Filus leads Fulda to victory in Bad Königshofen
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell traveled to Bad Königshofen in third place in the table on match day 17. After the visitors had won against ASV Grünwettersbach during the week, they also picked up two points in the Shakehands Arena and are therefore no longer bottom of the table.
Bottom of the table against third in the table - On paper, the match looked like a clear-cut affair, but as has often been the case this season, it was once again clear to see how close all the teams in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) are and how anyone can beat anyone.
Steger dominates singles against Chuang
Bastian Steger and Chih-Yuan Chuang kicked off this match. The Taiwanese player won against Apolonia during the week and previously won bronze with Taiwan at the Team World Championships, but the 42-year-old from Bad Königshöfer is also in excellent form and showed that on Sunday. With 3:1 (11:9, 9:11, 11:2, 11:5), he was able to clinch his 15th singles win of the TTBL season and put the hosts 1:0 ahead
Filus and Meng turn the game around
However, this lead was not to last, as Ruwen Filus turned things around with a quick 0:3 success (8:11, 7:11, 6:11) against Martin Allegro and equalized the match. Fanbo Meng built on this equalizer and took to the table against Jin Ueda. "I had my back to the wall at 0:1 and 7:9, I kept trying to do my best and somehow it worked out," said the Fulda player in an interview afterwards. After trailing in the second set, he managed to win 11:9 and also took the next two sets to win (11:5, 9:11, 10:12, 5:11).
The veterans Steger and Filus then met in the duel between the two 1s. After Steger narrowly won the first set 13:11, the next three sets went clearly to Filus (13:11, 4:11, 6:11, 3:11), giving Fulda the win. "I'm very happy about the win and Ruwen's two victories today gave us a very strong lead to victory," said a delighted Fanbo Meng after the match.
Dyn highlights of the match: Jin Ueda vs. Fan Bo Meng.
Overview of the 17th matchday
TSV Bad Königshofen vs TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 1:3
Bastian Steger vs Chih-Yuan Chuang – 3:1 (11:9, 9:11, 11:2, 11:5)
Martin Allegro vs Ruwen Filus – 0:3 (8:11, 7:11, 6:11)
Jin Ueda vs Fanbo Meng – 1:3 (11:5, 9:11, 10:12, 5:11)
Bastian Steger vs Ruwen Filus – 1:3 (13:11, 4:11, 6:11, 3:11)
1. FSV Mainz 05 – SV Werder Bremen 2:3
Yongyin Li - Marcelo Aguirre 3:2 (11:9, 7:11, 8:11, 11:5, 11:9)
Luka Mladenovic - Mattias Falck 1:3 (11:9, 14:16, 3:11, 9:11)
Carlo Rossi - Kirill Gerassimenko 0:3 (9:11, 4:11, 8:11)
Yongyin Li - Mattias Falck 3:1 (11:5, 9:11, 11:6, 11:6)
Mladenovic/Rossi - Pletea/Gerassimenko 0:3 (7:11, 9:11, 10:12)
Post SV Mühlhausen – TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau 1:3
Steffen Mengel - Maciej Kubik 3:0 (11:5, 11:7, 11:7)
Ovidiu Ionescu - Yi-Hsin Feng 1:3 (7:11, 11:8, 6:11, 6:11)
Daniel Habesohn - Sanuel Walker 1:3 (10:12, 11:7, 11:13, 7:11)
Steffen Mengel - Yi-Hsin Feng 2:3 (6:11, 11:5, 12:10, 3:11, 6:11)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 0:3
Alvaro Robles – Patrick Franziska 1:3 (12:10, 7:11, 5:11, 7:11)
Simon Gauzy – Eduard Ionescu 2:3 (11:7, 11:13, 11:7, 9:11, 10:12)
Samuel Kulczycki – Yuto Muramatsu 0:3 (3:11, 6:11, 7:11)
Sunday, 3. February
4 p.m.: ASV Grünwettersbach vs Borussia Düsseldorf
Featured image above: Ruwen Filus of TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell
All TTBL matches live and on demand on Dyn.