After twelve years, the German national player Dimitrij Ovtcharov left the Russian club Fakel Orenburg. The native of Kiev on this decision, his move to Neu-Ulm and the consequences for Russian athletes.
Dimitrij Ovtcharov, 33, was born in Kyiv in 1988 and came to Germany with his parents at the age of three. The father Mikhail, also born in Kyiv and 1982 Soviet individual champion in table tennis, played for the second division team Schwalbe Tündern in the early 1990s. His son became one of the best players in the world and won six medals for Germany in four Olympic appearances. Ovtcharov lives in Dusseldorf. From 2010 he played for the Russian club Gazprom Fakel Orenburg, where he recently terminated his contract, which was valid until 2025, due to the war in Ukraine. In the coming season he will compete for the TTC Neu-Ulm.