Timo Boll, Mattias Falck, Pitchford ready for European Games 2019!

The 2nd edition of the European games is to be held in Belarus from the 21st to the 30th June 2019. The event was envisioned by the European Olympic committee and is only meant for the European countries. A total of 15 sports are being covered in the games so it is all to play for!

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Timo Boll ready (Photos via ITTF Flickr)

The last games were held in Baku in 2015 and this year the games return for another installment! Dimitrij Ovtcharov took the men’s singles title in 2015 beating the experienced Vladimir Samsonov in an epic encounter. The German powerhouse will be back this year as number 3 seed, looking to defend his title!

A strong field of competitors will be looking to perform well in this event, with some of the world’s best players battling it out in Minsk. Winners of their respective categories can benefit from automatic qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. Its all to play for!

European table tennis legend Timo Boll enters the tournament as the top seed for the men’s event. Second seed Mattias Falck is the #2 seed. He will be looking to continue his recent success from the world championships where he earned a silver medal.

Dark horse Liam Pitchford will be looking to cause upsets as the #4 seed for the tournament. Liam has been training hard and has shown in the past that he can take down top players in Europe and the world. Simon Gauzy (#6 seed) had a fantastic world championship performance beating Xu Xin will want to show his immense capabilities at the big events.

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The Minsk 2019 games feature a team event which complements the singles. Top seeds in both the men’s and women’s team are Germany. However, strong competition from the other European superpowers like Sweden, Portugal and Great Britain will be looking to cause disruptions in the German camp!

Kristian Karlsson the #7 seed is backing the Sweden team this year and hopes to cause an upset in the team event; “I Think Germany and Sweden hold the favourite places in team event. In singles, it’s always very close in Europe and I can think of 10 players who could actually win.”

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A total of 122 players are competing in the games with the singles qualification matches being played from 10am on Saturday 22nd, and then finishing on the 26th. The team finals will finish on Saturday 29th.

Stay tuned to TTD to get the latest coverage of the event as it unfolds in the next few days! Find out the full line up and more here on TableTennisDaily.

Who do you think is going to win the games this year?
 
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