Timo Boll and Co. will have to do without coaching and advice from national coach Jörg Roßkopf at the table tennis championships in Malmö starting Sunday.
Parallel to the title fights in Sweden, the former double world champion is in charge of intensive Olympic training in Düsseldorf for three national players who have been exempted from participating in the European Championships, with European champion Dang Qiu at the top. Former national player Lars Hielscher takes over Roßkopf’s duties as head coach in the “mission to defend the title” in Sweden.
“In view of the 2024 Olympic Games, we need creative measures to get our necessary training phases. In addition, the form of our players is not so good. In such a situation you have to set priorities and weigh them up individually,” explained Roßkopf in one Association announcement his unconventional EM waiver.
From the point of view of the former individual European champion, “the German way” gives his aces freedom that has become rare: “With the busy schedule, we practically have to buy time by not participating in competitions in order to be able to train over a longer phase.”
Roßkopf’s team is aiming for their eleventh European Championship gold after an almost one-year absence when Timo Boll, the record winner of the European Championship, makes an international comeback. Already at the tenth title win two years ago in Romania, the German team started shortly after Olympic silver in Tokyo without Boll and veteran Dimitrij Ovtcharov. “We have been able to draw on great potential for a long time,” Roßkopf explains his personnel planning.
Hielscher, who took part in the 2004 Olympics in Athens as a professional, is looking forward to his “temporary promotion”. “Experiencing a team EM not as an assistant, but sitting alone on the bench as the main coach and coaching the boys is a special challenge and motivation,” said the 44-year-old.
Hielscher’s baptism of fire is scheduled for Sunday (7:00 p.m.) in the opening match of the World Cup and Olympic silver medalists against Finland. 24 hours later, the German team meets Poland.