Returning to Scene of Previous Triumphs, Most Successful on Duty in Berlin
2016 ITTF German Open
Courtesy of ITTF
Seeking to repeat previous triumphs, the players who have enjoyed the greatest success in Men’s Singles events at ITTF World Tour tournament staged in Germany are all on duty for this year’s edition; play commences in Berlin on Wednesday January 27th.
The names in question are China’s Ma Long, the host nation’s Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.
Furthermore, you can add Dimitrij Ovtcharov, like Timo Boll from Germany and Ma Long’s compatriot, Zhang Jike to the list; all are previous winners
Most Successful
Timo Boll is the most successful. He won in 2004 in Leipzig, in 2006 in Bayreuth before succeeding in 2008 in Berlin and the following year in Bremen.
Ma Long, in addition to succeeding one year ago in Bremen, won in 2007, also in Bremen and in 2010, when as now, the event was held in Berlin.
Next on List
Next on list comes Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus and Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
Vladimir Samsonov prevailed in 2001 in Bayreuth and in 2005 in Magdeburg; Dimitrij Ovtcharov also succeeded in Magdeburg, he won in the city in 2014 having clinched gold two years earlier in Bremen.
The one other winner on duty is Zhang Jike; he was crowned champion in 2011 in Dortmund.
Seeded Places
At the 2016 ITTF World Tour German Open, Ma Long is the top seed in the Men’s Singles event followed by Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Zhang Jike and Timo Boll.
Portugal’s Marcos Freitas is the no.5 seed; he is pursued by Chinese Taipei’s Chuang Chih-Yuan and China’s Fang Bo with Vladimir Samsonov completing the top eight names.
Player in Form
All have ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles titles to their credit with Chuang Chih-Yuan being very much the player in form; he emerged as the Men’s Singles champion at the recently completed 2016 ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open.
In fact of the seeded players, only Hong Kong’s Tang Peng, the no.13 seed, does not have an ITTF World Tour Men’s Singles title to his name; all rest have stood proudly on the top step of the podium when the curtain closed.
Seeded Names
Compatriot Wong Chun Ting, Korea’s Jung Youngsik and Japan’s Koki Niwa alongside Joo Saehyuk, also from Korea, are the names listed immediately above Tang Peng.
Below completing the 16 seeds are China’s Yan An, a further Korean in the guise of Lee Sangsu and Singapore’s Gao Ning.
Reflects Strong Entry
It is a strong entry to say the least, a fact illustrated in the status of Croatia’s Andrej Gacina.
Currently he is listed at no.20 on the Men’s World Rankings; there is no place in the seeding, he must compete in the preliminary rounds!
Player’s List includes Butterfly North America players Eugene Wang of Canada & Mexico’s Marcos Madrid.
