A good voice can be heard far and wide, after the brilliantly organized European Challenger, the Table Tennis Association of Montenegro will host prestigious world tournaments for the first time. Under the auspices of the World Association (ITTF), two prestigious tournaments will take place in the Verde complex, from October 2 to 9.
Podgorica will be the center of world table tennis for the upcoming hopefuls, as over 300 competitors will take part in two tournaments, 18 from Montenegro with selectors Dijana Zonjić (girls) and Saša Dragaš (boys). Seven of our national team members will compete against the world's best-ranked table tennis players under the age of 15 and 19 in the "WTT YOUTH STAR CONTENDER", while at the same time the others will compete in the "WTT YOUTH CONTENDER" in five categories, in the age group of up to 11. 13, 15 and 19 years.
The supervisor and director of the world series of open tournaments for young people in the ITTF, the Portuguese Tiago Vijegas, does not hide that he is surprised by the incredible level of opportunities and conditions in the organization of table tennis tournaments offered by Montenegro.
- Fearing that it would be impossible to organize two contenders at the same time, especially Star, which requires special conditions for the most promising competitors, future Olympic medalists, she disappeared immediately upon arrival. The warm reception, incredible hospitality, cooperativeness and helpfulness were my first impression, and the second impression is that everything will be perfectly organized in our first cooperation with STSCG. Competitors will have great conditions in the fight for progress in the world ranking, and also real checks for future big competitions. I am sure that this is just the beginning of our cooperation - emphasized Vijegas at the press conference and added:
"At Star Contender, the level of games will be spectacular, it is almost the highest level".
Next to him were the hosts, the competition director Sunčica Rogić, STSCG vice-president Ranko Boca and national team member Jakša Krivokapić.
- Never before have two WTT tournaments been held in the same place, one after the other or at the same time, but we used the opportunity to withdraw from the Star Contender of another member of the ITTF, to tackle a special challenge. It is a fantastic opportunity for our competitors to test themselves against the best players of the world powers. In addition, seven of our national team members will have the opportunity to advance in the world rankings at the Star Contender. We were not afraid of work, for the first time the ITTF allowed two tournaments, and with our courage we managed to bring a large number of competitors, as well as the very elite of world tennis - emphasized Rogić.
In addition to the rating, the game is also played for a prize fund of 15.000 dollars, and the entrance is free for spectators.
- After successful cooperation with the European Association (ETTU), organizing world tournaments, we definitely want Montenegro on the world map. There are three benefits of the demanding project that we undertook, and apart from promotion, the quality of the competitors is a guarantee of spectacular games in this massive and internationally popular Olympic sport. We hope that this will also affect the higher status of table tennis in Montenegro. In addition to the financial aspect, we should not forget that our competitors will compete against the best, collect important points without expensive trips abroad - explained Boca.
Krivokapić emphasized that the Montenegrin national team prepared hard for the big challenge.
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