Sofia Polcanova

Sofia Polcanova
German Open 2017, Magdeburg
Nickname:	Sonja
Nation:	Austria
Date of birth:	3rd September 1994 (age 25)
Place of birth:	Chișinău
Size:	180 cm
Weight:	70 kg
Playing hand:	Left
How to play:	Shakehand
Trainer:	Liu Yan Jun, Bian Ya Dong
Current world rankings :	17th
Best world ranking :	14 (Dec. 2019 – Feb. 2020)
Current continental ranking position:	1
Best continental ranking:	1 (May 2018)
Current national ranking:	1
Best national ranking:	1 (May 2018)
Last update of the infobox: May 8, 2018

Sofia Polcanova (born September 3, 1994 in Chișinău , Republic of Moldova ) is an Austrian table tennis player of Moldovan origin. She moved to Austria at the age of 14 and has been playing for Linz AG Froschberg since 2008 . At European Championships she won silver in doubles, mixed and with the team as well as bronze in singles.

Life

Sofia Polcanova, called Sonja , grew up in the Moldovan capital Chișinău . For the Moldovan Association she took part in the table tennis world championships in 2007 , 2008 and 2009 , at the age of 14 she moved to Linz in 2008 alone . Since then she has been playing for Linz AG Froschberg, where chairman Günther Renner quickly confirmed that she had a certain potential. Her great role model is her club colleague Liu Jia . She has been an Austrian citizen since 2010. In 2012 she took part for the first time for Austria in the European Championship , where she was among the last 32, with the team she reached the quarter-finals the following year . On the World Tour , she won the U-21 competition of the Swedish and Croatia Open in 2013 and qualified for the Grand Finals, as well as in doubles. In January 2014 she reached the top 100 in the world rankings for the first time . In the same year, she made it into a World Tour semi-finals for the first time in Magdeburg . At the European Team Championships in Lisbon , she won the silver medal alongside Liu Jia, Li Qiangbing and Amelie Solja after losing to Germany in the final. In September 2014 she reached a temporary record with number 31 in the world list. In 2015 Polcanova celebrated her first title on the World Tour when she and partner Amelie Solja won doubles at the Hungarian Open.

Their first World Cup for Austria was the 2016 Team World Cup , in which the team reached the main round and lost 3-2 to the Netherlands. After successfully qualifying, she failed in the second round at the 2016 Summer Olympics against Australian Jian Fang Lay and thus missed the place in the top 32. In the team competition, she advanced to the quarter-finals alongside Liu Jia and Li Qiangbing, where you lost three games against Japan. Also in 2016, Polcanova took part in the Europe Top 16 for the first time and took 5th place there, qualifying for the World Cup . There she reached the main round and lost to Mima Itō 2: 4.

In 2017 she won all three titles in the Austrian championship in singles, doubles and mixed and took part for Austria in her first individual World Cup, where she reached the second round in doubles with Zhang Mo, among others . She reached the quarter-finals at the Europe Top 16 , the World Cup 2018 and the Team World Cup , and she finished the European Championship with three medals: bronze in singles, silver in doubles and mixed. In May it was also number 1 in the European rankings, so that it was ranked number 1 in the Europe Top 16 2019 . With bronze she won her first medal there, and at the end of the year she reached a new record with number 14 in the world list.

Polcanova is nearsighted and therefore plays with contact lenses . The left-handed player plays an offensive style of play with topspin on both sides .

successes

singles

• European Championship : Bronze 2018
• Europe Top 16 : Bronze 2019 , 2020
• Austrian champion: 2017, 2018

Double

• European Championship: Silver 2018
• Austrian Champion: 2013, 2014 (each with Amelie Solja ), 2017 ( Li Qiangbing ), 2018 (Ines Diendorfer)

Mixed

• European Championship: Silver 2018
• Austrian Champion: 2017, 2018 (each with Simon Pfeffer)

team

• European Championship: Silver 2014

Results from the ITTF database

Only results in the general class are given (without junior class).

Association	event	year	place	country	singles	Double	Mixed	team	U-21
AUT	European Championship	2019	Nantes	FRA				9-16 space
AUT	European Championship	2018	Alicante	ESP	Semifinals	silver	silver
AUT	European Championship	2017	Luxembourg	LUX				6th place
AUT	European Championship	2016	Budapest	HUN	last 32	last 32	last 32
AUT	European Championship	2015	Ekaterinburg	RUS	last 32	last 32		Quarter finals
AUT	European Championship	2014	Lisbon	POR				silver
AUT	European Championship	2013	Schwechat	AUT	last 64			Quarter finals
AUT	European Championship	2012	Herning	THE	last 32
AUT	Europe TOP-16	2020	Montreux	SUI	3rd place
AUT	Europe TOP-16	2019	Montreux	SUI	3rd place
AUT	Europe TOP-16	2018	Montreux	SUI	Quarter finals
AUT	Europe TOP-16	2017	Antibes	FRA	9-12 space
AUT	Europe TOP-16	2016	Gondomar	POR	5th place
AUT	European Games	2019	Minsk	BLR	last 16		last 16	Quarter finals
AUT	European Games	2015	Baku	AZE	last 16
AUT	Olympic games	2016	Rio	BRA	last 64			Quarter finals
AUT	Olympic qualification (Europe)	2016	Halmstad	SWE	Quarter finals
AUT	ITTF Challenge Series	2017	Zagreb	CRO	silver
AUT	World Tour	2019	Olomouc	CZE	Quarter finals		Semifinals
AUT	World Tour	2019	Panagyurishte	BUL	last 32	Semifinals	Quarter finals
AUT	World Tour	2017	Linz	AUT	last 32	Semifinals
AUT	World Tour	2017	Olomouc	CZE	last 16	Semifinals
AUT	World Tour	2016	Tokyo	JPN	last 32
AUT	World Tour	2016	Kuwait	KUW	last 32	last 16
AUT	World Tour	2016	Berlin	GER	last 64
AUT	World Tour	2015	Stockholm	SWE	last 64				last 16
AUT	World Tour	2015	Warsaw	POLE	last 64				last 16
AUT	World Tour	2015	catfish	AUT	Quarter finals	last 16			last 32
AUT	World Tour	2015	Olomouc	CZE	last 64	last 16			Quarter finals
AUT	World Tour	2015	Budapest	HUN	last 16	gold			Quarter finals
AUT	World Tour	2014	Olomouc	CZE	last 16	last 16			silver
AUT	World Tour	2014	Zagreb	CRO	last 16				gold
AUT	World Tour	2014	Almeria	ESP	last 32	last 16			gold
AUT	World Tour	2014	Magdeburg	GER	Semifinals	Quarter finals
AUT	World Tour	2014	Doha	QAT	last 32	Quarter finals			Semifinals
AUT	World Tour	2014	Szombathely	HUN	last 32				gold
AUT	World Tour	2013	Stockholm	SWE	Agony	Quarter finals			gold
AUT	World Tour	2013	Berlin	GER	Agony	Quarter finals			last 16
AUT	World Tour	2013	Spała	POLE	last 64	Quarter finals			last 16
AUT	World Tour	2013	Olomouc	CZE	last 32	last 16			Quarter finals
AUT	World Tour	2013	Zagreb	CRO	Quarter finals				gold
AUT	World Tour	2013	Incheon	COR		last 16			last 16
AUT	World Tour	2013	Doha	QAT	last 64	Quarter finals			last 16
AUT	World Tour	2013	catfish	AUT	last 64	last 16			last 16
AUT	World Tour	2012	Poses	POLE	last 64	Quarter finals			last 32
AUT	World Tour	2012	Velenje	SLO	last 64	last 16			last 16
AUT	World Tour	2012	Budapest	HUN		last 16			last 16
AUT	Pro tour	2011	Schwechat	AUT	Agony	last 64			last 16
AUT	Pro tour	2010	catfish	AUT	Agony	last 32			last 16
AUT	Pro tour	2010	Budaörs	HUN	last 64	last 32
AUT	World Tour Grand Finals	2014	Bangkok	THA					Agony
AUT	World Tour Grand Finals	2013	Dubai	UAE		Quarter finals			Agony
AUT	World Championship	2019	Budapest	HUN	last 32	last 32	last 16
AUT	World Championship	2018	Halmstad	SWE				Quarter finals
AUT	World Championship	2017	Dusseldorf	GER	last 64	last 16	last 64
AUT	World Championship	2016	Kuala Lumpur	MAS				9-12 space
MDA	World Championship	2009	Yokohama	JPN	Agony		last 128
MDA	World Championship	2008	Guangzhou	CHN				50th place
MDA	World Championship	2007	Zagreb	CRO	Agony	Agony	Agony
AUT	World cup	2019	Cheng you	CHN	Quarter finals
AUT	World cup	2018	Cheng you	CHN	Quarter finals
AUT	World cup	2016	Philadelphia	United States	last 16

Web links

Commons : Sofia Polcanova  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sofia Polcanova biography on the website of the World Table Tennis Federation ittf.com (English)
• Sofia Polcanova on the ÖTTV website
• Sofia Polcanova at Project Rio
• Sofia Polcanova in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Current Ranking List - Women. ITTF , accessed May 8, 2018 . 
2. ↑ POLCANOVA Sofia. oettv.org, accessed March 7, 2020 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Rio project: Sofia Polcanova. (No longer available online.) Federal Ministry for National Defense and Sport , archived from the original on August 10, 2016 ; accessed on August 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Linz AG Froschberg, Chronicle 2010
5. ↑ Final defeat for ÖTTV women after a big fight. Der Standard , September 28, 2014, accessed August 15, 2016 . 
6. ^ Sofia Polcanova and Amelie Solja Win Budapest Women's Doubles Title. (No longer available online.) ITTF , archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 13, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ ÖTTV women and men eliminated in the round of 16. derstandard.at, March 3, 2016, accessed on March 7, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Sofia Polcanova failed in her Olympic debut. Der Standard , August 7, 2016, accessed August 13, 2016 . 
9. ↑ Women's team out in the Olympic quarter-finals. ÖTTV , accessed on August 15, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Shen Yanfei win the title! Liu Jia solves the ticket for the World Cup with third place! oettv.org, February 7, 2016, accessed March 7, 2020 . 
11. ^ Women's World Cup - group stage. oettv.org, October 7, 2016, accessed March 7, 2020 . 
12. ↑ Liu Jia in the top eight at the Women's World Cup. oettv.org, October 8, 2016, accessed March 7, 2020 . 
13. ↑ Austrian State Championships 2017. wttv.at, March 16, 2017, accessed on March 13, 2020 . 
14. ↑ EM silver for Polcanova in women's doubles. orf.at, September 23, 2018, accessed on March 13, 2020 . 
15. ↑ Table tennis: Polcanova Europe's new number one. kurier.at, May 8, 2018, accessed on March 13, 2020 . 
16. ↑ Table tennis: Polcanova celebrates the European Cup bronze. kurier.at, February 3, 2019, accessed on March 13, 2020 . 
17. ↑ New career high for Polcanova in the ITTF ranking. orf.at, December 4, 2019, accessed on March 13, 2020 . 
18. ↑ POLCANOVA Sofia. (No longer available online.) Linz AG Froschberg, archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 13, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
19. ↑ POLCANOVA Sofia (ÖTTV). ÖTTV , accessed on August 13, 2016 . 
20. ↑ Stats Record for POLCANOVA Sofia (AUT). (No longer available online.) ITTF , archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 13, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
21. ↑ Stats Record for POLCANOVA Sofia (AUT) (detailed representation). (No longer available online.) ITTF , archived from the original on August 14, 2016 ; accessed on August 13, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.