World champion against world champion in the final of the German Para Table Tennis Champions Trophy. In the duel between Valentin Baus and Thomas Schmidberger, the 2021 Paralympics winner won.
Para table tennis player Valentin Baus is the new German champion in the sitting class. In a thrilling final on Sunday (July 9th, 2023) in Düsseldorf, Baus dethroned last year’s winner Thomas Schmidberger with 3:1 (8:11, 11:8, 11:7, 11:5) sets.
Four tight sentences
Baus, who in the starting class 3 with more freedom of movement than the paraplegic Schmidberger and class 3, started the first two sets with advantages. In the first round, the 27-year-old was already leading 8:5, but lost the set 8:11. In the second set, Baus didn’t give up a 9:5 lead despite Schmidberger’s race to catch up. In the third and decisive fourth set, things remained tight until 5:5 before Baus was able to break away. In the final fourth round, after a total of 22 minutes, Baus used the first of five match balls to win 11:6.
Düsseldorf Baus and Schmidberger stars of their sport
Baus celebrated his first individual championship title since 2019. Both Baus and Schmidberger are current world champions in their starting classes. Both start for Düsseldorf and are stars of their sport. Baus won gold at the Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021, Schmidberger won silver.
Last year’s final in the semifinals
In the semi-finals, Schmidberger had previously prevailed against Thomas Brüchle in a new edition of the 2022 final. Baus defeated Sandra Mikolaschek in the cross-gender competition.