Last Chance Saloon !

[DaveR]

http://www.sportfocus.com/newsimage/Paul-Drinkhall-flag5.jpg


Hot of the phone from Performance Director Steen Hansen, here are the groups that the BTTF players will be competing in for their last chances to get to the Beijing Olympics.

Joanna Parker Ranked 217, England
Chris Xu, 282, Canada
Yanfei Shen, 36, Spain

Kelly Sibley, 191, England
Tetyana Sorochinskaya, 133, Ukraine
Malin Pettersson, 363, Sweden

Adam Robertson, 197, Wales
Roko Tosic, 107, Croatia
Jose Miguel Ramirez, 407, Guatemala

Paul Drinhall, 170, England
Andy Perira, 434, Cuba
Shane Overmeyer, 496, Russia
Eugeniu Milchin, - , Moldova


ETTA

[Mr Wilko]

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!!!

oh and wales

[DaveR]

Day Three of the Final Olympic Qualification event in Budapest, Hungary

Things started badly as the hopes of our two men were stopped by an assault from the Iberian Peninsula

Paul Drinkhall playing in Stage 2 late in day 2 needed a win to continue and found Alfredo Carneros of Spain too hot to handle. The Spaniard took a fairly comfortable 4 straight set win to end Paul’s participation in this event.

Adam Robertson by winning his group was placed directly in the 2nd round of the Stage 3 where he met Portugal’s Marco Freitas. In a tremendous battle where 3 sets went to deuce one way or the other it was the Portuguese who took the seventh end 11-9 to keep his hopes of qualification for the Olympics alive.

Adam by virtue of his loss proceeded to Stage 4B to play off for places 17-48.

His first opponent Tomas Pavelka from the Czech Republic lost the first set 11-4 then conceded being unable to play further. This took Adam to the 2nd round where he was playing for 17th to 32nd.

His opponent world no 52 Lucjan Blaszczyk from Poland. The vastly experienced Pole was just too much for Adam and although he did take the 4th set he bowed out 4-1 in sets.

An excellent performance this for Adam as he had been very unwell earlier in the week and to get to this stage was maybe better than he would have expected then.

Joanna Parker’s tournament also came to an end late Friday evening as in the 1st round of Stage 3 she met the highly experienced Italian Laura Negrisoli, Joanna took the second set but that only delayed the ending and the Italian progressed 4 sets to 1

So to the star of the day, Kelly Sibley, late Friday night she kept her chances of qualification alive with a superb six set win over the Lithunanian No 1 and world no 111 Ruta Paskauskiene in the 1st round of Stage 3.

Her second round opponent was the highly experienced Russian No 3, Oksana Fadeeva, world No 101, and unfortunately Kelly’s chance of Olympic qualification was halted, the winner of this match went on the to last 16 to join the 8 seeds in fighting it out for a qualifying place but it was the Russian who triumphed in 5 sets, Kelly did get the second set but that was her only success.

Like Adam however, Kelly had progressed far enough to progress after losing to Stage 4B to play off for positions 17-41. First round Kelly had a bye.

Second round, another tough opponent, the conqueror of Joanna Parker and winner from her Group Sara Ramirez of Spain, the world 116. What a battle this was Kelly Sibley took the first on deuce but Ramirez replied with two comfortable sets, two then to Kelly both 11-9, the sixth went to Ramirez, again 11-9, and the seventh to Kelly 12-10 to take her to the third round playing for 17th to 24th

Third round, and a less highly rated opponent Ekaterina Ntoulaki, the Greek no 3 and world ranked 230, Kelly won the first, lost the second 9-11 but then lost the next two comfortably to stand 1-3 down. It looked difficult but Kelly came back to take the fifth set comfortably but it didn’t look at all good again in the 6th set when Kelly’s coach called a time out at 1-5 down.

What a wonderful timeout that was, Kelly recovered to take the set at deuce 13-11, So to an immense 7th set, Kelly got a point or two ahead, the Greek responded and levelled, Kelly got ahead and Ntoulaki levelled again, finally the score reached 9-9.

Kelly for the third time got her nose in front 10-9 and she was able to take that match point at the first attempt to setup an encounter tomorrow morning with world no 133 Ukranian No 1, Tetyana Sorochinskaya in the battle for positions 17 to 20.

[DaveR]

http://www.sportfocus.com/newsimage/ks31.jpg


Day 4 of the Final World Olympic Qualification in Budapest, Hungary
Only Kelly Sibley was still playing in the event and in the morning she faced world no 133 Ukranian No 1, Tetyana Sorochinskaya who she had lost to in the initial qualifying group by 4 sets to 2.
Sorochinskaya won the first comfortably but Kelly fought back to take the next two, both 11-9. The next two sets however went easily to the Ukranian, in the 6th set it was point for point all the way to 8-8 but Kelly then grabbed a 10-8 lead, it was not to be however as Sorochinskaya took the next 4 points on the bounce to win the match 4-2 in sets just as she had in the first match of the competition.
This meant that Kelly Sibley would face Gabriela Feher of Serbia in the afternoon for 19-20th place. Gabriela Feher was not Kelly Sibley's favourite opponent as a Junior, playing her three times and losing all three, in fact it was Feher who beat Kelly in her last European Championships as a Junior in July 2006. How would they fair two years later?
Kelly is a much improved player now and it showed, she won the first set but Feher responded to take the next two, once again however, as Kelly has demonstrated time and time again this year she was not to be denied taking the next 3 sets fairly comfortably, 11-4, 11-6, 11-7 to claim 19th place in the Event.
To sum up the event, no success in gaining an 2008 olympic qualification but both Paul Drinkhall and Adam Robertson had individual successes against much higher ranked players. Jo Parker had a set of tough opponents and just could not prevail.
Kelly Sibley, played superbly, played 8 won 5 in this company, 3 wins against much higher ranked opponents, in this event where competition is intense, is no small feat and once again Kelly's world ranking will be due for an uplift next month.

[DaveR]

The following was of interest from Paul Drinkhall...............

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44670000/jpg/_44670688_pdrink226.jpg

Middlesbrough’s Paul Drinkhall is one of the athletes BBC Sport is following as part of the Olympics Dreams series (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/7025652.stm).

The 18-year-old missed out on a 2008 Olympic place during recent qualification tournaments but is now training and competing in China, Korea and Singapore with an eye on London 2012.

I was obviously really disappointed not to get a Beijing spot (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/%20http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/table_tennis/7396147.stm), but everything that has happened out here in China since then has put everything into perspective.

We were on the flight when we heard about the earthquake. Thankfully we weren’t anywhere near it but we saw everything on the news after we landed. It was really hard to focus on playing as we saw the casualty numbers going up every hour.

I am slowly getting over my failure to qualify at the European (http://www.ettu.org/) and world qualifying tournaments (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/%20http://www.ittf.com/)in Nantes and Budapest respectively.

I thought I had a real chance if I played well. Nobody would have given us a chance a year ago, so to have got this close was pretty good. Making the Olympics this time round would have been a bonus.

It was a strange start to the final qualifier in Budapest because the officials weren’t happy with our bats. There are restrictions on how thick the bat rubbers can be so I ended up playing with a Danish player’s bat which didn’t exactly help my focus!

I wasn’t playing that well but after getting through the first group, I felt my game was steadily improving. I needed to beat Spain’s Alfredo Carneros to make the proper knock-out stages. He was someone who I’d normally beat, but he won easily. It was really annoying because he ended up qualifying.


I’m told I have the best of both worlds - European body and a Chinese playing style
I really enjoy the pressure of these big tournaments and going up against the world’s best players. I do get a few nerves, but I seem to do my best when the pressure’s on. In those types of games you just feel something special inside.

It’s been a pretty good few months for me though. I played my favourite match of my career so far at the European Olympic qualifier in Nantes. It was the last match in the group stages and it was a must-win game over a Serb called Slobodan Grujic. He normally kills me!

A 4-2 win and I’d make the next round, and if I won 4-1 or 4-0 I would qualify top of the group.

I really enjoyed the match and I ended up absolutely killing him! I was totally buzzing and it was the game of my life. I felt totally in control, chose my shots well and played perfectly.

But that doesn’t happen all the time. We’ve got to work out how to make that happen. We need to keep watching videos of my matches and keep experimenting.

My basic style is like the Chinese – it’s quick and forehand dominated, but I keep falling in and out of that, which I need to work on. The traditional European style is playing longer shots and being a lot safer.

I’m told I have the best of both worlds. That is, I have a European body - which is stronger than the Chinese - and a Chinese playing style. This really suits me because it means I can play my shots - which basically means “whack and say goodbye”.

I’m getting used to being in China. We practice out here a lot and play in quite a few tournaments. I worked out the other day that over the last eight years I have in total spent a year here.

I even know a few Chinese words – the important ones like ‘hello’, ‘how are you’ and ‘thank you’. I do know a few other ones, but I’ll leave them until I’m back in the UK!

So I just need to keep practising really. Playing table tennis is my job. Most European players don’t peak until their mid-20s and Chinese players a little earlier, so I’ve got plenty of time.

I’ve just got to focus now on 2012, train really hard, improve my world ranking and go for the medal. But it’s not just about London. There’s 2016, 2020 and beyond.

[Hovis Bread Eater]

Kelly Sibley is second reserve I think, After the World qualification tournament.

[NativeNewYorker]

Paul has probably done well when you look at the facts, with maybe most not even expecting anything near success. The Olympic qualification process is a difficult one to achieve.

The Olympics will no doubt be achievable if the top young players keep the work rate high and the coaching plus good backing from the Government, which is probably the mos difficult to get as the Government is very slow at promoting sports in the UK unlike all or most other countries.

[Belisar]

I am a bit surprised his bat (rubbers) were deemed too thick, is this not the sort of thing that players/coaches should be looking at before such an important event ?

By the sounds of it his was not the only one so maybe they were harsher for this event than for previous ones.

[DaveR]

The rubber thing seems to become more and more of an issue these days .............the red tape is becoming thicker as we speak!

[JKC]

It wasn't really an issue for the Chinese this time with so many in the top 20, but will any of our players get an automatic place at the 2012 olympics without having to qualify?

[DaveR]

It maybe that one or more can somehow attain Olympic selection but not sure if that's possible now, although i hope so as it would be nice to see a Uk representation involved.

As the little photo trick shows its all possible .................... Jump !

http://www.tabletennistalk.co.uk/forum/table/tabletennistalk_drinkhall_jump.JPG

[SuperCow]

Hi guys

I'm actually new on those forums, but I've been following table tennis news quite closely for a while now. It is unfortunate that neither Paul nor Darius qualified for the Olympics as it means we have no English representation at the Olympics this time.
I know it's all done and dusted now, but I can't help wondering whether we sent all our best players for the qualification trials. I am referring to Andrew Baggaley here. How come our current national champion wasn't part of the selection process? I'm not saying the result would have been different, but surely we should increase our chances of qualification by sending our best players? Andrew barely lost any game during the National championships in Sheffield (I think he didn't lose more than one game per match, including the final), and is simply an awesome player. I really find it surprising that the etta wouldn't consider this fact and not select him.
Apparently there are "political" issues surrounding his non-selection but I fail to understand how these would matter in the face of increasing our chances of an Olympic qualification... Surely it's a national interest to select our best players for qualification?

[Tinykin]

Wasn't selection based on World ranking? What is Baggaley's ranking?

[Belisar]

I hear rumours of Baggaley or his brother or someone making things awkward and have no doubt politics and people influence ETTA decisions. However ...

Tiny may well be right about it being based on world rankings (to be honest that would make sense to me).

If not...

If the ETTA selected players for the qualifying event it may have been done before the Nat Champs and in the last 12 months Baggaley has simply not been on the scene.

The ETTA also seem to be going through a youth selection phase (no doubt there are arguments as to it being right or wrong) but 2012 is very important financially.

[SuperCow]

Current World rankings as of May 2008 (Source: www.ittf.com (http://www.ittf.com)):

Paul Drinkhall: #170
Darius Knight: #349
Andrew Baggaley: #226

Rankings at the beginning of the year (probably more relevant timeframe with regard to players selection for the Olympics) were #234 (Paul), #362 (Darius) and #217 (Andrew).

Paul's World ranking is steadily improving as apparently May 2008 is his best ranking so far so let's hope it keeps going like this!

[MK Chris]

I would have liked to have seen Andrew go through qualification and I'd imagine it's political, which is a shame.

Out of all the top men, I believe Andrew is by far the hardest working. As far as Stephen Baggaley making things awkward are concerned, if it's true, I'm sure the ETTA have played their part in being awkward as well.

[DaveR]

Politics seem far to often to influenc the Table Tennis world and indeed the sporting world in general, i actually agree with Supercow on this one. The ranking as stated is currently #226 ............. not a mile away from Pauls (which i think we all would have liked to see qualify also) so the reason must be either youth policy or some other problem surrounding the selection process, which maybe the ETTA should let people know why someone who is playing so well wasnt selected.............

By the way welcome SuperCow

[DaveR]

http://www.sportfocus.com/newsimage/david_wetherill1.jpg


A torpoint student and international table tennis player will be helped on his way to the Paralympic Games in Beijing this summer with a £1,000 sponsorship deal.
Talented Torpoint Community College student David Wetherill, 18, is to receive sponsorship from Bab**** Marine Sports and Social Club.
The club's chairman, Nigel Rowe, said: "We identified David some time ago as an individual we would like to sponsor.
"While we were putting the package together the great news is that he qualified to represent Britain in Beijing."
Wetherill is ranked as the world number 11 disabled table tennis player and hopes to go into the Paralympics in September seeded.
According to doctors, Wetherill shouldn't be competing at all.
His condition is progressive, and he was told he would be in a wheelchair by the time he was 13.
Wetherill's condition, multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, affects his joints.
He plays table tennis with the aid of crutches, and says the sport has helped to keep the condition in check.
Rowe said Bab**** Marine Sports and Social Club had decided to give Wetherill an initial grant of £1,000 to help him with his Paralympic preparations.
He added: "I think he's a wonderful ambassador for the sport and for us, and he shows people what can be achieve if you are dedicated."
Wetherill is currently preparing for the games with specialist coaching, and by playing in as many tournaments as possible. He also plays for Woolwell in the Plymouth and District Table Tennis League, against able-bodied players.
Earlier this month Bab**** awarded Olympic swimmer Cassie Patten a sponsorship deal.

[JKC]

It's like a missing swear word game. I think the answer must be **** because ****, ****, ****, **** and **** wouldn't sound right and ******** is too long. Is there a prize?

[Annie]

It's like a missing swear word game. I think the answer must be **** because ****, ****, ****, **** and **** wouldn't sound right and ******** is too long. Is there a prize?

Ye! :redcard::redcard::redcard::redcard: :redcard::redcard::redcard: