Omar Assar defeats Anton Källberg

Borussia Düsseldorf succeeded in making amends after the surprising defeat the previous week against Bad Königshofen. They struggled to a 3:1 victory against TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt on Matchday 14 of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). However, Anton Källberg had to admit defeat for the first time this season.

After a dominant start to the current season of the Tischtennis Bundesliga (TTBL) with only one single defeat in nine matches, Borussia Düsseldorf has stumbled recently. In the last four matches, the Rhinelanders only managed two wins - one of them against today's opponent, TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt.

At first, it looked as if Düsseldorf had found its way back to its old strength. Kay Stumper defeated Benedikt Duda in the duel of the German national players without losing a set and Dang Qiu also looked like a sure winner after two clear set wins against Alberto Mino. But Bergneustadt did not give up. However, Mino could only reduce the score to 1:2. Qiu dominated the fourth set like the first two rounds.

Dang Qiu leads Düsseldorf to victory

With the score at 2:0 at the break, it looked as if Düsseldorf would manage the next quick win of the season. Especially since Anton Källberg, the so far undefeated top player, was put up at position three and took a 2:0 sets lead. But Omar Assar fought his way back into the match. He won the third set by a narrow margin of 14:12, but in the following two sets he did not let the Swede come close to winning the set.

When Benedikt Duda started like the fire department against Dang Qiu and won the first set more than clearly with 11:2, Bergneustadt's hope to turn the match around came back. But in the end, Qiu used his third match point in the fifth set to secure his Borussia's twelfth win of the season.

All six matches of Matchday 14 will take place this Sunday. Matchday 15 begins next Friday with TSV Bad Königshofen playing away at SV Werder Bremen.

The 14th matchday in overview

TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt – Borussia Düsseldorf 1:3
Benedikt Duda – Kay Stumper 0:3 (8:11, 5:11, 11:13)
Alberto Mino – Dang Qiu 1:3 (5:11, 5:11, 11:8, 4:11)
Omar Assar – Anton Källberg 3:2 (9:11, 6:11, 14:12, 11:7, 11:6)
Benedikt Duda – Dang Qiu 2:3 (11:2, 10:12, 7:11, 11:9, 9:11)

1. FSV Mainz 05 – SV Werder Bremen 1:3
Luka Mladenovic – Cristian Pletea 2:3 (11:8, 7:11, 11:7, 8:11, 3:11)
Andrei Putuntica – Mattias Falck 1:3 (9:11, 11:6, 10:12, 3:11)
Carlo Rossi – Kirill Gerassimenko 3:2 (6:11, 11:7, 11:13, 13:11, 11:8)
Luka Mladenovic – Mattias Falck 1:3 (17:19, 11:7, 7:11, 9:11)

TSV Bad Königshofen – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 2:3
Kilian Ort – Samuel Kulczycki 3:1 (7:11, 11:9, 13:11, 11:3)
Filip Zeljko – Simon Gauzy 0:3 (14:16, 8:11, 8:11)
Bastian Steger – Alvaro Robles 2:3 (7:11, 11:13, 11:7, 11:9, 5:11)
Kilian Ort – Simon Gauzy 3:1 (11:8, 8:11, 11:4, 11:9)
Bastian Steger/Martin Allegro – Alvaro Robles/Samuel Kulczycki 2:3 (11:5, 6:11, 11:6, 7:11, 5:11)

Sunday, January 22
3.30 p.m.: TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau – ASV Grünwettersbach
4.30 p.m.: Post SV Mühlhausen – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT
5 p.m.: TTC Neu-Ulm – TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell

You can see all the games live on Spontent's channels on Twitch.