of each group was eliminated, the first two made it to the quarter-finals, where it continued in the knockout system.

history

1991 Bonn

The first event took place from September 27 to 29, 1991 in the Hardtberghalle in Bonn . With the help of sponsors from the business world, prize money of 100,000 US dollars was distributed. Each winner of a preliminary group received $ 5,000, plus $ 25,000 for the overall winner, $ 12,500 for runner-up, $ 7,500 for the two third-placed teams, $ 5,000 for the four losers in the quarterfinals, and $ 2,000 for each remaining player.

The Swede Jan-Ove Waldner won . To the disappointment of the organizers, only 3,400 spectators followed the games. The Olympic champions Yoo Nam-kyu (South Korea) and Li Gun Sang (North Korea) had canceled in advance , but Lupelescu moved up.

Jörg Roßkopf defeated Gatien and Lindh in the opening act and then eliminated Chen Xinhua in the quarter-finals. In the semifinals he had no chance against Waldner. Steffen Fetzner reached the quarterfinals after a win against Primorac and a defeat against Waldner, where he was eliminated by Grubba.

space	player	World ranking August 1991	Prize money dollars	annotation
1.	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	2.	30,000	Winner in group 2
2.	Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA)	6th	12,500
3.	Jörg Roßkopf (GER)	10.	12,500	Winner in group 4
3.	Andrzej Grubba (POL)	3.	12,500	Winner in group 3
5.	Mikael Appelgren (SWE)	8th.	5,000
	Jörgen Persson (SWE)	1.	10,000	Winner in group 1
	Chen Xinhua (ENG / CHN)	16.	5,000
	Steffen Fetzner (GER)	32.	5,000
9.	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	14th	2,000	Last in group 1
	Zoran Primorac (YUG)	15th	2,000	Last in group 2
	Ilija Lupulesku (YUG)	22nd	2,000	Last in group 3
	Erik Lindh (SWE)	17th	2,000	Last in group 4

1992 Karlsruhe

The second event took place from September 12 to 13, 1992 in the Karlsruhe Europahalle . This time prize money of 150,000 DM was available. Each winner of a preliminary group received 7,000 DM, plus 40,000 DM for the overall winner, 20,000 DM for the runner-up, 12,000 DM for the two third-placed players, 7,000 DM for the four losers of the quarter-finals and 2,500 DM for each remaining player.

Jan-Ove Waldner won again . Jörg Roßkopf canceled his participation due to an injury, but Erik Lindh was subsequently invited.

An invitation tournament for women took place parallel to the men's tournament. Here 10,000 DM in prize money were distributed.

As part of the attempt to shorten table tennis competitions and thus make them more attractive, all sets began with a score of 5: 5.

space	player	World ranking July 1992	Prize money DM	annotation
1.	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	2.	47,000	Winner in group A
2.	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	6th	20,000
3.	Erik Lindh (SWE)	18th	19,000	Group D winner
3.	Jörgen Persson (SWE)	3.	19,000	Winner in group C
5.	Andrzej Grubba (POL)	4th	7,000
	Mikael Appelgren (SWE)	16.	14,000	Winner in group B
	Zoran Primorac (CRO)	14th	7,000
	Chen Xinhua (ENG)	13.	7,000
9.	Carl Prean (ENG)	21st	2,500	Last in group A
	Steffen Fetzner (GER)	27.	2,500	Last in group C
	Kim Taek-soo (KOR)	8th.	2,500	Last in group D.
	Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA)	1.	2,500	Last in group B

Four players competed in the invitation tournament for women.

space	Player	Prize money DM
1.	Csilla Bátorfi (HUN)	5,000
2.	Bettine Vriesekoop (NED)	3,000
3.	Olga Nemes (GER)	1,000
4th	Nicole Struse (GER)	1,000

1993 Hanover

The third event took place from September 11 to 12, 1993 in the stadium sports hall in Hanover . The organizer was the TTC Helga Hannover association with its manager Uwe Rehbein. This time prize money of DM 120,000 was available. This was determined according to a fixed key according to the ranking, there was no special bonus for a group victory. More than 5,000 spectators were counted.

Jörg Roßkopf won for the first time, although he started with a false start: He lost the first game against Jean-Michel Saive 3-0. In the second game he was back against Erik Lindh with 0-2 sets and was about to be eliminated. But he managed the turnaround and still won 3-2. Peter Franz survived the group games, but then lost to Roßkopf in the quarterfinals. Richard Prause was nominated to replace Steffen Fetzner. He finished last in Group B without a win.

space	player	World ranking August 1993	Prize money DM	annotation
1.	Jörg Roßkopf (GER)	8th.	40,000
2.	Peter Karlsson (SWE)	11.	23,000	Winner in group B
3.	Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA)	2.	13,000
3.	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	3.	10,000	Winner in group C
5.	Peter Franz (GER)	52.	8,000	Group D winner
5.	Zoran Primorac (CRO)	15th	8,000
7th	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	1.	5,000	Winner in group A
7th	Andrzej Grubba (POL)	10.	5,000
9.	Chen Xinhua (ENG)	14th	2,000	Last in group A
	Richard Prause (GER)	114.	2,000	Last in group B
	Erik Lindh (SWE)	18th	2,000	Last in group C
	Jörgen Persson (SWE)	7th	2,000	Last in group D.

1994 Hamelin

The fourth event took place from September 10th to 11th, 1994 in the Pied Piper Hall in Hameln . The host was the club TSV Blau-Weiß Schwalbe Tündern . Again, prize money of 120,000 DM was available. Around 3,000 spectators attended the event.

The world number one, Jean-Michel Saive , won the tournament superiorly . He only lost a single set (against Grubba ). Fetzner and Franz were invited by the German Table Tennis Association DTTB by wildcard. They did not survive the group games. Fetzner lost to Waldner and Grubba, Franz failed to Saive and Persson. Only Roßkopf was able to prevail because of the best set ratio in Group D, where all three players each won a game and lost a game. Rosskopf defeated Chen Xinhua and lost to Gatien. In the quarterfinals he lost to Grubba in three sets.

space	player	World ranking August 1994	Prize money DM	annotation
1.	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	1.	43,000	Winner in group A
2.	Peter Karlsson (SWE)	8th.	23,000	Winner in group C
3.	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	2.	13,000	Winner in group B
3.	Andrzej Grubba (POL)	10.	10,000
5.	Jörg Roßkopf (GER)	11.	8,000	Group D winner
	Jörgen Persson (SWE)	13.	5,000
	Chen Xinhua (ENG)	14th	5,000
	Patrick Chila (FRA)	28.	5,000
9.	Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA)	7th	2,000	Last in group D.
	Zoran Primorac (CRO)	5.	2,000	Last in group C
	Steffen Fetzner (GER)	31.	2,000	Last in group B
	Peter Franz (GER)	43.	2,000	Last in group A

1995 Hamelin

The fifth event also took place from September 8-10, 1995 in the Pied Piper Hall in Hameln . The host was the club TSV Blau-Weiß Schwalbe Tündern . Again, prize money of 120,000 DM was available. Around 4,500 spectators attended the event.

This time it was played on three days for the first time. The reason was the introduction of an additional qualifying round on the first day. In this 16 men played for two free places in the main tournament.

The participants were invited after their placement in the European rankings. In contrast to this, wild cards were given to Lars Hielscher (German youth champion), Richard Prause , Alexei Smirnow and Kong Linghui (reigning world champion).

Qualifying tournament

The qualification tournament was held in four groups of four. The first two of the group played against each other in the quarter-finals, the four winners made it to the semi-finals. Its winners Richard Prause and Călin Creangă were qualified for the main tournament. Retired were Philippe Saive , Erik Lindh , Lars Hielscher , Mikael Appelgren , Trinko Keen , Steffen Fetzner , Alexei Smirnow , Yang Min , Lucjan Błaszczyk , Dmitri Masunow , Patrick Chila , Thierry Cabrera and Petr Korbel .

Lars Hielscher lost in group A to Călin Creangă, Philippe Saive and Erik Lindh in two sets and came in last place. Steffen Fetzner was only 3rd in group B. He won against Alexei Smirnow and Trinko Keen, but lost to Mikael Appelgren.

Richard Prause was able to qualify for the main tournament. He was first in Group D after victories over Petr Korbel and Patrick Chila and a loss to Thierry Cabrera . Then he eliminated in the quarterfinals Lucjan Błaszczyk and in the semifinals Philippe Saive.

Main tournament

For the second time since 1993 Jörg Roßkopf won the tournament. He lost to Călin Creangă in Group C, but won 3-0 against Jörgen Persson. In the quarterfinals he prevailed against Zoran Primorac, as well as in the semifinals against Jean-Michel Saive. He won the final against Jan-Ove Waldner in five sets. Peter Franz finished last in Group D after losing to Wladimir Samsonow and Jean-Michel Saive. Even Richard Prause remained winless in Group A against Zoran Primorac and Jan-Ove Waldner.

space	player	World ranking September 1995	Prize money DM	annotation
1.	Jörg Roßkopf (GER)	8th.	40,000
2.	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	4th		Winner in group A
3.	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	3.
3.	Andrzej Grubba (POL)	19th
5.	Zoran Primorac (CRO)	9.
	Vladimir Samsonov (URS)	16.		Group D winner
	Kong Linghui (CHN)	2.		Winner in group B
	Călin Creangă (GRE)	39.		Winner in group C
9.	Richard Prause (GER)	62.		Last in group A
	Peter Karlsson (SWE)	12.		Last in group B
	Jörgen Persson (SWE)	14th		Last in group C
	Peter Franz (GER)	36.		Last in group D.

1996 Hamelin

The sixth event took place from September 6th to 8th, 1996 for the third time in a row in Hameln , this time in the Greuthalle. Again, prize money of 120,000 DM was available.

The participants were invited after they were placed in the European rankings. In contrast to this, wildcards were given to Peter Franz , Richard Prause and Kim Taek-soo (Korea).

Qualifying tournament

The qualifying tournament was held in the same mode as in 1995. Kalinikos Kreanga and Trinko Keen qualified for the main tournament .

The Germans Lars Hielscher (defeat against Werner Schlager and Philippe Saive , victory against the Italian Yang Min), Richard Prause (defeat against Erik Lindh , Trinko Keen and Carl Prean ) and Steffen Fetzner , who was first in Group D ( Victory over Kalinikos Kreanga , Ding Yi and Magnus Molin ), prevailed in the quarterfinals against Philippe Saive, but failed in the semifinals against Trinko Keen.

Main tournament

For the first time Vladimir Samsonov won the tournament. He defeated Jean-Michel Saive in the final . No German could qualify for the quarter-finals.

Jörg Roßkopf finished last in Group B without a win behind Jean-Michel Saive and Kalinikos Kreanga. Likewise remained Peter Franz in Group D without a win against Kim Taek-soo and Jan-Ove Waldner.

space	player	World ranking September 1996	Prize money DM	annotation
1.	Vladimir Samsonov (BLR)	7th	43,000	Winner in group C
2.	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	4th		Winner in group A
3.	Kim Taek-soo (KOR)	8th.		Group D winner
3.	Andrzej Grubba (POL)	16.		Winner in group B
5.	Patrick Chila (FRA)	18th
	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	5.
	Zoran Primorac (CRO)	12.
	Kalinikos Kreanga (GRE)	19th
9.	Trinko Keen (NED)	30th		Last in group A
	Jörg Roßkopf (GER)	6th		Last in group B
	Jörgen Persson (SWE)	15th		Last in group C
	Peter Franz (GER)	42.		Last in group D.

1997 Bensheim

The seventh event took place from September 12 to 14, 1997 in Bensheim in the Weststadthalle. Again, prize money of 120,000 DM was available, 40,000 DM for the overall winner, 3,000 DM special price for each group winner. The organizers were disappointed by the number of spectators, only around 3,000 interested people attended the event.

The participants were invited after their placement in the European rankings. In contrast to this, wild cards were given to Peter Franz and Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth , as well as Timo Boll as European youth champion in 1997. All previous winners of the EMC were represented.

For the third time after 1993 and 1995 Jörg Roßkopf won the tournament. He defeated Zoran Primorac in the final .

Qualifying tournament

Of the 16 participants in the qualification tournament, Danny Heister (NLD) and Lucjan Błaszczyk qualified .

In the qualification the Germans Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth (victory over Philippe Saive and Mikael Appelgren , defeat against Dmitri Masunow ), Richard Prause (victory over Carl Prean and He Zhiwen , defeat against Vasile Florea ) and Timo Boll (defeat against Christophe Legoût , Peter Karlsson and Matthew Syed ). The 16-year-old Boll looked tired after playing three days earlier in the European league game against Poland.

Main tournament

Jörg Roßkopf was unbeaten first in Group 2 ahead of Zoran Primorac and Thomas von Scheele . In the quarterfinals heeliminated Jean-Michel Saive , then he won against Jan-Ove Waldner and reached the final.

Steffen Fetzner took second place in group 4. He lost to Vladimir Samsonov and won against Patrick Chila . In the quarter-finals he was eliminated from Jan-Ove Waldner .

space	player	World ranking August 1997	Prize money DM	annotation
1.	Jörg Roßkopf (GER)	10.	43,000	Winner in group 2
2.	Zoran Primorac (CRO)	8th.	20,000
3.	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	1.	13,000	Winner in group 1
3.	Vladimir Samsonov (BLR)	3.	13,000	Winner in group 4
5.	Steffen Fetzner (GER)	30th	5,000
	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	7th	5,000
	Jörgen Persson (SWE)	15th	8,000	Winner in group 3
	Andrzej Grubba (POL)	17th	5,000
9.	Danny Heister (NED)	34.	2,000	Last in group 1
	Thomas von Scheele (SWE)	41.	2,000	Last in group 2
	Lucjan Błaszczyk (POL)	31.	2,000	Last in group 3
	Patrick Chila (FRA)	21st	2,000	Last in group 4

1998 Aalen

The eighth event took place from September 11th to 13th, 1998 in Aalen in the Greuthalle. Again, prize money of 120,000 DM was available, 40,000 DM for the overall winner, 3,000 DM special price for each group winner. Around 3,000 spectators attended the tournament.

Due to wild cards Torben Wosik and Lars Hielscher were there. Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth replaced Ilija Lupulesku , who had canceled in advance.

Wladimir Samsonow was the winner ahead of Jean-Michel Saive .

Qualifying tournament

Of the 16 participants in the qualification tournament, Peter Franz and Thomas von Scheele qualified .

In the qualification the Germans Timo Boll (victory over Evgueni Shetinin and without a fight over Jörgen Persson , defeat against Petr Korbel ), Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth (victory over Frederik Hakansson, defeat against Peter Franz and Vasile Florea ), Torben Wosik (victory over Mikael Appelgren , losses to Philippe Saive and Matthew Syed ) and Lars Hielscher (losses to Petr Korbel, Nicolas Chatelain and Thomas von Scheele ).

Main tournament

Jörg Roßkopf took second place in Group 4. He won against Trinko Keen and lost to Zoran Primorac . In the quarter-finals he prevailed against Jan-Ove Waldner , but then failed in the semifinals on the eventual winner Wladimir Samsonow .

Steffen Fetzner finished last in Group 1 behind Wladimir Samsonow and Peter Karlsson .

Peter Franz won the qualifying tournament by losing to Vasile Florea , but kept the upper hand against Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth , Frederik Hakansson, Matthew Syed and Petr Korbel .

space	player	World ranking June 1998	Prize money DM	annotation
1.	Vladimir Samsonov (URS)	1.	43,000	Winner in group 1
2.	Jean-Michel Saive (BEL)	7th	23,000	Winner in group 2
3.	Zoran Primorac (CRO)	2.	13,000	Winner in group 4
3.	Jörg Roßkopf (GER)	12.	10,000
5.	Kalinikos Kreanga (GRE)	10.	5,000
	Peter Karlsson (SWE)	16.	5,000
	Jan-Ove Waldner (SWE)	4th	8,000	Winner in group 3
	Jean-Philippe Gatien (FRA)	7th	5,000
9.	Steffen Fetzner (GER)	37.	2,000	Last in group 1
	Thomas von Scheele (SWE)	55.	2,000	Last in group 2
	Peter Franz (GER)	41.	2,000	Last in group 3
	Trinko Keen (NLD)	33.	2,000	Last in group 4

Sources and individual references

EMC 1991
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1991/7 p. 15 + DTS , 1991/8 pp. 42–43
- Tournament report : DTS magazine , 1991/10 pp. 4–10
EMC 1992
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1992/7 p. 15 + DTS , 1992/8 pp. 42–43
- Tournament report: DTS magazine , 1992/10 pp. 4–9
EMC 1993
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1993/7 p. 16
- Tournament report : DTS magazine , 1993/10 pp. 4–8
EMC 1994
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1994/7 p. 23
- Tournament report: DTS magazine , 1994/10 pp. 4–10 + p. 42
EMC 1995
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1995/7 pp. 44–45
- Tournament report: DTS magazine , 1995/10 pp. 4–10 + p. 16
EMC 1996
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1996/8 pp. 64–65; 1996/9 p. 26 + p. 41
- Tournament report : DTS magazine , 1996/10 pp. 4–10 + p. 18
EMC 1997
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1997/7 p. 16 + 1997/8 p. 6-7
- Tournament report: DTS magazine , 1997/10 p. 4–8 + p. 15
EMC 1998
- Announcements: DTS magazine , 1998/8 p. 37 + 1998/9 p. 12–13
- Tournament report: DTS magazine , 1998/10 p. 8 + p. 12–15
______________________________________________________________________________

↑ DTS magazine , 1991/9 p. 15
↑ DTS magazine , 1992/8 p. 20
↑ DTS magazine , 1993/9 p. 30
↑ DTS magazine , 1994/9 p. 20
↑ DTS magazine , 1995/10 p. 14
↑ DTS magazine , 1996/10 p. 16
↑ DTS magazine , 1997/10 p. 17
↑ DTS magazine , 1998/7 p. 11

[1] DTS magazine , 1991/9 p. 15

[2] DTS magazine , 1992/8 p. 20

[3] DTS magazine , 1993/9 p. 30

[4] DTS magazine , 1994/9 p. 20

[5] DTS magazine , 1995/10 p. 14

[6] DTS magazine , 1996/10 p. 16

[7] DTS magazine , 1997/10 p. 17

[8] DTS magazine , 1998/7 p. 11