Meng/Meng doubles fall short as Muhlhausen beat Fulda
On Matchday 14 in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL), Post SV Muhlhausen secured a crucial relegation-battle win against a direct rival. Against visitors TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, the Thuringians held their nerve in a curious deciding doubles, where Fanbo Meng partnering “Papa” Meng gave the hosts a real scare. Matchwinner Steffen Mengel delivered two points.
It was the Matchday 14 basement clash on Friday night at the LOTTO Thuringen Center Court, and both teams were aware of what was at stake from the first ball. “This year is incredibly tight,” Mengel told Dyn. “In the table, three teams have four wins and three teams have five wins. You don’t know whether anyone wants to pull away or not. So half the league is in the relegation fight right now. It was an extremely important match for us.”
Mengel then took charge and laid the foundations for Muhlhausen’s 3:2 victory over Fulda. Against Fanbo Meng (3:1) and Dimitrij Ovtcharov (3:0), the 37-year-old dropped just one set, and even he appeared surprised by how clearly he beat Fulda’s No. 1. “We know each other very well and Ovi had already made him a little tired,” Mengel explained. “I was able to use that quite well.”
Ovtcharov edges Ionescu in a thriller
The match in which Ovtcharov, as Mengel put it, “spent a lot of energy” was the night’s second singles. Against Ovidiu Ionescu, the Germany international was dragged into a full-distance shootout. Both players had match points, before the slightly luckier finish ultimately went Ovtcharov’s way. After Mengel’s opening win over Meng, “Dima” levelled it at 1:1 heading into the break. “It was fantastic table tennis from the two of them,” Mengel said, impressed.
After the interval, Ruwen Filus put Fulda 2:1 up by beating Liao Cheng-Ting. The Taiwanese had moved to Thuringia at the start of the season, but only made his debut a week ago in a 0:3 defeat against TTBL top player Darko Jorgic. On his second outing, against defensive specialist Filus, Liao showed clear improvement and even led 2:0 in sets, but could not hold his nerve in the decisive moments and let the advantage slip away.
Father-son Meng/Meng pairing come up short
Mengel’s second singles win sent the tie into a deciding doubles, where Fulda coach and Fanbo Meng’s father Qing Yu stepped into the box alongside his son. “That’s how we lined up because Dima has been very strong lately,” Filus explained, outlining the thinking. “We knew the doubles wouldn’t be ideal for us at the end, but we tried it.” Normally, Fanbo Meng and Ovtcharov form a strong doubles pairing for Fulda.
The father-son duo started at full throttle, took the first set and were on their way to a 2:0 lead. Then Ionescu took responsibility, increasingly exploiting the tactical advantages against a lefty-lefty pairing. “We felt we were in front, but it’s a nasty match you still have to win first,” Mengel said, assessing his team-mates’ performance. In the table, Fulda remained ninth for the time being, while Muhlhausen moved up a place and opened a four-point gap to the relegation zone.
Matchday 14 fixtures
1. FC Saarbrucken-TT – TSV Bad Konigshofen 3:1
Eduard Ionescu – Hermann Muhlbach 3:2 (6:11, 12:14, 11:9, 11:4, 11:7)
Cedric Meissner – Filip Zeljko 3:2 (6:11, 14:12, 6:11, 11:8, 11:0)
Lichen Wang – Bastian Steger 2:3 (10:12, 11:7, 13:11, 8:11, 7:11)
Eduard Ionescu – Filip Zeljko 3:1 (11:6, 6:11, 11:9, 11:7)
Post SV Muhlhausen – TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 3:2
Steffen Mengel – Fanbo Meng 3:1 (13:11, 8:11, 11:8, 12:10)
Ovidiu Ionescu – Dimitrij Ovtcharov 2:3 (11:9, 8:11, 11:7, 6:11, 13:15)
Liao Cheng-Ting – Ruwen Filus 2:3 (12:10, 13:11, 9:11, 10:12, 7:11)
Steffen Mengel – Dimitrij Ovtcharov 3:0 (11:9, 11:8, 11:7)
Liao/Ionescu – Meng/Meng 3:1 (9:11, 12:10, 11:9, 11:7)
Saturday, 24 January:
15:00: Borussia Dortmund – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen
Sunday, 25 January:
14:00: SV Werder Bremen – ASC Grunwettersbach
15:30: Borussia Dusseldorf – TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg
17:00: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – TTC Zugbrucke Grenzau
All matches are streamed live on Dyn.
Picture: Steffen Mengel of Post SV Mühlhausen (Photo: Christian Habel Pixo)