Montreux. When Europe’s table tennis elite take to the table at the prestigious Europe Top 16 Cup in Montreux from February 5th to 8th, the best athletes will fight for a total prize money of 125,000 euros. The semi-finalists will also receive direct tickets to the World Cup in Macau (March 30th to April 5th). The main fields with 16 women and men each, which begin on Friday, are preceded by a qualification tournament on Thursday in which the last two places in the starting field are awarded. Germany is represented by a total of nine athletes at the Europe Top 16 Cup. The DTTB aces are among the closest circle of title contenders in both competitions. The draw for qualification will take place on Wednesday at 7 p.m., the round of 16 berths will be determined on Thursday at 8 p.m.
Men: All DTTB aces are flirting with a podium place
In the men’s round of 16, Germany has four promising candidates. Two of the four German starters have already entered the list of winners at the prestigious tournament. Patrick Franziska, who came third last year, was the last German to win in autumn 2021 and is traveling to Switzerland in a relaxed manner: “As always, I just watch from round to round. I always feel very comfortable in Montreux at the Europe Top 16 and I just want to enjoy this feeling.” Dimitrij Ovtcharov has already won the title five times, most recently in 2019. The former world number one has shown strong form in recent weeks: “I want to try to take the positive momentum from the January tournaments into the top 16. My goal is to fulfill my seeding in positions five to eight and then attack the top seeds in the quarter-finals. The tournament is always excellently organized in Switzerland and I hope to take home a medal to be able to.”
In front of the two former winners, Dang Qiu, who was an immediate finalist in the tournament on his debut in 2023, and Benedikt Duda, who has finally established himself in the narrow circle of the absolute world’s best since autumn 2024, are among the title contenders. The Düsseldorfer and the Bergneustädter, who were in the elite field of the Europe Top 16 for the first time last year, are currently the highest Germans in the world rankings in eleventh and 14th place and are traveling to Montreux with a lot of self-confidence. “The Europe Top 16 is a prestigious tournament that I would of course like to win. However, there are at least ten players at the start in Montreux who also have what it takes,” says Duda. Dang Qiu would also like to be involved in the title race: “The Europe Top 16 is an extremely tough prestigious tournament. One of my goals is to reach the final again and maybe win the tournament. Europe has become even stronger in 2023, but I’m in good shape – and depending on the form on the day, anything is possible.”
The list of title hunters is also spread over the shoulders of last year’s winner and European champion Alexis Lebrun and his brother Félix (France), fourth in the world rankings and Olympic runner-up Truls Möregardh (Sweden) and the winner from 2022 to 2024, Darko Jorgic (Slovenia).
Women: German title hopes and strong competition
In the women’s field, almost all eyes are on Germany. If you take the listing of the world association ITTF as an indicator, there is hardly any way past Sabine Winter and Ying Han on the way to winning the title. As numbers 17 and 19, the German stars travel to Montreux as the highest ranked European players in the world rankings.
Ying Han, the winner in 2022, 2023 and 2025, has been working her way back to the top of the world step by step since her twelve-month injury break in 2024. With her first semi-final appearance at a WTT Champions tournament, the defensive strategist set an example in Doha in January and even defeated world number two Wang Manyu from China there. Han says: “Of course I would be happy to win the title a fourth time. However, I’m going into the Europe Top 16 completely relaxed, I’ll do my best from round to round and enjoy the tournament. We are represented by five German players – and my colleagues are also among the most difficult opponents for me.”
Sabine Winter, who came third in the Europe Top 16 in 2017 and 2025, has catapulted herself to the top of Europe since her material and system change in December 2024, including reaching the final at the WTT Champions Montreux, and is starting as the top favorite for the first time due to her consistently strong performances. “I would have liked to have won the title as my goal. However, in the last few weeks, several muscular problems have arisen, meaning that I haven’t been able to train as much so far. My goal now is to get fit by the start of the tournament and to offer the fans top table tennis.”
We can also look forward to Nina Mittelham’s performance. The winner of 2021 stabilized again in 2024 and 2025 after suffering from intervertebral disc problems. The Berliner is always good for top places in continental tournaments, as she demonstrated, among other things, by reaching the 2022 European Championship final and third place at the 2024 European Championship. Mittelham’s club colleague Xiaona Shan is also a strong tournament player and secured the bronze medal in Montreux in 2025. Shan knows: “A win at the start of the round of 16 is the most important thing. If I overcome this hurdle, maybe I can go even further.”
Annett Kaufmann is the fifth German player to start. However, the 19-year-old U19 world champion from 2024 will first celebrate her Europe Top 16 debut in the qualifying tournament and will fight for the two free places in the main field on Thursday. Kaufmann is pragmatic before the start: “I’m taking it step by step. My goal is first of all to make it out of the qualification. In the main field, a lot depends on the draw: some players suit me more, others less.”
The two-time European champion Sofia Polcanova (Austria), European Games winner Bernadette Szöcs (Romania), winner of the year 2024 Jia Nan Yuan (France) and last year’s finalist Elizabeta Samara (Romania) are on paper the most dangerous opponents of the DTTB aces.
Links
The men’s peloton
Truls Möregardh SWE
Alexis Lebrun FROM
Félix Lebrun FROM
Darko Jorgic SLO
Benedikt Duda GER
Patrick Franziska GER
Dang Qiu GER
Dimitrij Ovtcharov GER
Anton Källberg SWE
Anders Lind THE ONE
Simon Gauzy FROM
Jonathan Growth DEN
Marcos Freitas BY
Eduard Ionescu ROU
Qualifier 1
Qualifier 2
The participants in the qualifying tournament
Alvaro Robles ESP
Andrej Gacina CRO
Milosz Redzimski POL
Kristian Karlsson SWE
Daniel Habesohn AUT
João Geraldo BY
Pedro Osiro SUI
The women’s peloton
Sabine Winter GER
Sofia Polcanova AUT
Bernadette Szöcs ROU
Ying Han GIVES
Jia Nan Yuan FROM
Elizabeta Samara ROU
Prithika Pavade FRA
Jieni Shao POR
Nina Mittelham GER
Linda Bergström SWE
Fu Yu POR
Maria Xiao ESP
Natalia Bajor POL
Xiaona Shan GER
Qualifier 1
Qualifier 2
The participants in the qualification tournament
Anna Hursey WAL
Annette Kaufmann
Charlotte Lutz FROM
Andreea Dragoman ROU
Izabela Lupulescu SRB
Lea Rakovac CRO
Georgic of HUN Cmaol
Rachel Moret SUI
The DTTB squad at the Europe Top 16 Cup
Herren
Dang Qiu (Borussia Düsseldorf), Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt), Patrick Franziska (1. FC Saarbrücken-TT), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell)
Damen
Sabine Winter (TSV Dachau), Ying Han (KTS Tarnobrzeg, Poland), Nina Mittelham (ttc berlin eastside), Xiaona Shan (ttc berlin eastside), Annett Kaufmann (SV DJK Kolbermoor)
Trainer
Tamaro Boros (women’s national coach), Jörg Roßkopf (men’s national coach), Zoltan Batorfi (assistant women’s national coach)
Physiotherapists
Birgit Schmidt, Annette Zischka
