The draws have been made for the singles and doubles events at the 2013 Liebherr European Championships in Austria with Daniel Reed’s group draw alongside former world no. 1 and European Champion, Jean-Michel Saive, the standout tie.
Reed, who was in good form during the team campaign, will face the 43-year-old Belgian in Group 18 of the Men’s Singles draw as well as Austria’s Martin Storf and Norway’s Eskil Lindholm.
With only one player progressing from each group into the main draw it puts real pressure on every fixture, in particular Andrew Baggaley could find Portugal’s Andre Silva to be a difficult opponent in Group 22 – Silva having beaten Frenchman Adrien Mattenet (wr 42) earlier on Monday.
In-form Sam Walker will face tests from both Lubomir Pistej (SVK, 169) and Sas Lasan (SLO, 179) as well as Grand Prix regular Paul McCreery in his first match on Tuesday.
The English women will face a series of difficult challenges as only Joanna Drinkhall has been seeded top of her qualification group. While the English no. 1’s draw looks favourable, no. 2 Kelly Sibley will face a battle against Hana Matelova (CZE, 181) and both Tin-Tin Ho and Hannah Hicks face at least two opponents ranked higher in the world.
A full list of groups for singles and doubles can be found below with match times and tables available on the attached pdf draw. Updates will continue throughout the tournament on the ETTA’s twitter account @ETTATableTennis
2013 Liebherr European Championships Draw
Men’s Singles
Group 16:
Liam Pitchford (world rank 126)
Xiaoquan Feng (AUT, 238)
Bojan Crepulja (SRB, 351)
Aleksandr Lusin (EST, 838)
Group 18:
Jean Michel-Saive (BEL, 130)
Daniel Reed (228)
Martin Storf (AUT, 368)
Eskil Lindholm (NOR, 743)
Group 22:
Andrew Baggaley (153)
Andre Silva (POR, 211)
Nicola Mohler (SUI, 382)
Samuli Soine (FIN, 724)
Group 32:
Lubomir Pistej (SVK, 169)
Sas Lasan (SLO, 179)
Sam Walker (430)
Paul McCreery (IRL, 579)
Dadi Freyr Gudmundsson (ISL, ur)
Women’s Singles
Group 14:
Katarzyna Grzybowska (POL, 158)
Anna Todorovic (SRB, 255)
Tin-Tin Ho (410)
Anna Grutle Aasebo (NOR, 758)
Group 15:
Joanna Drinkhall (159)
Monika Pietkiewicz (POL, 273)
Angeliki Papadaki (GRE, 407)
Amanda Fauvel (SUI, 734)
Group 22:
Maria Dolgikh (RUS, 198)
Iulia Necula (ROU, 225)
Rahel Aschwanden (SUI, 734)
Hannah Hicks (556)
Group 24:
Hanah Matelova (CZE, 181)
Kelly Sibley (213)
Rita Fins (POR, 503)
Sanem Ezgi Sahin (TUR, 565)
Andrea Daubnerova (SVK, ur)
Men’s Doubles
Group 8:
Antonin Gavlas/Petr Korbel (CZE)
Liam Pitchford/Sam Walker
Aleksandr Smirnov/Vallot Vainula (EST)
Kalinikos Kreanga/Anastasios Riniotis (GRE)
Group 14:
Enzo Angles/Abdel-Kader Salifou (FRA)
Andrew Baggaley/Daniel Reed
Ludvik Persolja/Uros Slatinsek (SLO)
Stefan Leitgeb/Simon Pfeffer (AUT)
Women’s Doubles
Group 11:
Lea Rakovac/Tian Yuan (CRO)
Gabriela Feher/Aneta Maksuti (SRB)
Hannah Hicks/Tin-Tin Ho
Amanda Fauvel/Celine Reust (SUI)
Group 12:
Olga Baranova/Elena Troshneva (RUS)
Joanna Drinkhall/Kelly Sibley
Rahel Aschwanden/Rachel Moret (SUI)
Ipek Karahan/Simay Kulakceken (TUR)
Full draw details can be found here
Written by Russell Moore (October 7, 2013)