Over 40s at the plate: Boll, Steger and Co. defy the rust
The older, the better: In the German table tennis league, veterans are a guarantee of success even beyond the 40-year age limit.
Oldies but Goldies: It's not just German idol Timo Boll who is successfully disproving the image of over-40 aces as obsolete models in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). His ex-national team colleague Bastian Steger, who will also soon be 43, is currently playing a major part in the rise of surprise third-placed TSV Bad Königshofen with a remarkable series of successes.
"There's no secret," says Steger matter-of-factly about his "third spring" with eight consecutive singles victories, "it's just a change in a few little things."
Although the two-time European Championship bronze medallist and the record European Championship champion Boll (Düsseldorf), who is only eleven days older, are the "seniors" in the upper house, they are not alone in defying the rust. Former doubles world champion Chuang Chih-Yuan (Taiwan) is only slightly younger at TTC Fulda-Maberzell. Chinese player Wang Xi from former cup winners ASV Grünwettersbach celebrated his 40th birthday on New Year's Day. Düsseldorf's Indian substitute player Kamal Sharath Achanta is also already 41.
In addition to the love of table tennis, which Boll in particular has long emphasized ("Winning and losing were never decisive for me, rather the feeling of squeezing the best out of myself"), other factors also make it possible to extend some careers beyond their zenith. "Table tennis is much more than endurance and physicality, table tennis is highly complex, a mental sport. Under pressure, those who have experienced it hundreds of times have an advantage," said TTBL Managing Director Nico Stehle about the phenomenon of "sprightly pensioners".
However, the specific nature of the non-contact sport is also increasingly inviting over-40 parties at the table. "There is simply no one," emphasizes sports director Richard Prause from the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB), "who can knock your legs off."
Boll, Steger and Co. are not the first in the upper house to be successful as young seniors. Their predecessors include prominent names.
In 1979, Düsseldorf's former world runner-up Eberhard Schöler retired as team champion at the age of 39, his long-time DTTB teammate Wilfried Lieck played for his TTC Altena for the last time in 1995 at the age of almost 50, and former doubles world champion and current national coach Jörg Roßkopf won European Championship gold with the team in 2007 at the age of 38. Sweden's living legend Jan-Ove Waldner reached the semi-finals of the 2004 Olympics in Athens at the age of 39 and only ended his career in 2012 at the age of 46 after seven years in Fulda.
But all of them are real youngsters compared to Ni Xia Lian: the Chinese player, who plays for Luxembourg, won bronze in the doubles at the 2021 World Championships in Durban - and is now aiming for her sixth Olympic appearance in the mixed. If successful, the former European champion would serve in Paris as a 61-year-old.
Source: SID
Featured image above: Bastian Steger (Photo: Patrick Wichmann)