Translated material
Legends in Northern Palmyra
The stage of the elite series “Pro Tour” starts in St. Petersburg
For the third year in a row, St. Petersburg has hosted small racket masters fighting for victory at the stage of the prestigious commercial series “Pro Tour”. The competition starts today with qualifying matches, which will involve many Russians, mostly promising players. Main draw matches in the four categories - singles and doubles for both men and women - begin on Friday, with deciders scheduled for Sunday.The entire Pro Tour, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this season, consists of 17 stages and takes place almost throughout the entire calendar year - from mid-January to the second ten days of December. There are 14 classical stages, such as in St. Petersburg - here the champion in men's singles earns $17 thousand and the same number of rating points for victory; the strongest among girls receives $11,400; the best couple among the stronger sex is awarded an amount of 4.5 thousand dollars for two; The fee for the winners of the women's tandem tournament is one and a half times less. The February stages in Qatar and Kuwait have a higher status, and prize money, as well as rating points, are doubled here.
Competitions in Brazil and Serbia are ranked in the lowest category of importance - winning these tournaments is valued less than reaching the quarterfinals in the classical stages. And finally, the Pro Tour finals will be held in Hong Kong from December 14 to 17. 16 singles players and eight doubles players are eligible to participate according to the current rankings. Even if an athlete has a high score, he can only be admitted to the Grand Prix Final if one of two conditions is met - that is, competing in at least six stages of the Pro Tour or in fewer tournaments, but held on three continents - - in Europe, Asia or South America.
Russian table tennis is now experiencing a fundamentally new stage of its development. After endless changes in the leadership of the national federation of this sport, a period of stability began. In May, Transport Minister Igor Levitin was elected to the post of president of the FNTR, proposing a long-term program of action. One of its main points is to strengthen the authority of domestic ping-pong in the international arena. Russia has all the prerequisites to host the most important continental and world tournaments at a high organizational level. Thus, in the first days of November on the banks of the Neva, the leadership of the European Table Tennis Union, headed by the Italian Stefano Bosi, is going to formalize the decision to hold the 2008 Old World Championship in Northern Palmyra.
The St. Petersburg Pro Tour is an excellent opportunity for Russian players to improve their rankings and show serious results. Still, they play better in their own walls, and the local public provides our leaders with decent support. Last year, for example, a super sensation broke out - our Irina Kotikhina, who at that time occupied only 234th place in the world ranking, reached the final. The title went to the famous Hungarian Kristina Toth, who, together with her compatriot Georgina Porta, also excelled in doubles. In the men's category, the former number one of the planet, Belarusian Vladimir Samsonov, won, who did not allow the Greek Kalinikos Kreanga to win for the second year in a row. In the decisive match, Samsonov did not give up a single set to his opponent.
Despite the absence of Chinese representatives (the strongest players from this country have already secured entry to Hong Kong), the composition of foreign participants at the St. Petersburg stage is impressive. The most iconic masters, in our opinion, are veterans Swede Jörgen Persson and Jean-Michel Saève (Belgium), who competed at five (!) Olympics. Their career at the top level has lasted for a quarter of a century. It's scary to think, but Persson became European champion 20 years ago. Austrian Werner Schlager threw down the gauntlet to the Chinese three years ago and interrupted their hegemony at the World Championships by winning gold in Paris. Then, on the way to the final, he beat two eminent Chinese in a stubborn seven-set fight. The two-time World Cup winner Croatian Zoran Primorac, the 2005 European champion in the team of the Danish Mikael Maze, and the Frenchmen Patrick Chila and Damien Eloy do not need recommendations.
The most famous of Russians is Alexey Smirnov. He is the only one of our compatriots who last year managed to win the elite European Top 12 tournament, held since 1971. Fedor Kuzmin has an equally historic victory at the Pro Tour stage (Slovenia 2005). These two and Sergei Andrianov in the spring formed the backbone of the Russian team, which sensationally finished at the World Team Championship in Bremen (Germany) in an honorable sixth place.
In the women's competition, among the Russians, Svetlana Ganina, Oksana Fadeeva, Irina Palina can go far in the tournament bracket, and Kotikhina will try to shine again. Their main rivals are the three-time European champion in doubles, the winner of the “Top 12” of this season, Croatian Tamara Boros, Hungarian Kristina Toth, as well as a whole group of naturalized Chinese women competing under the flags of Austria, Italy, the USA, France, Holland, plus girls from Singapore.