Interesting TTBL aces at the World Championships in Busan
26 players from 15 nations - the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) confirms its reputation as the strongest league outside of China at the World Championships in Busan. Including Timo Boll and Co. in the German team, professionals from the German upper house will be playing for almost half of all teams in the men's tournament. The SID presents prominent or conspicuous World Championship participants from TTBL teams.
DARKO JORGIC (Slovenia/Saarbrücken/25 years old/ranked 15th in the world): The bundle of energy and temperament is currently one of the most exciting players on the continent. A month ago, Jorgic scored a hat-trick at the Europe Top 16 Cup, a feat that not even the icons Timo Boll or Jan-Ove Waldner managed. The right-hander has already made his subsequent leap onto the table after successes his trademark. Jorgic, who will be coached by Ojstersek Urh in South Korea as the only woman among the national coaches of top teams, traveled to the World Championships with the best record of all TTBL professionals at the moment (11:1).
ANTON KÄLLBERG (Sweden/Düsseldorf/26/17): The Düsseldorfer-by-choice is one of the quiet stars of the table tennis scene. Nevertheless, Källberg enjoys almost hero status in his Swedish homeland because the right-hander contributed to Tre Kronor's first European Championship team title in 2023 since the triumph of national icons Waldner and Jörgen Persson. In Busan, however, the Swedish former champion, who has recorded the best TTBL singles record twice in the past three years, will also be called upon as a talisman: His sister Christina will be playing for Sweden's women's team and his partner Yuan Wan for Germany.
MATTIAS FALCK (Sweden/Bremen/32/20): Born under the surname Karlsson, the model athlete also belongs to Sweden's new generation of heroes. However, his star has been shining for longer, as the right-hander won World Championship gold in doubles with his unrelated partner Kristian Karlsson in 2021 and also reached the World Championship singles final two years earlier. The former top ten player, who has borne his wife's name since 2018, was both the most successful and the most hard-working TTBL player last season with 28 wins in 36 TTBL singles matches.
MANUSH UTPALBHAI SHAH (India/Bergneustadt/22/165): India's third-placed player in the national rankings is both a phantom and a phenomenon. After ten matches in the first half of last season at TTC GW Bad Hamm, who were later relegated to the second division, Shah initially disappeared from the scene, but signed up with second-division club 1. FC Köln in the summer - only to not play a match on the Rhine. However, the two-time winner of lower-level Challenger Series tournaments was personally promoted to the Bundesliga at the end of the winter. Since moving to TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, the left-hander has not been seen again in the second half of the season - but India's team in Busan is counting on Shah.
The participants in the World Team Championships in Busan from the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) at a glance:
Germany: Benedikt Duda (Bergneustadt), Timo Boll, Dang Qiu (both Düsseldorf), Patrick Franziska (Saarbrücken)
Belgium: Martin Allegro (Bad Königshofen), Adrien Rassenfosse (Bergneustadt), Cedric Nuytinck (Saarbrücken)
England: Samuel Walker (Grenzau)
France: Simon Gauzy (Ochsenhausen)
Hong Kong: Wong Chung Ting (Fulda)
India: Manush Utpalbhai Shah (Bergneustadt), Sharath Kamal Achanta (Düsseldorf)
Kasakhstan: Kirill Gerassimenko (Bremen)
Croatia: Filip Zeljko (Bad Königshofen)
Austria: Daniel Habesohn (Mühlhausen)
Poland: Maciej Kubik (Grenzau), Samuel Kulczycki (Ochsenhausen)
Portugal: Tiago Apolonia (Grünwettersbach)
Romania: Ovidiu Ionescu (Mühlhausen), Eduard Ionescu (Saarbrücken)
Sweden: Matthias Falck (Bremen), Anton Källberg (Düsseldorf)
Slovenia: Deni Kozul (Grünwettersbach), Darko Jorgic (Saarbrücken)
Taiwan: Chuang Chih-Yuan (Fulda), Feng Yi-Hsin (Grenzau)
By Dietmar Kramer
Source: SID
Featured image above: Darko Jorgic (Photo: Hansruedi Lüthi)