(by Steve Hopkins)

The second event in the Euro Summer Series, The WTT Champions European Summer Series 2022, has progressed to the Semifinals in Hungary.  In an interesting turn, two of the top seeded Butterfly-sponsored players have reached the Semifinals (Tomokazu Harimoto and Lin Gaoyuan) and two other players have advanced through upsets who also happen to be Butterfly-sponsored players (Chuang Chih-Yuan and Patrick Franziska).   Patrick Franziska, who upset Ma Long in the Round of 16 went on to defeat the Euro 16 Champion, Dark Jorgic, in the Quarterfinals.  Franziska will face Tomokazu Harimoto on Friday evening.  China’s only remaining player, Lin Gaoyuan advanced today by defeating Japan’s Yukiya Uda.  Gaoyuan topped Lin Yun-Ju in the first round and then topped Timo Boll in the Round of 16.  Gaoyuan will face Chuang Chih-Yuan.  Chuang defeated World No.3 Liang Jingkun 3-2 in the Quarters.

To play up the Butterfly Angle (this is a Butterfly news site) – The result of these players advancing is that on Friday and Saturday the world will see some great table tennis, lots of Butterfly logos, and a lot of winners struck by Dignics rubber sheets.  *Actually, three of the four Semifinalists have a blade that carries their own name – we can’t guarantee that you’ll play like the pros, but if you want to try their racket and rubber combinations, we can help:  Franziska Pro-Line Racket Combo,  Harimoto Pro-Line Racket Combo, Lin Gaoyuan ALC Blade which he uses with Dignics 09c, and   Chuang Chih-Yuan uses the Zhang Jike Super ZLK blade with Dignics 05 on both sides.

The Women’s Singles event continues to run mostly as expected.  Of the Final 8, only one upset (Japan’s Miyuu Kihara topped Germany’s Ying Han 3-1).  Now that there are only four remaining – the final four are World 1, 2, 3, and 4.  That is, China’s Chen Meng will face China’s Wang Manyu in one Semifinal, and China’s Wang Yidi will face China’s Sun Yingsha in the other Semifinal.

Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.