Status: 08/21/2022 5:31 p.m
Dang Qiu wins gold for Germany, Nina Mittelham had to retire due to injury in the final of the table tennis singles title at the European Championships.
Joy and sorrow among the German table tennis aces on the final day of the individual competitions of the European Championships. There was gold for the men: Dang Qiu won his first major title in table tennis. The native of Nürtingen defeated the Slovenian Darko Jorgic 4:1 (10:12, 14:12, 11:8, 11:9, 11:2). For the 25-year-old, it’s the biggest success of his career.
Jorgic good in the first set
Qiu started furiously and was quickly ahead 5:1 in the first set. But Jorgic bit into it and scored many points, especially with his strong backhand. The set waved back and forth, Qiu fended off two set balls – the third led to success for the Slovenian. “After the first sentence I thought: shit, that’s nothing today,” said Qiu afterwards, laughing in the hall interview.
In the second round, too, Qiu’s opponent, who was playing for Saarbrücken, quickly overheated. Jorgic dictated the rallies, Qiu tried to counter it. The result was some spectacular rallies. Qiu bit into it, caught up and equalized after rounds.
Qiu demonstrates his strength
After that, the final turned into a demonstration of the self-confident newcomer of the year: Qiu was able to beat his opponent again and again and better in long rallies, the fist now came again and again.
While Jorgic tried everything in rounds three and four, the Slovenian’s morale was broken in the fifth round. Qiu earned eight match points and immediately converted the first. “If you knock Mr. Table Tennis Timo Boll out of the tournament, you have to win the thing,” he explained with a smile.
Mittelham with silver
The German table tennis ladies missed a possible gold medal in the singles in a very bitter way. In the final, Nina Mittelham had to give up after two sets against the Austrian Sofia Polcanova due to injury.
Sports director Richard Prause explained: “Nina already had problems with her hitting arm yesterday. It got worse today while warming up and then even worse during the match. We couldn’t treat it in such a way that it went on.”
Shoulder injury stops Germans
With the score at 0:2 (9:11, 2:11), Mittelham took a medical break due to shoulder problems. Ten minutes remained to get their problems under control. Mittelham returned to the table just before the end of the medical time-out. She tried one or two rallies – but then she shook her head and had to congratulate Polcanova in tears.
Mittelham won silver at the home European Championship. The new European champion from Austria paid tribute to the German afterwards: “Nina would have deserved this title just as much. It’s so bitter. I didn’t want to win like that. I can understand that, I was almost only injured myself for two years. I don’t even know what I should feel.”
It is already the second injury that the German women had to suffer in the tournament. In the round of 16, the top seeded Han Ying had to give up in the German duel with Sabine Winter. Winter was then eliminated in the semifinals.
Source: sportschau.de