Bastian Steger Replaces Injured Michael Maze
February 5, 2010

Bastian Steger

Courtesy of ITTF Bastian Steger, Men’s Singles semi-finalist on the ITTF Pro Tour at the Slovenian Open in January, is the replacement for the injured Michael Maze of Denmark at the Liebherr Europe Top 12 tournament to be staged in the German city of Düsseldorf on Saturday and Sunday, February 6-7, 2010.

The withdrawal means that in the men’s event there will be no less than five German players in action; a situation that reflects the current healthy state of table tennis in Germany; furthermore, in the guise of Elke Schall and Wu Jiaduo, they have two female players in action.

German Interest
The in form German will line up alongside colleagues Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Christian Süss, Patrick Baum and Timo Boll with Boll seeking to defend his title and succeed in the event for a fifth time.

Michael Maze has withdrawn owing to an injury he suffered in mid January when one half of a table tennis table fell on his foot; the reigning European Men’s Singles champion, he missed the recent European Champions League matches and now has been forced to withdraw from the prestigious Liebherr Europe Top 12.

The reserve is now Panagiotis Gionis of Greece; he will travel to Düsseldorf.

Line Up
Joining the five Germans in the Men’s Singles event are three Austrians in the guise of Werner Schlager, Chen Weixing and Robert Gardos plus Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus, Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece, Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and Sweden’s evergreen Jörgen Persson.

Women’s Event
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Singles event, Germany has two representatives in the form of Wu Jiaduo and Elke Schall as do Romania with Elizabeta Samara and Daniela Dodean in action and the Netherlands represented by Li Jiao and Li Jie.

Liu Jia (Austria), Krisztina Toth (Hungary), Viktoria Pavlovich (Belarus), Li Qian (Poland), Tamara Boros (Croatia) and Ruta Paskauskiene (Lithuania) complete the line up.