Historic victory: TTC Neu-Ulm wins German Table Tennis Cup in front of record crowd
Historic triumph in front of a home crowd: TTC Neu-Ulm secured the German Table Tennis Cup on Sunday and with it the first title in the club's history. In the Liebherr Cup final, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Co. prevailed against Borussia Düsseldorf. The organizing Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) can be pleased about a sold-out ratiopharm arena Ulm/Neu-Ulm with 5000 fans and a new spectator record.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov was "totally happy" on Sunday afternoon. Because the German national player is spoiled with titles, among other things he already won the Olympic singles bronze medal twice - nevertheless Ovtcharov also experienced a premiere in the Final Four. The 34-year-old celebrated his triumph in the German Table Tennis Cup with TTC Neu-Ulm, thus securing the club's first title in its history. The Neu-Ulm team won the final against record cup winner Borussia Düsseldorf 3:0. In the semifinals, they had previously won the derby against TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, also 3:0; in the parallel match, Düsseldorf beat 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 3:0.
"It was a very special event for all of us," Ovtcharov noted. Because not only the title win was historic, but also the backdrop. 5000 fans had flocked to the sold-out ratiopharm arena Ulm/Neu-Ulm, loudly cheering on the teams and giving the organizing Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) a new spectator record. In 2020, 4,600 spectators had come, followed by two Final Fours without the presence of fans due to the pandemic.
Timo Boll and Truls Moregardh show a table tennis feast
It was "an absolutely deserved victory for the Neu-Ulm team", Düsseldorf's superstar Timo Boll also had to admit afterwards and showed himself to be a fair sportsman as usual: "Neu-Ulm has a super strong team," said Boll. "Of course we would have liked to make it tighter, and we were actually in a good mood. But Neu-Ulm showed us the limits this time."
Boll was only narrowly beaten in the second singles match of the final. He had a table tennis feast with Truls Moregardh, which the spectators accompanied with enthusiastic applause. In the end, runner-up Moregardh got the upper hand with a 3:2 win - and thus by a similar margin as in the 2021 World Cup semifinal in Houston (4:3). The other two singles were clearer: Lin Yun-Ju beat Anton Källberg 3-0, and Ovtcharov beat European champion Dang Qiu by the same score in the duel of the German national players.
Düsseldorf clearly beats long-term rival Saarbrücken
"It went fantastically for us," noted Neu-Ulm coach Dmitrij Mazunov, for whom it was his second cup win as coach after winning the title with Ochsenhausen in 2019. "The players have prepared perfectly. I'm especially pleased that from the semifinals to the final all three have increased and were there on the dot." Düsseldorf coach Danny Heister said, "Congratulations to Neu-Ulm, they deserved to win. We have to learn our lessons from the game and do better in the semifinals of the Champions League."
Both teams had shown their world class in the semifinals on Sunday. Düsseldorf took revenge for their 3-1 loss in last year's final against 1. FC Saarbrücken TT and beat their perennial rivals 3-0 this time, with Boll taking a 3-1 win over his national team colleague and good friend Patrick Franziska. At the neighboring table, Neu-Ulm won against Ochsenhausen, with Ovtcharov working hard and downing Can Akkuzu in the fifth set. "I didn't find my game, but tried to take the positives into the final," Ovtcharov said. "Fortunately, I managed to do that."
Record attendance and great media response
In addition to the TTC Neu-Ulm and its fans, the organizing TTBL also had great reason to be happy. "From a sporting point of view, it was probably the best Final Four ever," summed up Nico Stehle, Managing Director of the Tischtennis Bundesliga GmbH. After all, the four participants of the Final Four have 8 of the 20 best players according to the current world ranking list under contract; three of them play for Neu-Ulm, two for Düsseldorf. Furthermore, Nico Stehle was happy about the return of the fans and the new spectator record: "5000 fans made the Final Four a table tennis festival and a huge success not only for the TTBL but also for the whole table tennis sport."
And in terms of media, the Final Four was once again a great success: all three matches of the day were shown live on Spontent's channels on Twitch, where they are available in full length as re-lives. The highlights of the event will also be shown on ZDF-sportstudio-reportage and ARD-Sportschau, as well as in a 30-minute special broadcast on Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) and SWR news formats. There will also be a detailed 60-minute summary on Monday evening from 7 p.m. on SPORT1.
The Liebherr Cup Final in overview
Final Borussia Düsseldorf – TTC Neu-Ulm 0:3
Anton Källberg – Lin Yun-Ju 0:3 (6:11, 5:11, 3:11)
Timo Boll – Truls Moregardh 2:3 (9:11, 11:8, 7:11, 12:10, 8:11)
Dang Qiu – Dimitrij Ovtcharov 0:3 (5:11, 7:11, 3:11)
Semifinal Borussia Düsseldorf – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 3:0
Anton Källberg – Cedric Nuytinck 3:0 (11:8, 11:9, 11:7)
Dang Qiu – Darko Jorgic 3:1 (11:8, 5:11, 11:7, 11:5)
Timo Boll – Patrick Franziska 3:1 (11:5, 7:11, 15:13, 12:10)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC Neu-Ulm 0:3
Simon Gauzy – Truls Moregardh 0:3 (6:11, 6:11, 9:11)
Alvaro Robles – Lin Yun-Ju 1:3 (9:11, 11:13, 11:9, 9:11)
Can Akkuzu – Dimitrij Ovtcharov 2:3 (15:13, 9:11, 19:17, 7:11, 11:13)