Play-offs complete: Cheers for Saarbrücken and Bad Königshofen
This year's play-off pairings in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) have been decided: On Saturday evening, 1. FC Saarbrücken TT and TSV Bad Königshofen secured the remaining places in the semi-finals on the 22nd and final main round matchday. However, there were disappointed faces at TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, who finished the season in fifth place after losing in Mühlhausen. Saarbrücken will now face TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen in the play-offs, while Bad Königshofen will play Borussia Düsseldorf.
On the 22nd and final matchday of the German Table Tennis League (TTBL), three teams battled it out for the two remaining places in the play-offs. On Saturday evening, 1. FC Saarbrücken TT and TSV Bad Königshofen were finally able to celebrate - even though the two clubs had competed against each other in a direct duel. Saarbrücken secured the first of the remaining semi-final tickets with a clear victory in Lower Franconia, which ultimately earned the FCS third place in the table. Eduard Ionescu (3:0 against Bastian Steger), Darko Jorgic (3:2 against Filip Zeljko) and Patrick Franziska (3:1 against Jin Ueda) ensured a quick 3:0 and thus relieved faces among the FCS-managers.
Bad Königshofen had a little longer to worry. After their defeat, the team from Lower Franconia had to look to Mühlhausen, where TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell needed a win to make it into the top four. Ultimately, however, the East Hessians hoped in vain, so that there was jubilation in Bad Königshofen: Fulda lost 3-2 at Post SV Mühlhausen to finish the season in fifth place in the table - missing out on the big goal of making the play-offs. With 26:18 points, the TTC finished just behind Bad Königshofen and Saarbrücken (both 28:16). Although Dimitrij Ovtcharov once again showed his class in Mühlhausen, winning two singles matches (3:0 against Daniel Habesohn, 3:2 against Steffen Mengel), the other matches went to the hosts. Habesohn and Ovidiu Ionescu secured victory with a 3:1 win in the doubles against Kao Cheng-Jui and Fanbo Meng, after Mengel (3:0 against Kao) and Ionescu (3:0 against Meng) had already scored in the singles.
Düsseldorf in first place despite defeat in Dortmund
Bad Königshofen will face Borussia Düsseldorf in the play-offs. Although the record champions lost 3:1 at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, they remain top of the table. Like TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, Düsseldorf also has 32:12 points on its account, but with 53:33 compared to 55:36 it has the slightly better match ratio. In Dortmund, only Timo Boll managed to win a point for Düsseldorf: The table tennis superstar, who is currently playing the last season of his career, won 3:1 against Cedric Nuytinck on position three. Before that, Anders Lind (3:1 against Kay Stumper) and Li Yongyin (3:2 against Borgar Haug) had scored for BVB, who finally also won the top singles match: Lind's 3:0 win against Haug was the eighth victory for the newly promoted team, who finished their debut season in the TTBL in ninth place.
“I know that I can't win every match anymore,” said Boll afterwards, ”so I'm happy about every win. I worked hard today and I'm happy that I managed it. But in the end it's the team performance that counts, unfortunately we lost. Now we'll try to prepare for the play-offs in the best possible way.”
Ochsenhausen loses and meets Saarbrücken
The other semi-final will be contested by Saarbrücken and TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen - a rematch of the Liebherr Cup final from January, which Ochsenhausen won 3:1. The TTF lost 3-0 at SV Werder Bremen on Saturday. Playing without Hugo Calderano and Simon Gauzy, Ochsenhausen did not manage to win a set. For Werder, Mattias Falck (3:0 against Bogdan Pugna), Kirill Gerassimenko (3:0 against Leonardo Iizuka) and Andrei Putuntica (3:0 against Tiago Abiodun) secured a clean sweep. The exact dates of the play-off pairings will be announced in the coming days.
“Our goal for the season was to avoid relegation as quickly as possible in this strong league,” said Werder coach Cristian Tamas, summing up the season. “Sixth in the table with 24:20 points and potential upwards, plus participation in the Final Four in the cup - we can look back on a positive season.”
Bergneustadt and Grünwettersbach can also celebrate again
TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt and ASC Grünwettersbach also ended the season with a sense of achievement. Bergneustadt celebrated a 3:1 win at TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau, which saw the team finish the season in eighth place in the table with 20:24 points. Kanak Jha had to forfeit his match against Patrick Baum, but Romain Ruiz (3:2 against Samuel Walker) and Benedikt Duda (3:0 against Luka Mladenovic, 3:0 against Walker) made up for this with their individual victories.
Meanwhile, Grünwettersbach recorded a 3:1 win against TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg and thus ensured a balanced points account of 22:22 at the end of the match. After Kristian Karlsson had put the Hessians ahead with a 3:0 against Tiago Apolonia, Grünwettersbach struck back. The 18-year-old Chang Yu-An equalized with a 3:1 against Yuma Tsuboi, then Ricardo Walther (3:0 against Csaba Andras) and Leo de Nodrest (3:0 against Tsuboi) ensured the eleventh win of the season for the Baden club. “This finish fits in perfectly with the season as a whole,” said ASC coach Achim Krämer. “We've played a great season with a balanced points account. It was a great finish for us.”
Overview of the 22nd matchday
ASC Grünwettersbach - TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg 3:1
Tiago Apolonia - Kristian Karlsson 0:3 (8:11, 10:12, 7:11)
Chang Yu-An - Yuma Tsuboi 3:1 (11:9, 10:12, 11:9, 11:7)
Ricardo Walther - Csaba Andras 3:0 (11:7, 11:6, 11:4)
Leo de Nodrest - Yuma Tsuboi 3:0 (11:9, 11:9, 13:11)
Post SV Mühlhausen - TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 3-2
Steffen Mengel - Kao Cheng-Jui 3:0 (11:4, 11:5, 11:7)
Daniel Habesohn - Dimitrij Ovtcharov 0:3 (7:11, 7:11, 11:13)
Ovidiu Ionescu - Fanbo Meng 3:0 (11:4, 11:9, 13:11)
Steffen Mengel - Dimitrij Ovtcharov 2:3 (5:11, 11:7, 15:17, 15:13, 8:11)
Daniel Habesohn/Ovidiu Ionescu - Kao Cheng-Jui/Fanbo Meng 3:1 (11:5, 16:14, 9:11, 11:6)
Borussia Dortmund - Borussia Düsseldorf 3-1
Anders Lind - Kay Stumper 3:1 (15:13, 1:11, 11:8, 11:7)
Li Yongyin - Borgar Haug 3-2 (7:11, 9:11, 11:8, 11:2, 11:6)
Cedric Nuytinck - Timo Boll 1-3 (5:11, 6:11, 11:9, 9:11)
Anders Lind - Borgar Haug 3-0 (11:5, 11:4, 11:8)
SV Werder Bremen - TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 3:0
Mattias Falck - Bogdan Pugna 3-0 (11:3, 11:1, 11:5)
Kirill Gerassimenko - Leonardo Iizuka 3-0 (11:8, 11:7, 11:6)
Andrei Putuntica - Tiago Abiodun 3:0 (11:6, 11:5, 13:11)
TSV Bad Koenigshofen - 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 0:3
Bastian Steger - Eduard Ionescu 0:3 (9:11, 9:11, 5:11)
Filip Zeljko 2:3 (6:11, 7:11, 11:5, 11:9, 4:11) Darko Jorgic 2:3
Jin Ueda - Patrick Franziska 1-3 (11:9, 9:11, 9:11, 6:11)
TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau - TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 1-3
Samuel Walker - Romain Ruiz 2:3 (8:11, 5:11, 11:8, 11:7, 15:17)
Luka Mladenovic - Benedikt Duda 0:3 (10:12, 2:11, 5:11)
Patrick Baum - Kanak Jha 3:0 (11:0, 11:0, 11:0)
Samuel Walker - Benedikt Duda 0:3 (8:11, 5:11, 6:11)
All TTBL matches will be broadcast live and on demand on Dyn.
Featured image above: Patrick Franziska from 1. FC Saarbrücken TT (Photo: BeLa Sportfoto)