The first of a series of World Table Tennis Feeder Events concluded last Friday in Dusseldorf, Germany.  Two more are planned for January.  Feeder events are not intended to be for top tier players, but with cash prizes and ITTF ranking points, these events will help provide rising stars the best opportunity to both earn a living and to gain ranking points which will increase their opportunities to play in tour events (and/or improve their seeds for those events).

With this inaugural event occurring in Germany, and in Dusseldorf where many Germany events occur, many of the participant names are familiar to American fans.  Anton Kallberg and Benedikt Duda were the top seeds.  Tobbias Hippler, Sam Walker, Lev Katsman, Tiago Apolonia, and Steffen Mengel all competed.  Seven of the top eight seeds advanced to the Quarterfinals (as expected).  The minor upset was Russia’s Lev Katsman who knocked off Germany’s Bastian Steger 4-1.  Anton Kallberg fell in one Semifinal to Alvaro Robles 4-2, and Benedikt Duda topped Japan’s Yuta Tanaka 4-0 in the other.  Duda then sealed the win in the Final with a 4-1 score over Robles.

The Women’s event was less predictable than the Men’s.  Only 3 of the top 8 seeds advanced to the Quarterfinals, and only one (Sabine Winter) made the Semis.  Sabine Winter topped Charlotte Carey (Wales) , and Yangzi Liu (Australia) topped Germany’s Chantal Mantz.  It was Australia that took the top place when Yangzi Liu defeated Sabine Winter in the Final 4-1.

Men’s Doubles went to Japan (Tanaka/Yokotani over the English pair of Jarvis/Walker).  The two Slovakian teams made the finals in Women’s Doubles (Sinkarova/Puchovanova over Labosova/Kukulkova).  And Germany won Mixed Doubles with Schreiner/Hippler taking top honors over the Australian team of Liu/Dixon.

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