Participation in the Olympics for the seventh time is the big goal of table tennis star Timo Boll. But the Odenwälder cannot imagine being a substitute. Now it’s getting tight.
The German table tennis star Timo Boll does not want to go to the Olympic Games in Paris this summer as a substitute player. Participation in the seventh Olympics of his career is a big goal for the 42-year-old record European champion from the Odenwald, but: “I only want to play if I have the feeling that I can achieve something. I just want to be there I’m not taking anyone’s place.” A strong attitude both personally and athletically.
Then it would be better for a younger player who has not yet experienced the Olympics to have the experience, Boll told the dpa news agency. Boll, like former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov, individual European champion Dang Qiu as well as Patrick Franziska from Bensheim and Benedikt Duda, is part of the German squad for the team world championship in South Korea that begins on Friday.
Strongest table tennis team of all time?
The standard on the way to the Olympics in Paris is high. “I don’t know if Germany has ever taken such a strong team to a World Cup,” said Dang Qiu. However, only three of these five top players plus one substitute can be part of the team at the Olympic Games in Paris in July.
Boll wants to face this competition after recently fighting his way back to the top of the world after a long injury break. Participation in the Olympics at any price is out of the question for the German flag bearer of the 2016 Games.
