After a long injury break, Timo Boll is supposed to lead the German table tennis team to the title at the European Team Championships in Malmö. Three other big names are not included.
Defending champion Germany will compete at the Table Tennis European Championships in September without the three top players Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Dang Qiu and Patrick Franziska.
Instead, record European champion Timo Boll (Borussia Düsseldorf) is to play an internationally inexperienced team at the tournament in Malmö, Sweden, with 20-year-old Kay Stumper (Borussia Düsseldorf), European Championship debutant Cedric Meissner (1. FC Saarbrücken), Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt) and Ricardo Walther (ASV Grünwettersbach). This was announced by the German Table Tennis Association.
Long forced break
“For Timo, the tournament is very important to collect match practice and world ranking points after his long injury break,” said national coach Jörg Roßkopf. The 42-year-old Boll had to pause almost the entire first half of the year due to a shoulder injury.
Roßkopf and women’s national coach Tamara Boros subordinate everything to the goal of preparing the top German players for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Boll needs competition practice for this. Others, like former world number one Ovtcharov, are being given a break from the tournament.
“For the women who have not played any tournaments after the European Games, the European Championships are part of the competition phase, which is why the team in Malmö is at its best,” said German sports director Stefan Prause. “For the men, on the other hand, we are pursuing a different approach: with a view to Paris, we want to enable Dang Qiu, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska to have a longer training phase, which, given the limited number of appointment options, also includes the European Championship period.” The European Championships in Malmö will take place from September 10th to 17th.