Golden World Cup glitter for the TTBL
The German Table Tennis League (TTBL) once again shines in world championship medal glory with historic dimensions. Shunsuke Togami from cup winners TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen and future TTBL pro Hiroto Shinozuka (ASC Grünwettersbach) won gold for Japan in the doubles at the World Championships tournament in Qatar's capital Doha. As a result, Kao Cheng-Jui from TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell had to settle for silver with his Taiwanese compatriot and former TTBL player Lin Yun-Ju. Togami's Brazilian club colleague Hugo Calderano can now also call himself runner-up after reaching the singles final. At 1. FC Saarbrücken TT, the individual bronze medal for their Swedish Champions League joker was also a source of joy. Of the German professionals, Patrick Franziska (Saarbrücken) was the strongest player to reach the last 16.
Calderano's silver can be considered the most valuable result from a TTBL perspective despite Togami's gold and his 1:4 defeat in the final against the Chinese world number two and Möregardh's semi-final opponent Wang Chuqin. Ochsenhausen's top player earned silver in the final round with a thrilling 4-3 win over Wang's compatriot Liang Jinkung and left the Gulf with the first medal for South America in the 99-year history of the World Championships after his World Cup triumph a month ago.
Togami and Shinozuka's doubles gold meant the first men's doubles title for Nippon since 1961. In the singles, Togami was beaten by Möregardh in the quarter-final final for the best ranking of a player from the TTBL clubs and had to settle for second place in the TTBL rankings. The Japanese duo ensured the second World Championship title for at least one TTBL professional in the past three World Championship tournaments. In 2021, the Swedes Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson also triumphed in doubles in Houston.
The World Championship results of professionals from TTBL clubs (singles and selected doubles results) sorted by medal color and round in alphabetical order:
Gold (doubles): Shunsuke Togami (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen/Japan)
Silver (singles): Hugo Calderano (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen/Brasil)
Silver (doubles): Kao Cheng-Jui (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell/Taiwan/Doppel)
Bronze (singles): Truls Möregardh (1. FC Saarbrücken TT/Sweden)
Quarter-finals (singles): Shunsuke Togami (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen/Japan)
Round of 16 (singles): Patrick Franziska (Saarbrücken), Simon Gauzy (Ochsenhausen/Frankreich), Darko Jorgic (Saarbrücken/Slowenien), Anton Källberg (Borussia Düsseldorf/Schweden)
Doubles
Quarter-finals: Falck/Karlsson, Ovidiu Ionescu
Round of 16: Qiu/Duda, Källberg/Möregardh
Florian Manzke
Featured image above: Hugo Calderano (Photo: WTT)