It was a youngster of all people who turned things around: Kay Stumper led the German table tennis team to a quarter-final victory against France at the World Cup in China.
After a strong race to catch up, the German table tennis men are in the semi-finals of the World Team Championships in Chengdu/China and have already secured a medal. In the quarter-finals on Friday (October 7th, 2022), the team of national coach Jörg Roßkopf beat France 3-2 after being down 0-2. In the fight for participation in the final, the selection of the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) meets South Korea on Saturday.
Youngster Stumper initiates turnaround
Benedikt Duda and European Singles Champion Dang Qiu initially lost their opening singles before 19-year-old Kay Stumper started the turnaround with his 3-1 win over Jules Rolland. Dang Qiu then equalized.
In the deciding game, Duda kept his nerve and defeated Felix Lebrun 3-0. Like at the Team World Championships 2018 in Halmstad, Germany reached the round of the last four again – four years ago the German selection had won silver at the end.
In China, the German team will have to do without their long-standing guarantors of success, Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov (after injuries), as well as young father Patrick Franziska. The trio had won Olympic silver in the team in 2021.
Women on Friday in the semifinals against Japan
The German women are also at the forefront in Chengdu. The team of national coach Tamara Boros will fight in the semi-finals on Friday (1.30 p.m. CEST) against Olympic silver medalist Japan for their first place in the final after the war. Bronze is already certain regardless of the result. It is already the first World Cup medal for a German women’s team since bronze in Moscow in 2010.