A Table Tennis Extravaganza in Bremen

2006 LIEBHERR World Team Table Tennis Championships

Friday, April 21, 2006

The 2006 LIEBHERR World Team Table Tennis Championships in Germany promises to be an outstanding sporting experience.

Not only for those who are playing in the prestigious eight day event but also for everyone who visits the AWD-Dome in Bremen from Monday 24th April to Monday 1st May 2006.

Not only will there be table tennis of the highest calibre to behold, there will also be extensive activities in which the public can participate. A detailed programme organised jointly by the German Table Tennis Association, the Bremen Table Tennis Federation and the Niedersachsen Table Tennis Association has been put in place.

Fun Park
There will be a plethora of activities with the `Fun Park’ in Hall No.4 being open throughout the whole tournament.

The Fun Park offers visitors the chance to play table tennis in a range of guises. There will be big tables, little tables, big bats, little bats, big balls, little balls, robots against which you can try your skills plus a bat painting contest and a daily raffle. Admission is free to visitors throughout the whole day.

Clubs’ Day
Furthermore, Monday 24th April 2006 will be dedicated to `Clubs’ Day’, focusing on encouraging table tennis players of every conceivable level, with an `Over 50’s’ tournament being held from 10.00am to 2.00pm plus a `Youth Organisations’ competition from 6.00pm to 9.00pm.

The following day there will be a Schools Tournament from 12.30pm to 5.30pm plus two special features: `Table Tennis as a Health Sport’ from 10.00am to 12.00noon and `Table Tennis as a School Sport’ from 1.00pm to 3.00pm.

Women and Girls Day
Wednesday 26th April will be `Women’s and Girls Day’ with a wide range of courses including taster sessions and help for teachers and other interested parties, whilst on the Thursday 27th April the theme will be `Company Sports Day`, an event which has already attracted a great deal of interest.

A two-a-side team tournament will be held in Hall No.6 and no less than ninety teams have already registered for the event!

Family Day
Meanwhile on Sunday 30th April the focus will be `Family Day’ with a tournament being held in Hall No.6 from 10.00am to 1.00pm whilst throughout the whole period of the 2006 LIEBHERR World Team Table Tennis Championships thirty-seven girls and forty-three boys aged between ten and fifteen years of age will have the opportunity to watch the world’s top players prepare their rackets.

Training Camp
Also, from Friday 28th April to Monday 1st May there will be a Youth Table Tennis Training Camp in the AWD-Dome being staged in close proximity to where the world’s leading players will ply their skills.

Imagination
A full programme for those who want to take part and plenty to see, especially `The Most Imaginative Table Tennis Bat’ display; in the summer of 2005 templates were sent out to all schools in Germany with pupils being encouraged to design, the most imaginative table tennis bat.

“We wrote to six thousand, six hundred schools and sent out sixty thousand templates”, explained Marita Bugenhagen, the Sports Officer for the German Table Tennis Association, who was also responsible a ball painting competition six years ago. At the 2000 European Championships several thousand boys and girls decorated some thirty-two thousand table tennis balls.

Glass show cases will be on view at the AWD-Dome with these balls and the painted bats on display.

A thrilling week lies ahead in Bremen, it is `Sport For All’, `Table Tennis For All’; and it will be a week to remember.

Photo: Trying table tennis at the LIEBHERR German Open in 2005, there will be more opportunities in Bremen

Source: ITTF

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