by Simon Daish
Leading the way for the Czech Republic in the Women’s Singles draw is Hana Matelová, who is the highest ranked player from the country set to compete in the category, occupying 83rd position in the ITTF World Rankings table for May 2017.
Yet, Hana Matelová isn’t the highest ranked female player from the Czech Republic: that honour falls to Iveta Vacenovská who won’t be appearing at the upcoming World Championships. Vacenovská has reached an agreement with the national coach and national association to rest due to her high amount of recent club activity.
Hana Matelová has been a strong competitor for her country over the past few years: she played an important role in the Czech Republic’s bronze medal finish achieved in the Women’s Team tournament at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Making her main draw debut at the Liebherr 2013 World Championships in Paris, Matelová suffered a Round of 128 exit to Li Jie of the Netherlands (10-12, 11-6, 5-11, 7-11, 6-11).
However, two years later at the Qoros 2015 World Championships in Suzhou the Czech star enjoyed a much stronger showing in the Women’s Singles competition defeating Thailand’s Nanthana Komwong (11-8, 5-11, 9-11, 11-8, 4-11, 13-11, 11-9) and Japan’s Sayaka Hirano (11-9, 11-13, 4-11, 12-14, 11-6, 11-9, 11-6) on her way to a top 32 finish.
Following her absence from Suzhou 2015, Dana Čechová returns to the World Championships line-up in 2017 and the 33-year-old is another Czech representative who could cause an upset or two in Düsseldorf.
Dana Čechová will be appearing at an individuals World Championships for the first time since Paris 2013 where she managed to negotiate Spain’s Galia Dvorak (11-8, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5) before going on to finish in the top 64, and a similar outing in Düsseldorf would surely be highly welcomed by Čechová.
Rounding off the Czech Republic squad for the Women’s Singles event are Katerina Tomanovská and Karin Adamcová, who are both set to make their individuals World Championships debuts.
