Table Tennis World Championships: German men's team knocked out in the quarter-finals

The German men’s table tennis team have missed out on the medal they were aiming for at the World Team Championships in London. The quintet led by national coach Jörg Roßkopf were defeated 1–3 in the quarter-finals by Japan, the Olympic bronze medallists, led by world number three Tomokazu Harimoto. Reaching the semi-finals would have been enough to secure at least a bronze medal.

The German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) men’s team has thus failed to win a medal at three consecutive world-level tournaments for the first time since 1991. Two years ago in Busan, Germany had already been knocked out in the World Championships quarter-finals, as was the case at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris – and now in London.

“Of course, there’s disappointment because we were determined to win a medal on the big stage. But you also have to acknowledge that Japan played at a truly world-class level today,” said Benedikt Duda (Bergneustadt).

At the OVO Arena Wembley, European Championship runner-up Duda stood no chance against Harimoto, losing 0–3 (4–11, 4-11, 6-11). Subsequently, former European champion Dang Qiu, despite a decent start, was defeated 1-3 (11-5, 2-11, 10-12, 5-11) in his match against Sora Matsushima.

Former Europe Top 16 winner Patrick Franziska (Saarbrücken) secured a quick 3–1 (11–6, 11–9, 8:11, 11:7) against Ochsenhausen champion and cup winner Shunsuke Togami. In the fourth match, Qiu put up a strong fight against Harimoto but squandered several set points and lost decisively 0:3 (10:12, 13:15, 9:11). Japan had been “just that bit mentally stronger”, said Franziska.

The German women’s table tennis team’s winning run at the World Team Championships in London came to an end in the semi-finals. On Saturday, the team led by world number nine Sabine Winter lost 0-3 to Olympic silver medallists Japan; the DTTB squad leaves the English capital with bronze – at major table tennis tournaments, the semi-final losers receive a medal; there is no third-place play-off.

“We’re sad that we couldn’t reward ourselves with a place in the final; the Japanese were simply too strong,” said Junior World Champion Annett Kaufmann, who didn’t feature on the final day: “We had our chances, but they were very good tactically and in terms of their play. We can still be very satisfied with our performance. The sadness is still there, but it will fade very quickly.”

Source: SID
Featured image above: Patrick Franziska (Photo: BeLaSportfoto)