05/30/2012       

A place in the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour Grand Finals in early December, in Hangzhou, is the ultimate prize on offer.

Croatia’s Tan Ruwui and Russia’s Polina Mikhailova have made a splendid start to their quest of achieving that goal.

They lead the respective Men’s and Women’s Singles Standings following the first two tournaments of the year on the newly inaugurated ITTF Euro-Africa Circuit.

Polina Mikhailova won the Women’s Singles title at the Belarus Open on Sunday 20th May and then one week later was the runner up in Zagreb, beaten at the final hurdle by Hungary’s Szandra Pergel.

She has 4,200 points with Szandra Pergel being in second place with 1,700 points.

Chasing Group
Alexandra Privalova, the runner up in the Women’s Singles event in Belarus is in third place, followed by a quartet of players in fourth spot.

Russia’s Ekaterina Guseva and Ukraine’s Ievgeniia Vaslieva, who reached the semi-final stage in Belarus share fourth place, alongside Linda Creemers of the Netherlands and Romania’s Andrada Vincze who reached the penultimate stage in Belarus.

All four own 700 points.

Russians in Pursuit
Meanwhile on the counterpart Men’s Singles Standings, Russia’s Vasily Lakeev is in second place with colleague, Mikhail Paykov third.

Vasily Lakeev the Men’s Singles winner in Belarus has 2,500 points whilst Mikhail Paykov who was the runner up in Belarus and a semi-finalist in Zagreb has 2,000 points; both trail Tan Ruiwu who leads with 3,500 points.

Croatia’s Roko Tosic, the Men’s Singles runner up in Zagreb, completes the top four. He has 1,700 points.

Join GAC GROUP Tour Top Sixteen
Four further tournaments – Sweden, Morocco, Belgium, Egypt – are scheduled for this year’s ITTF Euro-Africa Circuit; the four leading men and four leading women with join the top 16 players who have qualified via the GAC GROUP 2012 ITTF World Tour for the Grand Finals.

Prize Money Equates to Points
Points are based on the prize money on offer at the six tournaments on the ITTF Euro-Africa Circuit.

In all cases there is equality in male and female event. The total prize fund in Belarus was ¤15,200 with the Men’s and Singles winners each collecting ¤ 2,500, the runner up ¤1,300 and the losing semi-finalist ¤700.

However, in Zagreb the total prize fund was ¤20,000 with the winner collecting ¤3,500, the runner up ¤1,700 and as in Belarus, the losing semi-finalist ¤700 each.

Points Calculation
The prize money reflects the points awarded; thus Polina Mikhailova gained 2,500 points (¤2,500) for winning in Belarus plus 1,700 points (¤1,700) for her second place in Zagreb. Therefore, she has a 4,200 points (¤4,200).

Next Stop
Next stop on the ITTF Euro-Africa Circuit is Sweden from Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th June for the Helsingborg Open.

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ITTF Euro-Africa Standings following Zagreb Open: Men’s Singles
ITTF Euro-Africa Standings following Zagreb Open: Women’s Singles