Panagiotis Gionis will be among the top athletes of the table tennis world for the umpteenth time in a major individual event. He is on the list of participants in the World Table Tennis Singapore Smash 2023, which will be held in the capital of the same name from March 7 to 19.
He was invited based on his good position in the international ranking (number 86) and will take part in the singles.
He left Athens today together with the federal coach Kostas Vatsaklis and on Sunday he will be in the island country. The Smash tournaments joined the international program after the effects of the corona virus, they are one of the main moves of the WTT for matches with high prestige and solid financial prizes, that is why at the same time various entertainment events are arranged, which aim to further advertise and promote the sport.
Asia is a central place for these glamorous events and apart from creating a festival-like atmosphere, it will certainly attract the attention of all sports fans with the presence of top sportsmen and women.
Singapore Smash 2023 includes all individual events (i.e. men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles), but Gionis only qualified for men’s singles. There, 53 athletes have been invited for the main draw (there are also some representatives of the host country, even if they are not high in the world ranking) and 64 for the qualifiers. A knock-out fixture in the qualifying process, the top defender will begin his quest at the Singapore Sports Hub’s OCBC Arena on Tuesday 07/03 and will be looking to progress as far as possible. The draw will take place on Sunday 05/03.
Let us add that at Singapore Smash 2023 there will be other great Europeans, who have either already competed in our own A1 national category, or have agreed this season with Greek clubs. The Englishman Liam Pitchford, the Croatians Andrej Gatsina, Tomislav Pukar, of Olympiakos, the Swedish Christian Karlsson and the Portuguese João Geraldo of Panathinaikos in the men (who even go directly to the main draw), the Ukrainian Margarita Pesotska, the Hungarian Georgina Pota, the Italian Deborah Vivarelli of Olympiakos, the Egyptian Dina Mesref and the Romanian Elizabeta Samara of Panathinaikos in the women (Vivarelli goes to the qualifiers).
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