Despite injury: Tiago Apolonia leads Grünwettersbach to victory

ASC Grünwettersbach continues to collect important points in the relegation battle in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). After beating Grenzau 3-0, the team from Karlsruhe narrowly defeated TTC OE Bad Homburg 3-2 on match day 9. The newly promoted team must be annoyed about the numerous missed opportunities, while Tiago Apolonia proved to be a top player with strong nerves.

It was a match to forget for TTC OE Bad Homburg in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). The newly promoted team missed a number of chances against ASC Grünwettersbach and had to accept a narrow defeat instead of a home win. Tiago Apolonia in particular was unstoppable for the visitors. The Portuguese player was injured in his first singles match, but still made a significant contribution to the overall success with two points and equalized several deficits.

Apolonia was trailing 0:1 against Csaba Andras, but was leading 9:5 in the second set before he caught his hand on the table during a forehand shot and suffered a bleeding wound, which led to a medical timeout. But the experienced pro was not deterred by this and won the set with the next two rallies. Although he missed five set points in the third, he won the next two and thus the match.

And the Portuguese also prevailed in the top singles match against Kristian Karlsson despite being 2:1 down at one point. He showed nerves of steel, especially in the fourth set, when the Swede fended off four set points from Apolonia and earned himself a match point that would have meant victory at home. But Apolonia fended this off, won the set and then the match, leading the ASC into the final double.

Andras, Karlsson and the doubles missed chances

In the doubles, everything initially seemed to be going the hosts' way. Andras and Yuma Tsuboi, who had previously defeated Ricardo Walther in the singles, won the first set 11:4 against Walther and substitute Guilherme Teodoro. However, as was the case several times that evening, the home win seemed close, but Grünwettersbach took the points. Walther and Teodoro won the second, third and fourth sets and then celebrated the away win. Before that, Andras (8:5 in the fifth set) and Karlsson (match point) against Apolonia had already had the third point on their rackets, but failed to convert it.

Accordingly, ASC head coach Achim Krämer spoke to Dyn afterwards about a turbulent game. “It started with the third game against us. We were already expecting the point. Tiago then led 10:6, then had a match point against himself and turned it around. And then it was a cold start in the doubles. It could have turned out differently, but that's the way it is. It depends on a few small situations.” Krämer is more than satisfied with the ten points in Grünwettersbach's account. Bad Homburg, on the other hand, remain in the basement of the table with two wins.

Click here for the current table: https://www.ttbl.de/bundesliga/table/

Matchday 09 in the overview

TTC OE Bad Homburg – ASC Grünwettersbach 2:3
Kristian Karlsson - Leo de Nodrest 3:1 (10:12, 12:10, 11:3, 11:8)
Csaba Andras - Tiago Apolonia 2:3 (11:6, 5:11, 15:13, 6:11, 9:11)
Yuma Tsuboi - Ricardo Walther 3:1 (4:11, 11:8, 11:9, 13:11)
Kristian Karlsson - Tiago Apolonia 2:3 (11:6, 8:11, 13:11, 11:13, 4:11)
Csaba Andras/Yuma Tsuboi - Ricardo Walther/Guilherme Teodoro 1:3 (11:4, 7:11, 5:11, 8:11)

TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – Post SV Mühlhausen 3:0
Dimitrij Ovtcharov –  Irvin Bertrand 3:0 (11:8, 14:12, 11:4)
Fanbo Meng – Ovidiu Ionescu 3:2 (13:11, 8:11, 8:11, 12:10, 11:6)
Cheng-Jui Kao – Steffen Mengel 3:2 (13:15, 11:7, 1:11, 11:9, 12:10)

1. FC Saarbrücken-TT – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 1:3
Darko Jorgic – Simon Gauzy 3:1 (11:8, 11:9, 9:11, 11:8)
Yuto Muramatsu – Shunsuke Togami 0:3 (2:11, 12:14, 9:11)
Patrick Franziska – Hugo Calderano 0:3 (6:11, 8:11, 7:11)
Darko Jorgic – Shunsuke Togami 2:3 (11:9, 11:6, 9:11, 7:11, 9:11)

TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – Borussia Dortmund 1:3
Luka Mladenovic – Cedric Nuytinck 1:3 (13:11, 8:11, 10:12, 9:11)
Feng Yi-Hsin – Li Yongyin 3:1 (12:10, 13:15, 11:8, 11:4)
Maciej Kubik – Anders Lind 0:3 (8:11, 6:11, 11:13)
Luka Mladenovic – Li Yongyin 0:3 (7:11, 3:11, 9:11)

SV Werder Bremen – TSV Bad Königshofen 1:3
Mattias Falck - Jin Ueda 1:3 (2:11, 7:11, 13:11, 11:13)
Kirill Gerassimenko - Filip Zeljko 3:0 (11:6, 11:8, 11:7)
Andrei Putuntica - Martin Allegro 2:3 (3:11, 6:11, 11:7, 11:8, 7:11)
Mattias Falck - Filip Zeljko 3:2 (11:3, 9:11, 9:11, 11:8, 11:5)
Kirill Gerassimenko/Andrei Putuntica - Jin Ueda/Martin Allegro 1:3 (12:10, 7:11, 9:11, 6:11)

TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – Borussia Düsseldorf

Featured image above: Tiago Apolonia (Photo: Hansruedi Lüthi)

All TTBL matches are broadcast live and exclusively on Dyn.