European Championships
EM out for table tennis ace Timo Boll
Timo Boll (r) congratulates Dang Qiu on the victory. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
Record European champion Timo Boll was stopped abruptly on the way to his ninth individual gold at the title fights in Munich.
Record European champion Timo Boll was stopped abruptly on the way to his ninth individual gold at the title fights in Munich.
The exceptional 41-year-old player unexpectedly lost the quarterfinals against his teammate and Düsseldorf club colleague Dang Qiu in Munich with a clear 0:4. After his 4-0 win the day before in the round of 16 against the Slovak Wang Yang, Boll was eliminated from the European Championship after just 28 minutes.
“Unfortunately, it was a very clear affair. He played great and deserved to win. I would have liked to have made it closer in front of this great crowd,” admitted Boll. However, the 41-year-old asserted that this defeat was not associated with the end of his career. “Even if it always sounds like it: I’m not giving up yet. Such a game is tough when it ends so clearly, but I still have a lot of fun playing table tennis. I’m already looking forward to the next training session against Dang,” emphasized he.
During the day, world number ninth Dimitrij Ovtcharov from TTC Neu-Ulm will play Kristian Karlsson of Sweden for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the German women have already secured three medals. Nina Mittelham (Willich) plays in the semi-finals against Shan Xiaona (Düsseldorf) and then Sabine Winter (Kolbermoor) against the Austrian Sofia Polcanova. Third place will not be played at the tournament.