NEWS In this issue: Olympic Games Peking 02 2008 09 Review Peking 2008: Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze for Butterfly Olympic Games/WRL 04 Golden Throne for Table Tennis Empress Zhang Yining Congratulations to Borussias „Musketiers“! News 05 The Table Tennis Butterfly congratulate the successful trio Empress Zhang Yining built her own monument of the Borussia Duesseldorf team for „Tips and Tricks“ 06 in her home town Peking having won the silver medal of the team World Champion Werner Schlager during the Olympic event in Peking (from left to right: Boll, Games 2008. The But- Ovtcharov and Suess). terfly Star triumphed in Products of the month 08 the Singles and with her SRIVER G3 and SRIVER G3 FX Chinese Team just like four years ago in Athens with two Gold Medals Interview 10 each time. With this result she equalled the record of her Dirk Huber, Germany legendary compatriot Deng Yaping who stood also four times on the number one place of the podium, twice 1992 in Barcelona and twice 1996 in Atlanta. The World Cham- Technique Tips 13 pion Guo Yue can be proud as well with two medals, Gold The backhand flip from an initiated push with the Team and Bronze in the Singles. Timo Boll and Oh Sang Eun continued the group of successful „Butter- flies“ at Olympia in the men’s events: Boll returns to Germany with a Silver Medal in the team event and Oh www.butterfly-world.comwent back to South Korea with a Bronze Medal. Redaktion/Editor - Am Schürmannshütt 30h - D-47441 Moers - Germany - Phone: +49 2841 90532-0 - Mail: [email protected] 02 Review Olympic Games 6th Olympiatournament in Peking 06. September - 08. September 2008 Europe’s hope that the Chinese Aces might not be able to cope with the pressure in their home country were not Women´s World Cup in Kuala fulfilled in Peking. The Chinese had a solid grip on the Olympic Summer Games in table tennis at all times. The Lumpur (Mas) table tennis world wasn’t surprised by the best possible result of the hosts by winning both Gold Medals in the team event and all six possible medals in the individual events but the ITTF President, Adham Sharara was a bit worried that the Chinese top stars didn’t lose even one match against an athlete from another nation neither in 11. September - 14. September 2008 the team nor in the individual event:“ We cannot blame China that they are so strong because table tennis is the Pro Tour: Panasonic China Open, national sport here. The other nations must improve to challenge China. China is developing new techniques, Shanghai services and new styles, while Europe relies on continuing with the usual playing systems and practicing methods. The reason for this is the education of coaches which is further developed in China than anywhere else 26. September - 28. September 2008 in the world. There is not enough exchange of ideas between the Chinese Coaches and the responsible people Men´s World Cup, Lüttich (BEL) of the other nations.“ 04. October - 12. October 2008 European Championships Women/ Men , St. Petersburg (RUS) Reliability in person was once again Zhang Yining. The 26-year-old „Butterfly“ coped well with the enormous pressure of the public and won like in Athens the Gold Medal in the singles, this time through a victory over the successful Wang Nan Our Photo-Partners who won in 2000 and beat somewhat surprisingly the World Champion Guo Yue through her experience. Guo Yue again won the Bronze Medal by winning against Li Manfred Schillings Jia Wei (Singapore). Zhang Yining was full of joy after her Olympic victory:“ I am so Impressum: happy and would like to thank many people. My coaches and all the other players, Editor + Contakt they all contributed so much to my success. From the technical point of view I was Yuki Kamizuru, 02841/90532-0 No liability for eventual errors and omissions. All prices are recommended retail prices. NEWS www.butterfly-world.com 09 2008 03 Review Olympic Games not so happy today but mentally I was very strong and that was the deciding factor.“ By Independently of results and records the Olympic Games 2008 were an the way the Europeans were no longer represented in the Quarterfinals. impressive adventure – for the athletes, the delegations, Olympic tourists as well as for the followers of the electronic media. The best polls and the The medals of the Butterfly partners in the men’s events were more humble. The permanently sold out Peking University Gymnasium (8000 spectators) Duesseldorf player Timo Boll won the first Silver Medal stressed the meaning of table tennis in China during the summer games as in the team event for Germany for twelve years but he well as the special honour which the Chinese exemplary sportsperson couldn’t overcome the effects of the lack of training for Zhang Yining received from the organisers during the impressive opening three month caused by his knee injury at the beginning of ceremony: The nine times World Champion was chosen to take the 2008 in the singles. Boll failed already clearly in the Olympic Oath in the „Bird’s Nest“ representing thousands of competitors round of the last 16 against the South Korean top player from all over the world. Boll Oh Sang Eun who didn’t stand a chance against the final winner Ma Lin one round later. Boll was not the only prominent Tamasu player who dropped out during that round: also Austria’s Ex-World Champion Werner Schlager and Denmark’s WC third in 2005 Michael Maze did not reach the quarterfinals. Surprisingly the Croatian Zoran Primorac was fighting for a place in the semi-finals but lost the match of former champions against the 41-year-old Swedish Ex-World Champion Jørgen Persson who completely unexpectedly advanced to Europe’s best player gaining fourth place. During the team event another European athlete with a Butterfly on his chest was completely unexpectedly drawing attention to himself. Robert Gardos made a major contribution to Austria’s chance to play for a Bronze Medal by beating the Greek Kalinikos Kreanga and Japan’s Kan Yo. During the „little final“ he even won against the gold medallist from Athens Ryu Seung Min. Sadly it was the only victory of the disappointed Austrians on that day. Two successful „Butterflies“: Guo und Oh Primorac NEWS 2008 09 03 Preview Olympic Games / WRL Short Interview with Zhang Yining ITTF World Ranking, Mens (08/2008) What does this Olympic victory mean to you? 1 WANG Hao CHN 16 SCHLAGER Werner AUT 2 MA Long CHN 17 KREANGA Kalinikos GRE „I am very happy. I had to renounce many things, which 3 MA Lin CHN 18 HAO Shuai CHN 19 KAN Yo JPN you normally enjoy, for a long time for this success.“ 4 WANG Liqin CHN 5 SAMSONOV Vladimir BLR 20 MAZE Michael DEN 6 BOLL Timo GER 21 MITZUTANI Jun JPN Is the impression deceiving or is it true that you were 7 Chen Qi CHN 22 CRISAN Adrian ROU sometimes not quite satisfied with your performance in the 8 RYU Seung Min KOR 23 CHIANG Peng-Lung TPE 9 JOO Se Hyuk KOR 24 HOU Yingchao CHN final? 10 CHUAN Chih-Yuan TPE 25 YOON Jae Young KOR 11 LI Ching HKG 26 SAIVE, Jean-Michel BEL „I was not satisfied concerning the technical part of my 12 GAO Ning SIN 27 TANG Peng HKG 13 CHEUNG Yuk HKG 28 LEE Jung Woo KOR game. I can do better than that. On the other hand I was 14 OVTCHAROV Dimitrij GER 29 SMIRNOV Alexei RUS mentally very strong today, which was the deciding factor for my victory.“ 15 OH Sang Eun KOR 30 JIANG Tianyi HKG Did you at any time during the final doubt that you could win the Gold Medal? ITTF World Ranking, Women (08/2008) „Wang Nan has already participated in three Olympic Games, for me it was the second time. So she has got more experience than I have. In situations 1 ZHANG Yining CHN 16 GAO Jun USA when I was behind I never played hastily and kept calm.“ 2 GUO Yue CHN 17 NIU Jianfeng CHN 3 LI Xiaoxia CHN 18 LIU Jia AUT (Butterfly-players are marked!) Is there a person who was particularly important to you on your way to the Gold 4 GUO Yan CHN 19 LIU Shiwen CHN 5 WANG Nan CHN Medal? 20 HIRANO Sayaka JPN 6 Li Jia Wei SIN 21 PARK Mi Young KOR 7 WANG Yue Gu SIN 22 FAN Ying CHN „There are quite a few. I would really like to thank the whole team. All 8 JIANG Huajun HKG 23 WANG Chen USA 9 FENG Tianwei SIN coaches and all the other athletes gave me an awful lot. Without the help of 24 WU Jiaduo GER 10 TIE Yana HKG 25 SUN Bei Bei SIN the whole team I wouldn’t be standing here today. A special thanks also to my 11 KIM Kyung Ah KOR 26 DANG Ye Seo KOR equipment sponsor Butterfly who always takes care of that I can compete with 12 FUKUHARA Ai JAP 27 FUKUOKA Haruna JPN the best material. How important good and reliable material is, was obvious in 13 CAO Chen CHN 28 BOROS Tamara HRV 14 LIN Ling HKG 29 LI Qian POL the semi-finals when I had to play with my second bat.“ 15 Li Jiao NED 30 CHANG Chenchen CHN NEWS www.butterfly-world.com 09 2008 05 Butterfly Inside Ursula Kamizuru passed away Wheelchair professional Holger Nikelis prepares for Peking After being sick for two month Ursula „Uschi“ Kamizuru died „If you smelled Gold once, you want more!“ on Tuesday the 5th of August.