There are now four German table tennis players among the top 15 in the world. Despite slight uncertainties, the prospects for the home EM in Munich are dazzling.
Anyone looking around at the media day of the German Table Tennis Association around ten days before the European Championships in Munich immediately missed two players. With Timo Boll and Patrick Franziska, two professionals who are considered medal candidates at the home European Championships in Munich were missing on Wednesday (08/03/2022).
Franziska relaxed, worried about Boll
Franziska stayed at home in Saarbrücken with his heavily pregnant wife. “We are relaxed there, he is relaxed. He prepares himself on site at the base in Saarbrücken. There are enough training partners there.”, said national coach Jörg Roßkopf. Maybe there will even be more euphoria with the birth: “It was the same for me with my first child.”
The problem child, however, is record European champion Timo Boll. “He was plagued by pain during the course. Now a check-up on the rib is due“, said the national coach. Sports director Richard Prause described the Boll start as “totally open”. The native of Hesse announced that he would do everything to be there. It was “perhaps one of the last international performances of his career in front of a home audience“. The final squad must be in place by August 11th.
Ovtcharov back after a turbulent year
In the worst case, two top players would be eliminated for the DTTB. The good thing is: Germany has a total of four top 15 players. For example Dimitrij Ovtcharov. But he was injured for a long time at the beginning of the year. “Two months ago I would have said I’d be happy if I could be there at all. Now I’m a lot further along.”said the Olympic bronze medalist.
All in all, Ovtcharov has had a highly emotional year: war in his native country Ukraine, death of his grandmother, father for the second time and change of club. “Perhaps it was a good thing that I was injured. There were times when I couldn’t think of table tennis. It was really tough emotionally with the war and the tragic death of my grandmother. But at the same time, I experienced one of the most beautiful things with the birth of my son “, he gave an insight into private life. But now he feels ready for the European Championship.
More pressure on promoted Qiu
How good Ovtcharov is is therefore something in the stars. The climber of the year remains: Dang Qiu. The 25-year-old has played his way into the limelight, recently winning his first title on the new Table Tennis World Tour. Qiu is now the third best German and even climbed into the top ten in the world for a short time. “He can now beat anyone and of course become European champion”believes national coach Roßkopf.
It’s Qiu’s first individual championship. “He has to deal with that first”, Roßkopf warned against exaggerated expectations. Qiu himself goes in optimistically and emphasizes that there is no lack of self-confidence. Above all, he is looking forward to the home fans: “Hopefully that gives us German players an extra push.”
Competition mainly from Sweden
The players agree with the national coach on one point: the title should and can only go to Germany. Nevertheless, all those involved warn against international competition: “There are a number of good players in Europe. The Swedes, around the runner-up world champion and top seeded Truls Moregardh, or some young French players, for example.”
Roßkopf remains optimistic about the target: “We hope that someone will come through and end up at the top. In the end, we want to say: It was a great European Championship, and not just because the spectators were there and the weather was nice.”