The German table tennis star Timo Boll is fighting for his participation in the Olympics at the Team World Championships starting on Friday in South Korea – and a possible World Cup farewell with gold.
Timo Boll has been punching holes in the “Chinese Wall” for over a quarter of a century. At the World Team Championships starting Friday in Busan, South Korea, Germany’s indestructible idol wants to finally completely tear down the monument of Asian table tennis dominance in the fight for an Olympic place, perhaps with one last hurrah.
“We are confident that we can do it and beat China if everything goes perfectly,” Boll told “SID” before the Olympic and World Cup runners-up left.
After six rebuffs in World Cup finals by the long-standing champions from the Middle Kingdom since 2004, the soon-to-be 43-year-old is hoping for at least another chance at the final: “We all have in our minds that we can only lose against China, if at all. Nobody would be happy if we didn’t make it to the final.”
Timo Boll wants to crown his table tennis career
In his 21st World Cup participation, Boll is not only driven by the longing for his first World Cup title as the crowning achievement of his career. Because Busan should be groundbreaking for his ambitions for a seventh Olympic start in Paris – and could also mark his farewell from the World Cup stage after 27 years.
“It could be that Busan is my last World Cup,” said the Düsseldorfer in the SID interview, “I haven’t finally decided that yet, but that could be really good.”
After Busan, the Paris nomination can hardly be postponed. “Three out of five” is the seemingly simple formula for the German team, which has to reach the quarter-finals to get a ticket to the Olympics.
However, in a high-quality squad with European Championship record winner Boll, European champion Dang Qiu, Tokyo third Dimitrij Ovtcharov, doubles ace Patrick Franziska and Benedikt Duda, the solution almost seems like squaring the circle. It’s no coincidence that national coach Jörg Roßkopf believes it’s “the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
Boll back on the big stage after a shoulder injury
Boll, who was out of action for a good six months last year due to a shoulder injury and was almost written off for Paris, doesn’t want to make his boss’s job any easier.
“I’ve found my touch again,” said the left-hander combatively after his title coup at the WTT tournament in Doha a month ago: “As a candidate for Paris, I have to play at the level of Doha – and that’s what I demand of myself.”
Boll is entering the decisive phase of the elimination race, which begins at the World Cup on Friday with the match against the USA (9 a.m. / Dyn), without claiming a bonus: “I don’t want to be given a place as a gift. I know that a name and previous merits alone don’t really help you win a medal.”
Boll explained his decision to forego the role as a replacement, which would only come into play in Paris if one of the three regular players were unavailable, with the poise of a six-time Olympic participant: “I can only win, because I can’t blame myself for anything “I tried everything after my injury and was even able to experience the feeling at the top again in Doha. If I wasn’t there, three others deserved it more.”