Table Tennis European Championship 2023: Seven TTBL players in the final - Sweden wins the title
From September 10 to 17, 2023, the European Table Tennis Championships took place in Malmö, Sweden. While the German women won the title, the German men had to admit defeat to the strong Swedes in the gripping final.
After impressive matches in the quarter and semifinals, in which both Germany and Sweden were already close to elimination, Germany and Sweden met in the all-decisive men's final. The line-up of both teams included a total of seven TTBL players. This shows the high quality and competitiveness of the German league.
German men's team in the final
The German men's team showed impressive performances during the tournament and fought their way to the final with wins against Croatia in the quarterfinals and against Portugal in the semifinals. There they faced the Swedish team, who competed in their own country in front of 4500 enthusiastic spectators and were loudly supported by their fans.
The comeback against Falck
In a nerve-wracking duel with Mattias Falck, Timo Boll showed that he can still keep up with the world's top 20 and also win. Boll was already trailing 0:2, fought his way back, managed to fend off a match point in the deciding set and then won the match for Germany, which meant the interim equalizer of 1:1.
Dusseldorf colleague Kay Stumper also showed what he is capable of and played an exciting match with Sweden's Kristian Karlsson, which also went the full distance of five sets. There, however, Germany lost out, so that Sweden took the lead again.
The final between Timo Boll and Truls Moregardh
In the decisive match of the final, Timo Boll faced Truls Moregardh, an opponent he had never won against before. Although Boll was trailing 0:2, he fought his way back, just like in his match against Falck, and equalized at 2:2. Sweden was only one set away from the European Championship title. And indeed: Moregardh prevailed in the fifth set and thus secured Sweden the title of European Champion in their own country.
Triumph of the German women - without single loss to gold
While the German men narrowly missed out on the title, the German women were able to win the European Championship - and even without losing a single match. In the final the team around Ying Han, Nina Mittelham and Xiaona Shan, who were loudly cheered on by Sabine Winter and Annett Kaufmann, beat Romania 3:0 and thus secured the team starting place at the Olympic Games in Paris as hoped.
Comments on the final
Timo Boll commented on the final as follows: "The Swedes played strong today and deserved to win. We tried everything, gave everything. More was simply not possible. I also fought back again and again in my matches. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough in the end."
Mattias Falck on winning the European Championship: "I'm extremely happy, of course. It's great to win in front of a home crowd with this atmosphere and it was about time, after all it's been 21 years since Sweden last won gold at the European Team Championships. I've always had high goals and big ambitions, but this is maybe even more than I could have hoped for when I started my career."