Calderano, Boll & Co.: Fans can look forward to these stars
The elite of European table tennis will again play in the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL) in 2023/24. Shortly before the start of the season, we present a selection of the top stars that fans can experience live in the coming months - from returnee Hugo Calderano to European Champion Dang Qiu and World Champion Mattias Falck.
Timo Boll
No player has shaped the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) and German table tennis as much as Timo Boll. The superstar has been playing in the TTBL since 1996, initially for TTV Gönnern and since 2006 for Borussia Düsseldorf. Only in July, the eternal Boll celebrated his 13th German team championship with success in the Liebherr TTBL final. Recently, the 42-year-old took a bit of a break due to various injuries and as a result is no longer in the top 20 of the world rankings for the first time since 2001 (currently ranked 52nd) - but with Düsseldorf he now has his sights set on further titles in the TTBL, Cup and Champions League in 2023/24.
Hugo Calderano
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen landed the biggest transfer coup of the summer. With Hugo Calderano, the four-time German champion signed the current fifth in the world rankings and thus sent a signal to the competition that they want to reach for titles again. After all, the TTF have already been at the top with Calderano: The Brazilian already played for Ochsenhausen from 2014 to 2021 and celebrated the double of championship and cup in 2019. After third place in the preseason, the Swabians now want to take another step forward with Hugo Calderano, Simon Gauzy, Alvaro Robles, Can Akkuzu and Samuel Kulczycki and annoy Saarbrücken and Düsseldorf.
Benedikt Duda
European team champion in 2021, team runner-up in 2022, German singles champion in 2021, seven-time German doubles champion and much more: Benedikt Duda has celebrated numerous successes in recent years. In the new season, however, the 29-year-old is first looking down with TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt. Following the termination of Omar Assar's contract, last year's ninth-place team will have to make do with the trio of Benedikt Duda, Adrien Rassenfosse and Romain Ruiz in the first half of the season and has therefore declared the goal of staying in the league as its goal for the season.
Mattias Falck
If things are going well for Mattias Falck, then things are also going well for SV Werder Bremen. No player has played more games in recent years than the Swede, and Falck's victories have played a key role in the Hanseatic club's success. The 31-year-old not only shone in the TTBL, but also internationally: in 2019 he won World Championship silver in singles, followed by World Championship gold in doubles with Kristian Karlsson in 2021, and in 2022 there was also singles bronze and doubles gold (again with Karlsson) at the European Championships in Munich. Falck is currently ranked 24th in the world rankings, making him the sixth-best-ranked player in the TTBL.
Patrick Franziska
Patrick Franziska has reached the final of the German championship five times in a row with 1. FC Saarbrücken TT, and he is now aiming to reach the Liebherr TTBL final in 2023/24. "We'll be back next year," Franziska promised immediately after the 3-1 defeat against Borussia Düsseldorf last July. In the process, the 31-year-old had also added another title to his trophy collection last season: With Saarbrücken, Franziska won the Champions League after winning the Cup in 2022 and the German championship for the first time in 2020. Internationally, Franziska shone most recently with double bronze at the 2023 World Championships, bronze (2022) and gold (2021) at the Europe Top 16, Olympic silver in the 2021 team, and victories over Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin.
Dang Qiu
Probably no player has had a steeper rise in recent years than Dang Qiu - and there is hardly a title that the 26-year-old has not won. With Borussia Düsseldorf he became German team champion (2022, 2023), he won the individual (2022) and team (2021) European Championships, triumphed at the European Games in mixed and with the team (2023) and took silver at the World Team Championships (2022) and in the singles at the Europe Top 16 (2023). Qiu, who is currently ranked 13th in the world, is therefore also a key player for Borussia and is expected to be a success factor again in 2023/24.
Bastian Steger
Bastian Steger is also one of the veterans of the TTBL, he has been playing in Germany's elite class since 2000 and can look back on numerous stations: Via Borussia Düsseldorf (2000-2006), TTC Frickenhausen (2006-2010), 1. FC Saarbrücken TT (2010-2014) and SV Werder Bremen (2014-2019), Steger arrived at TSV Bad Königshofen, with whom he is now dreaming of the first play-off participation in the club's history. However, since Jin Ueda is only eligible to start for the Unterfranken team in the second round, Steger will be particularly challenged in the first few months in order not to lose sight of the top four. In 2022, Steger had been retired from the national team by the DTTB, for which he looks back on a long and successful career with, among other things, two Olympic bronze medals (2012, 2016).
Wang Xi
It is already the 17th season in the TTBL for Wang Xi, and once again he is firmly scheduled as a top performer at ASV Grünwettersbach. With the Badeners, he wants to confirm fifth place from last season and his 16:11 singles record. The 39-year-old has been playing for Grünwettersbach since 2019, having previously served for TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell for eleven years (2008-2019) and one season for TTV Gönnern (2007-2008). In the Fulda jersey, Wang achieved the best singles record in the TTBL three times (2007/08, 2009/10, 2011/12), was runner-up in the Cup four times (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) and runner-up three times (2014, 2015, 2017).
Wong Chun Ting
Will the knot burst for Wong Chun Ting this season? Last winter, the Hong Kong-Chinese player moved to TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, where he took over from Quadri Aruna. In his first six months, Wong compiled a 4:7 record in singles and 2:0 in doubles with Fanbo Meng. In the new season, TTC officials are now hoping for a leap in performance from the 31-year-old to do better than last year's tenth-place finish. Wong is currently ranked 50th in the world, and his greatest recent successes have been in mixed, with bronze medals at the 2023 World Championships and the Grand Smash tournament in Singapore in 2022.