European “Oldies” Fight for Olympic Direct Qualification
October 4, 2007

Zoran Primorac pushes forward to his sixth Olympic participation. Photo By: Vyacheslav Viktorov

Courtesy of ITTF Croatia’s Zoran Primorac thirty years old, Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive (thirty-seven) and Sweden’s Jörgen Persson (forty-one) have definite chances of qualifying for the Olympic Games in Beijing. They share one special common factor. They have all competed in all five Summer Olympic Games when table tennis has been staged. The first Olympic appearance of table tennis was in Seoul 1988 when Zoran Primorac won a Men's Double medal with Ilija Lupulesku.

Persson Lost Provisional Direct Qualification Place
The deciding world ranking for the twenty direct qualifiers will be the one published in January 2008. The most doubtful player at the moment is Jörgen Persson. The member of the ITTF Hall of Fame exchanged his position with Russia’s Alexei Smirnov. A hot autumn is waiting ahead for all of the three “oldies” if they cannot qualify the direct ranking way.

German Legend in Difficulties
Another European “veteran star” could participate for the sixth time in the Olympics. Jörg Rosskopf, doubles silver medalist in Barcelona in 1992 and singles bronze medalist in Atlanta in 1996, has a comparatively difficult task if he is to qualify.

On Germany he is ranked behind Boll, Ovtcharov, Süss and Steger, the thirty-eight year-old Rosskopf is only number five in his country. The quota of each National Olympic Committee is limited to three players.