Tournament in South Africa
Ovtcharov wins first game at the Table Tennis World Championships
At the World Cup in South Africa, Ovtcharov advanced to the second round on day one. photo
© Marius Becker/dpa
The former world number one, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, was the first top German player to reach the second round at the Table Tennis World Championships in South Africa.
The former world number one, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, was the first top German player to reach the second round at the Table Tennis World Championships in South Africa.
After a strong race to catch up, the Olympic bronze medalist defeated the Frenchman Can Akkuzu in 4:3 sets. Ovtcharov was already 1:3 sets behind. In the fifth and sixth round he caught up a 1:5 and 7:9 deficit. The 25-year-old Akkuzu plays in the German Bundesliga for the playoff semi-finalists TTF Ochsenhausen.
For the second time since 1939, a table tennis world championship is taking place in Africa. For 34-year-old Ovtcharov, the win against Akkuzu was a successful World Cup comeback: since his third-round defeat in Budapest in 2019 against Croatian Tomislav Pucar, he had missed two World Cup tournaments due to injury. The Team World Championship 2020 was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.