Another step was recorded in a special moment, eagerly awaited by table tennis fans in Greece: The notice was issued for the international youth tournament of Loutraki Corinthia, which is part of the Europe Youth Series 2023 of the European Sports Union (ETTU) and marks the return of our country to undertake such a range of games after decades! The tournament is for athletes up to 13 and up to 15 years old.
It includes team with mixed teams and singles and doubles in boys and girls. It will be organized from October 25 to 29 by the Hellenic Table Tennis Federation under the auspices of ETTU and it is an honor that the competent authority has chosen Greece for the first year of a new series of games.
The venue will be the large sports facility of Sport Camp of Loutraki, which after training activities in table tennis wants to successfully host international matches. The declarations of participation are in progress and are submitted electronically until 25/09, the announcement has been posted on the ETTU website and its main points are the following:
The maximum number of participants for the team is 40 teams and the maximum number of participants for the individual 176 sportsmen and women
The team will have two events, namely in the U15 and U13 categories. Greece has long informed the ETTU that it is holding the competition with teams, which will consist of boys and girls together and not separately.
13 competition tables will be used.
The training room will be in the “Jacob’s hall” inside the same sports facility. It will have 7 tables and will be available from the day before the start of the games.
The team starts the program on 10/25. Groups are held and depending on the ranking the next day some teams continue to the 1st level (A finals) and others to the 2nd (B finals). The competition will end on 27/10 with the finals.
On the same day (Friday 27/10) the singles groups and the doubles tables begin. The A finals and B finals levels are also foreseen in the singles of the two age categories. Those who qualify from the groups go to the 1st and the rest go to the 2nd. The medals in the four events of the U13 category and the equal number of the U15 category are judged on the last day, Sunday 29/10.
Maria Mitakidou was appointed as the director of the tournament by EFOEPA.
In the new ETTU institution the Under 13 athletes must have been born on or after 01/01/2010. Athletes born on or after 01/01/2008 participate in the Under 15 category this year.
The guaranteed participation numbers for athletes and teams, as stated in the announcement, are: For the host country up to 8 athletes in singles in each category, up to 3 teams and up to 4 doubles in each category. For the rest of the countries up to 2 teams, 4 boys/girls and 2 pairs in doubles. After the participation deadline, the competition manager can, if the program allows, set a higher participation limit for each event.
Mandatory Requirement: All athletes must be registered in the ITTF player database and hold an ITTF ID. Without an ITTF ID, players will not be able to register for the tournament. For athletes who do not yet have an ITTF ID, Associations must complete the ITTF registration process before the entry deadline of 25.09.2023.
There is also a participation fee for each athlete at 15 euros.
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