Dutch Decision against Keen is Blaszczyk’s Luck

The 15th June 2008 was the deadline for all National Olympic Committees to confirm the entries of their participating players and teams for the Olympic table tennis events from 13th to 23rd August 2008 in Beijing, China. Now all the players are definitely known.

Trinko Keen Replaced by Lucjan Blaszczyk
The Dutch National Olympic Committee rejected the recommendation of the Dutch Table Tennis Association (NTTB) to nominate Mr. Trinko KEEN for the Olympic Men’s Singles event. KEEN’s results on the ITTF Pro Tour did not fulfil the national qualifying rules. Therefore the thirty-six year old will not be Olympian in 2008. The Games in Beijing would have been his fourth Olympic Games in a row.

“It would have been fantastic to compete in the Olympic tournament, especially in the home country of our sport. The national federation put in a maximum of effort to let me play. Unfortunately there’s nothing more I can do”, a disappointed KEEN said in the NTTB press release.

This decision is in favour of another European “oldie”, Poland’s Lucjan BLASZCZYK. The thirty-three year old was the best non-qualified player on the occasion of the Final World Olympic Qualification Tournament being held in Budapest, Hungary from 8th to 11th May 2008. The Polish Olympic Committee as well as the Polish Table Tennis Association confirmed BLASZCZYK for the Men’s Singles event in Beijing.