European table tennis championship 2000

The 22nd European Table Tennis Championships took place from April 21st to May 1st, 2000 in Bremen in the town hall. It was the fourth European Championship in Germany after 1962 , 1978 and 1992. 46 men's and 38 women's teams took part, more than 400 athletes came from 46 nations.

For Germany, Qianhong Gotsch won gold in the women's singles and silver for the women's team.

Game system of team competitions

The teams are classified into three categories according to their level of play, based on the results of the last European Championship. Only the teams in category 1 can become European champions, the teams in categories 2 and 3 - with a view to the next European championship - play for promotion or relegation.

In categories 1 and 2, two parallel groups of six are formed, the remaining teams are classified in category 3 with a corresponding number of parallel groups. Specifically, in category 3 there are two groups of six and two groups of five for men and two groups of five and one group of four for women.

In each group everyone plays against everyone. The two first and second place winners in Category 1 reach the semi-finals. The third and fourth placed play for places 5 to 8. The two last placed play against relegation; two teams are relegated to Category 2.

In a team match, the modified Swaythling Cup system is used . Three players contest a maximum of two singles, in between a double is played, in which other players can be used.

Cutting off the Germans

Team competition men

The team supervised by Dirk Schimmelpfennig started in category 1 in group B. Here she won all the games and took first place: 4-0 against Belgium and England, 4-2 against the Czech Republic, 4-1 against Poland and the Netherlands. Rosskopf was injured in the game against Poland. He then paused against the Netherlands, in the following games his injury hampered him.

In the semifinals, Germany beat Denmark 4-1. The final against Sweden was lost 4-1. Only Timo Boll won against Peter Karlsson .

Team competition women

The German women were considered the favorites of this EM. They started in Category 1 in Group A, where they finished first with victories over Italy, Russia (4: 0 each), Sweden, Romania and France (4: 1 each). In the semi-finals they beat Croatia 4-0. They lost the final against Hungary 2-4. The behavior of the German players following the defeat, especially their allegations against coach Martin Adomeit , was later criticized as unworthy.

Men's singles

No German player reached the last sixteen.

Because of his injury from the Poland game, Roßkopf did not play in the individual competition. Peter Franz won against Stanislav Gorshkov (Ukraine) and Ferenc Pazsy (Hungary). In round 3 he was eliminated by Yang Min (Italy). Timo Boll made it just as farafter victories over Fedor Kouzmine (Russia) and Andrei Filimon (Romania) he lost against the Swede Jan-Ove Waldner in five sets. Torben Wosik prevailed against Umberto Giardina (Italy) and Miroslav Bindatsch (CZE), but the later European Champion Peter Karlsson (Sweden) was too strong. Also Steffen Fetzner also failed after victories over S.Sargsyan (Armenia) and Ferenc Pazsy (Hungary) to a Swede, namely Jorgen Persson . Thomas Keinath first had to assert himself in a qualifying round against Teodor Yordanov (Bulgaria) and Sergei Tiapkin (Russia). He then beat the Greek Ioannis Vlotinos before losing to He Zhiwen (Spain) in five sets. Lars Hielscher survived the first round against Lehel Demeter (Hungary), then lost to Kalinikos Kreanga (Greece).

Men's doubles

Roßkopf / Fetzner reached the quarter-finals in their last joint tournament. Despite the injury-related handicap of Roßkopf, they prevailed against Adrian Crişan / Andrei Filimon (Romania) and Frederik Hakansson / Peter Karlsson before theyfailedto the eventual tournament winners Patrick Chila / Jean-Philippe Gatien (France). Lars Hielscher / Thomas Keinath made it tothe semi-finals as a surpriseafter they first prevailed in the qualifying round against Daniel Gorak / Bartosz Such (Poland) and Raymond Gonzales / Stian Winther (Norway) and then Magnus Molin / Peter Nilsson (Sweden), Danny Heister / Trinko Keen (Netherlands), Kostadin Lengerov / Qianli Qian (Austria) and Slobodan Grujić / Aleksandar Karakašević (Yugoslavia) eliminated. Now they lost against the eventual tournament winners Patrick Chila / Jean-Philippe Gatien (France). Timo Boll / Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth retired after defeating Rade Markovic / Srdjan Milicevic (Yugoslavia) in Round 2 against Kalinikos Kreanga / Ilija Lupulesku (Greece / Yugoslavia). Peter Franz / Torben Wosik reached round 3. After a bye they won against the Greeks Konstantinos Papageorgiou / Ioannis Vlotinos and lost to Werner Schlager / Karl Jindrak (Austria).

Ladies singles

Four German women made it to the quarter-finals.

Outstanding was Qianhong Gotsch , who was European champion in the individual. The way there led through Zita Molnar (Hungary; 3: 0), Adela Mesan (Bosnia and Herzegovina; 3: 0), Anne Boileau (France; 3: 1), Olga Nemes (Germany; 3: 0) and Jie Schöpp ( Germany; 3: 0). In the final she won against the Romanian Mihaela Steff 3: 2 (-16.20.15, -13.13).

Jie Schöpp eliminated Viera Marcekova (Slovakia), Åsa Svensson (Sweden), Vivien Ellö (Hungary) and reigning European champion Ni Xialian (Luxembourg) before she was defeated by Qianhong Gotsch in the semifinals. Also Olga Nemes was beaten in the quarterfinals of qianhong gotsch. She had previously won against Antonela Manac (Romania), Oksana Koushtch (Ruland) and Csilla Bátorfi (Hungary). Jing Tian-Zörner was eliminatedin the quarter-finals against Mihaela Steff (Romania)after victories against Linda Radford (England), Eva Ódorová (Slovakia) and Irina Palina (Russia). Nicole Struse won after a bye against Biljana Golic (Yugoslavia) and lost in round 3 to Marie Svensson (Sweden). Elke Schall survived the games against Michaela Zillner (Austria), Melisa Muller (Netherlands) and Alessia Arisi (Italy) and lost to Mihaela Steff (Romania) in the round of 16. Tanja Hofmann (against Wiktoryja Paulowitsch , Belarus) and Laura Stumper (against Ana Gogorita, Romania) wereeliminated immediately in round 1.

Ladies doubles

The furthest came Schall / Struse , who eliminated Martina Safran / Biljana Todorovic (Slovenia), Alessia Arisi / Laura Negrisoli (Italy) and Eldijana Aganovic / Tamara Boroš (Croatia). In the semifinals Ni Xialian / Peggy Rainwetter (Luxembourg) were the final destination. Nemes / Jing Tian-Zörner played their way up to the quarter-finals over Martine Hubert / Sophie Thirion (Belgium) and Magdalena Gorowska / Paulina Joanna Narkiewic (Poland), where they failed against the eventual winners Csilla Bátorfi / Krisztina Tóth . Gotsch / Schöpp defeated Silvija Erdelji / Agnes Le Lannic (France) and then lost to Petra Dermastija / Helena Halas (Slovenia). Hofmann / Stumper advanced one round against Vilma Daunoraviciute / Lina Stankute (Lithuania), where they were eliminated against Svetlana Ganina / Irina Palina (Russia).

Mixed

Seven mixed pairings started with German participation.

The German-Greek couple Ntaniel Tsiokas / Jie Schöpp achieved after victories over Srdjan Milicevic / Biljana Golic (Yugoslavia), Ivan Vitsek / Vivien Ellö (Hungary), Fejer-Konnerth / Nemes (Germany) and Christophe Legoût / Anne Boileau (France) Semi-finals, where it lost to the eventual winners Aleksandar Karakašević / Rūta Budiene (Serbia / Lithuania). They had already eliminated Boll / Struse in the quarterfinals , who had previously won against Kalun Yu / Floor Tebbe (Netherlands), Jaromir Truksa / Eva Ódorová (Slovakia) and Peter Fazekas / Mária Fazekas (Hungary). Also Wosik / sound reached the quarter-finals by Bojan Milosevic / Stanislava Stanic (Yugoslavia) Peter Nilsson / Linda Nordenberg (Sweden) and František Krčil / Renáta Štrbíková (Czech Republic) threw out of the race. Fejer-Konnerth / Nemes won against Ivan Juzbasic / Andrea Bakula (Croatia) and Evgueni Shetinin / Tatsiana Kostromina (Belarus) and were then defeated by Ntaniel Tsiokas / Jie Schöpp. The English-German pair Matthew Syed / Gotsch reached round 3 after victories over Teodor Yordanov / Katalina Vitceva-Gatinska (Bulgaria) and Erik Ilias / Valentina Popova (Slovakia), where it failed to Ilija Lupulesku / Marie Svensson (Yugoslavia / Sweden). Keinath / Stumper got stuck in the qualification after defeating Dragutin Surbek jun./Tatjana Tsistjakova (Croatia / Estonia) after losing to Ron Davidovich / Agathe Costes (Israel / France). Hielscher / Hofmann lost their only match in qualifying against He Zhiwen / Jessica Hernandez (Spain).

Results women

team

space	country	player
1	Hungary	Csilla Bátorfi Krisztina Tóth Mária Fazekas
2	Germany	Qianhong Gotsch Jie Schöpp Olga Nemes Elke Schall Nicole Struse
3	Croatia	Andrea Bakula Tamara Boroš Eldijana Aganovic
4th	Russia	Svetlana Ganina Irina Palina Galina Melnik Oksana Kusch

Further placements:

space	country
5	Belarus
6th	Czech Republic
7th	Sweden
8th	Italy
9	Romania
10	France
11	England
12	Netherlands
14th	Luxembourg
20th	Austria
34	Switzerland

singles

space	country	player
1	Germany	Qianhong Gotsch
2	Romania	Mihaela Steff
3	Croatia	Tamara Boroš
	Germany	Jie Schöpp

In the quarterfinals were eliminated:

• Ni Xialian
• Jing Tian grains
• Olga Nemes
• Liu Jia

Double

space	country	player
1	Hungary	Krisztina Tóth / Csilla Bátorfi
2	Luxembourg	Ni Xialian / Peggy rainy weather
3	Sweden	Åsa Svensson / Marie Svensson
	Germany	Elke Schall / Nicole Struse

Results gentlemen

team

space	country	player
1	Sweden	Jan-Ove Waldner Jörgen Persson Peter Karlsson
2	Germany	Jörg Roßkopf Timo Boll Peter Franz Steffen Fetzner
3	Poland	Michał Dziubański Tomasz Krzeszewski Marcin Kusinski Lucjan Błaszczyk
4th	Denmark	Allan Bentsen Michael Maze Martin Monrad Finn Tugwell Mads Sorensen

Further placement games of the other teams gave the following result:

space	country
5	France
6th	Czech Republic
7th	Austria
8th	Netherlands
9	Yugoslavia
10	Russia
11	England
12	Belgium
29	Luxembourg
37	Switzerland

singles

space	country	player
1	Sweden	Peter Karlsson
2	Croatia	Zoran Primorac
3	Czech Republic	Petr Korbel
	Sweden	Jan-Ove Waldner

In the quarterfinals were eliminated:

• Patrick Chila
• Jörgen Persson
• Lucjan Błaszczyk
• Philippe Saive

Double

space	country	player
1	France	Patrick Chila / Jean-Philippe Gatien
2	Greece / Yugoslavia	Kalinikos Kreanga / Ilija Lupulesku
3	Germany	Lars Hielscher / Thomas Keinath
	Austria	Werner Schlager / Karl Jindrak

Results Mixed

space	country	player
1	Yugoslavia / Lithuania	Aleksandar Karakašević / Rūta Budiene
2	Yugoslavia / Sweden	Ilija Lupulesku / Marie Svensson
3	Greece / Germany	Daniel Tsiokas / Jie Schöpp
	Croatia	Roko Tošić / Sandra Paović

useful information

• For Steffen Fetzner this is the last international tournament that he will contest for the DTTB .
• The youngest participant was 13-year-old Danish Mie Skov.
• The 20-year-old Dominik Marxer from Liechtenstein took part in the tournament at his own expense.
• A round trip with 212 participants was held as part of the supporting program. This led to an entry in the Guinness Book of Records .

literature

• EM preview with description of the game system: DTS magazine , 2000/4 pp. 12–23
• Report: DTS magazine , 2000/5 pp. 6–25 + 54–60
• Retrospect: The EM was worth it , interview with Walter Gründahl - DTS magazine , 2000/6 pp. 34–35

Web links

• Entry in ITTF database
• Table Tennis News N269 May 2000, page 15

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DTS magazine , 2001/6 p. 6
2. ↑ DTS magazine , 2000/5 p. 61 + 2001/10 p. 6