Bad Königshofen wins in a hurry against Dortmund
Fourth win in five matches for TSV Bad Königshofen: Bastian Steger's team celebrated a 3-0 win against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, knocking Borussia Düsseldorf out of third place in the table tennis Bundesliga (TTBL).
Without Li Yongyin and Wang-Chuqin conqueror Anders Lind, Borussia Dortmund only had an outside chance against TSV Bad Königshofen. And indeed, the team from Lower Franconia left no doubt about their superiority on match day 5 of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). They conceded just two sets against BVB, celebrated their fourth win of the season with a 3-0 victory and improved their points tally to 8-2. They even overtook Borussia Düsseldorf thanks to the slightly better match ratio; the record champions had won 3-2 against 1. FC Saarbrücken TT the day before.
“The table is a very nice snapshot,” said Tomasz Kasica from Bad Königshofen's management team afterwards. “Of course, we were a bit lucky today that Li Yongyin and Anders Lind weren't there. Nevertheless, you have to win these games first. Overall, I think that thanks to our performance, we deserve our 8:2 points and are in this position in the table.”
Bottroff: “Must take risks against such a player”
Bad Königshofen lived up to its role as favorites right from the start. Bastian Steger played his experience to the full against Cedric Nuytinck and delivered one of the most spectacular rallies of the season by winning the point at 8:5 in the fourth set. In the end, Steger won 3:1 (11:5, 6:11, 11:3, 11:8) and initiated the ultimately clear TSV victory. Filip Zeljko then won 3:0 (11:9, 11:7, 11:7) against Dennis Klein, meaning the hosts went into the break with a 2:0 lead. BVB came back after the break, with Erik Bottroff winning the first set against Jin Ueda. However, the Japanese player gradually worked his way into the match, held his nerve on his fourth set point in the third set and finally won 3:1 (5:11, 11:5, 13:11, 11:7).
“I have to take risks against a player like that to have a chance. Unfortunately, it didn't work out in the decisive phases. Maybe there would have been a small chance if I had taken the third set,” said Bottroff afterwards. With BVB, the 34-year-old is on 2:8 points and in tenth place. The promoted team's only win of the season so far came at the beginning of September with a 3-1 win at Post SV Mühlhausen.
Overview of matchday 5
Post SV Mühlhausen – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 1:3
Steffen Mengel – Leonardo Iizuka 3:1 (11:7, 9:11, 11:8, 11:3)
Ovidiu Ionescu – Simon Gauzy 1:3 (11:13, 10:12, 13:11, 3:11)
Daniel Habesohn – Hugo Calderano 0:3 (3:11, 8:11, 8:11)
Steffen Mengel – Simon Gauzy 0:3 (9:11, 9:11, 5:11)
TTC OE Bad Homburg – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 3:1
Kristian Karlsson – Adrien Rassenfosse 3:2 (11:9, 6:11, 9:11, 11:9, 11:4)
Benno Oehme – Kanak Jha 1:3 (11:7, 9:11, 8:11, 5:11)
Csaba Andras – Benedikt Duda 3:2 (11:13, 11:6, 12:10, 5:11, 11:5)
Kristian Karlsson – Kanak Jha 3:0 (13:11, 11:7, 15:13)
1. FC Saarbrücken TT – Borussia Düsseldorf 2:3
Darko Jorgic – Anton Källberg 2:3 (11:4, 4:11, 6:11, 11:9, 8:11)
Patrick Franziska – Timo Boll 3:0 (11:5, 11:5, 11:9)
Eduard Ionescu – Kay Stumper 3:0 (11:8, 11:5, 12:10)
Darko Jorgic – Timo Boll 1:3 (2:11, 11:6, 7:11, 4:11)
Patrick Franziska/Cedric Meissner – Anton Källberg/Borgar Haug 0:3 (8:11, 10:12, 9:11)
TSV Bad Königshofen – Borussia Dortmund 3:0
Bastian Steger – Cedric Nuytinck 3:1 (11:5, 6:11, 11:3, 11:8)
Filip Zeljko – Dennis Klein 3:0 (11:9, 11:7, 11:7)
Jin Ueda – Erik Bottroff 3:1 (5:11, 11:5, 13:11, 11:7)
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – ASC Grünwettersbach 2:3
Dimitrij Ovtcharov – Thomas Maynard 3:0 (11:6, 11:4, 11:2)
Fanbo Meng – Leo de Nodrest 0:3 (9:11, 4:11, 5:11)
Ruwen Filus – Tiago Apolonia 1:3 (11:6, 17:19, 8:11, 7:11)
Dimitrij Ovtcharov – Leo de Nodrest 3:0 (11:6, 11:9, 11:7)
Ruwen Filus/Fanbo Meng – Tiago Apolonia/Ricardo Walther 1:3 (7:11, 8:11, 12:10, 4:11)
Friday, November 1st
7 p.m.: SV Werder Bremen – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
Featured image above: Bastian Steger from TSV Bad Königshofen (Photo: Patrick Wichmann)