Butterfly Baltic Cup 2010 brings the Baltic region top players to Tallinn

Aprill 2010

This weekend on April 24-25, close to 260 athletes from 12 countries will be taking part of the annual world ranking 26th Alari Lindmäe Memorial / Butterfly Baltic Cup 2010 in Tallinn, Estonia.

The tournament is the only ITTF and ETTU ranking event in the Baltic states.

The organizer Rein Lindmäe said the interest by players, coaches and even national teams to participate is growing rapidly and the level is going higher each year. “This year we had to carefully review the tournament system and classes and move to a larger arena. Our aim is to provide the athletes with the best possible conditions and make it an enjoyable and memorable tournament experience. The rate of returning players is very high,” Lindmäe said.

In Men’s Singles Liu Song from Argentina will be defending his last year’s title as winner. Slovak Lubomir Pistej (WR 99), who only last weekend won Luxembourg Open, will be another favourite contender for the winner’s title. European Youth Championships medallist Anthony Tran from Sweden is also a young player to watch out for. In Women’s Singles, the winner two years back Polina Mihhailova (WR 173) from Russia will have to face Estonian champion Tatjana Tsistjakova. More than 80 athletes have signed up for Men’s Singles and 50 athletes for Women’s Singles. More than 120 youth will play in three classes (14, 16 and 18).

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Switzerland will be represented by their national teams, also players from Sweden, Slovakia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have registered.

Tournament website and online results www.pingpong.ee

Live coverage of semi-finals and finals starting on Sunday at 16 CET http://www.kristeninc.net/tabletennis/live/