The Europe Top 16, also known as the Europe Top 16 Cup and previously known as the Europe Top 12, is a
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
tournament organised annually by the
European Table Tennis Union
The European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) is the governing body of the sport of table tennis in Europe, and is the only authority recognised for this purpose by the International Table Tennis Federation. The ETTU deals with all matters relating to t ...
(ETTU), featuring the highest-ranked players in Europe.
History
The first event was held in 1971 in
Zadar
Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...
,
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
(now part of
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
) as an experimental classification tournament. Twelve male players and six female players took part, with
István Jónyer
István Jónyer (born 4 August 1950 in Miskolc) is a male former international table tennis player from Hungary.
Table tennis career
He was one of the most dominant players of the sport in the 1970s and famous for inventing the sidespin loop sho ...
and
Beatrix Kisházi, both from
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, winning the inaugural men's and women's competitions respectively. The tournament would go on to be held each year in different venues, and would become known as the Europe Top 12.
![Jan-Ove Waldner](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Jan-Ove_Waldner.JPG)
From 1971 until 1989, the tournament used a
round-robin format; all players played each other once, with the champion being the player who accumulated the most wins. From 1990, there was a change of format; the twelve players were divided into two round-robin groups, with the top two players from each group progressing to semi-finals, followed by a final. At the 2001 tournament the twelve players were divided into four groups for the first time, with the group winners qualifying for the semi-finals, and from 2002 it was decided that the top two players from each group would qualify for quarter-finals, with
knockout rounds to decide the winner. From 2015, the number of players qualifying for both the men's and women's events was increased to 16, and the tournament's name was changed to the Europe Top 16.
Sweden's
Jan-Ove Waldner
Jan-Ove Waldner (; born 3 October 1965),Jan-Ove Waldner profile.'' Swedish Table Tennis Federation in Sweden commonly ''J-O Waldner'' (, is a Swedish former table tennis player. He is often referred to as "the Mozart of table tennis."Bishop, G. ...
is the most successful player in the history of the men's event, winning the tournament seven times and finishing runner-up on a further four occasions between 1984 and 1996.
Beatrix Kisházi of Hungary and
Li Jiao of the Netherlands share the record for most wins in the women's event, with four wins each. Kisházi won the first three editions of the tournament from 1971 to 1973 and regained the title in 1977, while Li's four title wins came between 2007 and 2011.
Qualification
Since 2019, the 16 participants in both the men's and the women's tournaments qualify as follows:
* The current
European Champion.
* 14 additional players based on the European rankings at the time, subject to a maximum of two players from any association.
* One player from the host nation. If a player from the host nation has already qualified by right, the next eligible player in the rankings will qualify.
Format
Since 2018, the format of the tournament has been a
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
played over two days. The semi-final losers play off for third and fourth place.
The top three players in both the men's and the women's tournaments will be guaranteed a place at the
Table Tennis World Cup
The Table Tennis World Cup has been held annually since 1980. There had been only men's singles until the inauguration of women's singles in 1996 and team competitions in 1990. The team competitions, the World Team Cup, were canceled until the rela ...
, subject to a maximum of two players from any association.
Results
Men
Men's singles
Women
Statistics
Multiple champions
Listed below are the players who have won the tournament on two or more occasions.
Men
Women
All-time medal table
See also
*
Asian Cup
*
PanAm Cup
*
European Table Tennis Championships
The European Table Tennis Championships is an international table tennis competition for the national teams of the member associations of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU). First held in 1958, the ETTU organised the European Championships ever ...
*
International Table Tennis Federation
The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) is the governing body for all national table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the p ...
References
External links
European Table Tennis UnionInternational Table Tennis Federation
{{Table tennis
Table tennis competitions
European international sports competitions
Recurring sporting events established in 1971