by Simon Daish

The start of the month saw Europe’s brightest young stars travel to Worcester for the 2017 Europe Youth Top 10.

Romania secured both titles at the event with Adina Diaconu and Cristian Pletea emerging victorious in the respective Girls’ Singles and Boys’ Singles competitions.

There was more success to follow for Romania on the continental stage as the country caused a major upset at the Liebherr 2017 ITTF-European Team Championships, defeating top seeds Germany to lift the Women’s Championship Division trophy for the first time in 12 years.

Two further continental events were hosted in Colombia and India as players battled it out at the 2017 ITTF-Pan American Championships and the 2017 ITTF-ATTU Asian Cup tournaments.

Hugo Calderano and Adriana Diaz enjoyed successful campaigns in Cartagena de Indias with the Brazilian and Puerto Rican competitors capturing the two singles titles, while Chinese representatives Lin Gaoyuan and Zhu Yuling claimed the gold medals in Ahmedabad.

Linz was the host city for sole ITTF World Tour event of the month as the Seamaster 2017 ITTF World Tour Platinum, Hybiome Austrian Open took place at the back end of September.

Lin Gaoyuan and Wang Manyu took the spotlight in Linz, securing their first singles gold medals on the ITTF World Tour with positive outings in the Men’s Singles and Women’s Singles categories.

Mima Ito will hold another record to her name in the new Guinness World Record book following her bronze medal finish with Japan in the Women’s Team competition at Rio 2016, becoming the youngest ever table tennis medallist at an Olympic Games. Which leads us into the Pongcast question of the month:

How many Guinness World Records does Mima Ito hold now?

Comment your answer on the Pongcast post via the ITTF Facebook page and share the video for a chance to win a piece of gear from Nittaku.

Watch the Nittaku ITTF Monthly Pongcast video below to see all of the major news stories from September: