The German table tennis players reached the World Cup round of 16 in Busan, South Korea undefeated and are only one win away from qualifying for the Olympics. The women’s team also moved straight into the round of 16 without defeat.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Dang Qiu and Patrick Franziska beat England 3-0 on Monday (February 19, 2024) and thus finished the preliminary round as group winners after four wins in four games.
Only Franziska dropped a set in his game against Paul Drinkhall. The English team competed without their top player Liam Pitchford, who was rested due to a foot injury.
“There are still a few things we can work on, but in the end you have to be happy with being undefeated as group winners. That was the most important thing for us and a good first step” said European champion Dang Qiu.
“For us it’s now a matter of continuing to work with concentration, preparing well and using the time for training sessions at the table, athletic training, game observation and video analysis“, said national coach Jörg Roßkopf.
Olympic qualification with victory in the round of 16 on Wednesday
The German men, who are playing in South Korea without record European champion Timo Boll (eye inflammation), will not continue until Wednesday. With a victory in the round of 16 – the opponent has not yet been determined – the selection of the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) will book their ticket to the Summer Games in Paris (from July 26th).
Women also in the round of 16 Slovakia for group victory
The German women’s team also completed their group victory with a 3-0 win against Slovakia and also made it straight into the round of 16 undefeated. 17-year-old Annett Kaufmann opened the game with a four-set win over Ema Labosova. Nina Mittelham didn’t lose a set in her game against Adriana Illasova, as did her Berlin teammate Xiaona Shan, who defeated the currently best Slovakian player Tatiana Kukulkova.
National coach Tamara Boros’ team will face one of the winners of the intermediate round matches on Wednesday.