China Wasn't The Only Winner At The World Team Championsip 2012

120 men teams and 93 women teams participated in the World Team Championship Dortmund 2012 that came to end on Sunday. However, not all teams competed in the first division, known as Championships Division, won by China in both, men and women event because the 120 men teams are divided into five divisions, while the 93 women teams are divided into four divisions.  

Unfortunately, Petr Korbel's Czech Republic and Slovenia went down from the first to the men's second division after finishing in the 23th and 24th place, respectively. Bojan Tokic decided to withdraw from the this world event in order to have some rest after a busy schedule during the last months. However, his team, Slovenia, felt his absence and fell to the second division. In the women event, Hu Melek's Turkey and the young American team made up by Ariel Hsing, Lily Zhang and Erica Wu will be in the second division in two more years. 

Ukraine overcame Adrian Crisan's Romania in the final of the Second Division and will face the best teams in the world in 2014. In the women event, Australia stood victorious over Luxemburg but both teams ascended to the Championships Division. Bad news for Netherlands and Venezuela, which didn't have a good tournament and descended to the Third Division. In the women event, Lithuania and New Zealand also will be in the Third Division in Tokyo. 

Latin America dominated the Third Division. Paraguay emerged sucessfully over Dominican Republic in the final and both teams will be in the Second Division in the next World Team Championships. In the women event, Chile clinched the gold medal after beating Bosnia-Herzegovina and both countries will face new challenges in Tokyo. Unfortunately, there were also losers. Congo Brazzaville and San Marino descended to the Fourth Division in the men event, while Azerbaijan and Macedonia went down in the women event. 

Kazakhstan and Guatemala are  the countries, which will be in the men's Third Division in two more years just like Kyrgystan and Norway in the women event. In the men event, Cameroon and Malta went down to the Fifth Division, while there isn't a lower division in the women event, so nobody descended. In the men's Fifth Division, Mongolia beat Sri Lanka in the final and both team will compete in the Forth Division in the next World Championship.  

Photo and info. source: Anyteme Table Tennis's Facebook web page - ittf.com