Austria's best junior players, all members of the international training group at the Werner Schlager Academy, they all made giant leaps forward in the ITTF January Under-18 World Ranking list.

Important to note: With regards to the 2012 European Youth Championships (July 13 – 22) to be held in half a year at the WSA in Schwechat, Austria will nominate the best junior players who are eligible within the governing rules of the tournament.

The Viennese Simon Pfeffer catapulted from a rank of 121 to 87 in the Under 18 list, while ranked in the same category in Europe at 30.  As a comparison, in December 2010 (prior to the opening of the Werner Schlager Academy), Pfeffer held a world Under 18 rank of 290!

Stefan Leitgeb (Tyrol), in the same ITTF January listing, jumped from 147 to 103. In Europe, he holds the position of 36. A comparison with the end of 2010 speaks to his improvement in clear language, as he was then 196th.

Nicole Galitschitsch (SVS STRÖCK) now has jumped by 40 places to rank 106th in the world rankings, with her European position being 37th.  Unbelievably, in the 13 months from December, 2010 to now, the ÖTTV so-promising youngster has advanced 259 (!) world positions.