Significant changes for the Greek colors and in the international doubles evaluation tables

The world rankings in table tennis also include doubles, which are regularly on the schedule in tournaments of various levels of the sport’s international federation. The publication of the ranking list number 51 in the year is also of great interest to the Greek colors.

After the representation in all the doubles events and especially the successes in the WTT Feeder in Italy, the score changes of Greek pairs in the relevant tables become very important for two reasons: One is that in the spring there will be a Pre-Olympic mixed doubles tournament and for one of the candidate twins that will be chosen by E.F.O.E.P.A. global ranking is a key criterion.

The other is that the rise in men’s doubles makes it easier for Greek participation in this event of tournaments abroad, since there are relative limits.

In Biela, Panagiotis Gionis/Konstantinos Angelakis won second place in the men’s doubles, Giorgos Stamatouros/Malamatenia Papadimitriou were placed 5-8 in the mixed doubles and had a great improvement in the tables, but they were not the only Greek couples who succeeded.

The Mixed Doubles Pairs ranking has received more weight since the event was introduced to the Olympic tournaments (Tokyo 2021). By entering the quarterfinals of the Italian Feeder, Stamatouros and Papadimitriou scored 33 points and moved up 333 places! They moved to number 205 from 538 last week and are the first Greek couple.

Konstantinos Angelakis/Katerina Toliou had started from the preliminaries, entered the board and finally placed in positions 9-16. They got 2 points and in their first entry in this table they are at number 619.

On the road to Paris, a Pre-Olympic mixed doubles tournament is planned as one of the qualification criteria. The venue and dates have not been finalized, but the ITTF has long announced that it will take place in March or April 2024. A pair of its own can be declared by each national Olympic Committee, the selection for Greece will be made by the federal coaches in CHEF.

There is no other Greek duo in this evaluation table, the grades of Papadimitriou with some foreign teammates have, of course, no importance for the pre-Olympic process.

In the classification of Men’s Doubles Pairs, both our pairs who competed in Biela benefited. Angelakis and Gionis achieved great success by appearing in the final and winning second place. They collected 98 points from their very first collaboration in an international tournament and appear at number 117. Yiannis Sgouropoulos/Giorgos Konstantinopoulos, who advanced from the qualifiers and placed in positions 9-16, climbed 88 positions and with 10 points went to number 361.

Until a few months ago, Greece did not easily enter the doubles player lists in the World Table Tennis tournaments precisely because it had low positions in the relevant evaluation tables. Especially, however, the promotion from the finalists in Italy paves the way for participation in other tournaments.

Two Greek twins are also here in the published ITTF table, and there are as many in the Women’s Doubles Pairs. Katerina Toliou and Malamatenia Papadimitriou teamed up in Biela for the second time in a while in a Feeder tournament. They were eliminated in the first qualifying round and by 2 points they have risen to number 450 from last week’s 461.

Papadimitriou is also on the board with Elisavet Terpou. They had formed a duo this year in the corresponding tournament in Bulgaria and had stopped in the second qualifying round. This week they appear at number 378 with 4 points.

Men’s doubles and women’s doubles are out of the Olympic program, we last met them in Athens in 2004.

* There is of course also the international evaluation table of national teams (ITTF World Team Ranking). This is monthly and by the way we note that in men and women Greece has low positions and that is why it will miss the 2024 World Team Championship. The men’s national team will close in 2023 at number 76 and the women’s national team at number 82.