Triumphant farewell: The Chinese superstar Fan Zhendong led 1. FC Saarbrücken TT to the second German championship in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) and thus to the historic triple.
In the final of the first-ever Final4 tournament in Frankfurt, the Champions League winner beat record champions Borussia Düsseldorf (34 titles) 3-1. For Olympic champion Fan, it was a particularly explosive duel in his last appearance for the FCS: After his debut season in the TTBL, he is moving to the inferior competitor on the Rhine.
Meanwhile, the Chinese say goodbye to the Saar with the greatest possible success. Despite the German novelty of four Champions League victories in a row, it is the first treble in Saarbrücken’s history. Previously, only TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau (1987) and Düsseldorf (2010 and 2011) could win the championship, cup and European Cup in one season.
In the final, the spectators in Frankfurt were particularly enchanted by the high-class first singles. In front of Timo Boll’s eyes, Fan played one of his best games for the FCS against national player Dang Qiu. From the start, the 29-year-old shone with his dominant backhand. In order to escape the pressure from the Olympic champion, the German number ten in the world played the Chinese more centrally from then on, but ultimately lost 3-1.
Düsseldorf responded promptly with a break: Darko Jorgic, also making his last appearance after seven years with the FCS, failed to make a successful farewell against the American Kanak Jha (0:3), before ex-Düsseldorfer and Saarbrücken captain Patrick Franziska secured the match point in the key duel against Anton Källberg (3:1).
The Chinese definitely had to fight against Jha, who was in a good mood. In the final fifth set, Fan finally showed his class, won 3-2 and, amid chants of “Fan Zhendong”, eliminated any remaining doubts about the FCS triple.
