TTBL stars in the hunt for titles: European Championship starts on Saturday
The European Championships in Munich have been running since Thursday, and the table tennis competitions will also start tomorrow, Saturday. Among others, two dozen stars from the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) will fight for the European Championships in singles, doubles and mixed.
Good news for all table tennis fans from Germany even before the start of the tournament: Timo Boll passed the stress test after his rib fracture on Thursday and can therefore compete at the European Championships as planned. The European Champions are currently being sought in Munich in a total of nine sports, with the table tennis competitions starting tomorrow, Saturday, with the qualifying. Then, in addition to Boll, numerous other stars from the Table Tennis Bundesliga will be there: A total of two dozen players from the TTBL will be competing in the European Championships, many of whom are among the favorites for the title.
Besides Boll (Borussia Düsseldorf), whose form after his injury remains to be seen, other players of the German Table Tennis Federation (DTTB) can be counted among them. Dimitrij Ovtcharov (TTC Neu-Ulm), Patrick Franziska (1. FC Saarbrücken TT) and Dang Qiu (Borussia Düsseldorf) also presented themselves in excellent shape recently and give hope for precious metal at the home European Championships. Franziska even set a career highlight recently with her success against Ma Long at the WTT Champions tournament in Budapest. "The win over Ma Long showed me once again that on a good day I can win against anyone in the world," Franziska said ahead of the European Championships. "So, the self-confidence is there before Munich anyway, there is no lack of it right now." Men's national coach Jörg Roßkopf believes, "Many players are dangerous. But we have chances for precious metal in all competitions, and I am very confident that we will win these medals in all competitions at the European Championships."
First medal decision on Monday
Further players from the TTBL can be counted among the other favorites in the singles with runner-up Truls Moregard (TTC Neu-Ulm) as well as Darko Jorgic (1. FC Saarbrücken TT), Anton Källberg (Borussia Düsseldorf), Simon Gauzy (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen) and Mattias Falck (SV Werder Bremen). In doubles and mixed, too, the medals are likely to go to players from the Bundesliga: Dang Qiu, for example, is aiming to defend his title in the mixed with Nina Mittelham and also has hopes of winning the doubles title with Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt). Ovidiu Ionescu (Post SV Mühlhausen) and Alvaro Robles (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen) are also among the contenders for gold. Boll/Franziska, on the other hand, withdrew their entry for the doubles at short notice because the captain of 1. FC Saarbrücken TT is expecting the birth of his first child and was unsure on Thursday whether he would be able to compete in the qualifiers.
Tomorrow, Saturday, the mixed and doubles qualifiers will start. The singles competitions will start on Sunday with the group phase, in which the remaining 32 tickets for the main round will be played out, in which the top 32 seeded players will also enter on Wednesday (August 17). The first medal decision will already be made in the mixed next Monday (August 15). The doubles title will be decided on the following Thursday (August 18), before the singles competitions follow at the weekend. On Saturday (August 20) the semifinals are on the schedule, on Sunday (August 21) the gold medals will be decided.
The complete schedule and all results can be found on the homepage of the European Championships and on the event page of the ETTU.