The German table tennis aces can hope for plenty of precious metal in the individual European Championship competitions: After a nail-biting game, Dimitrij Ovtcharov advances to the quarter-finals for men, which Timo Boll reaches in record time. Three medals are already certain for the women.
Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov have taken the next step towards the finals at the European Table Tennis Championships in Munich. Record winner Boll won his round of 16 against Slovakian Wang Yang 4-0 on Friday. Olympic bronze medalist Ovtcharov narrowly beat Portuguese Marcos Freitas 4:3. Dang Qiu is also in the top eight on Saturday.
Ninth in the world rankings Ovtcharov had big problems with the Portuguese Freitas and, after three missed match balls, needed the deciding set in the sixth round and decided his round of 16 match after 76 minutes. "Without the audience I would have lost. 'Dima, Dima' shouted again and again. In the seventh set I didn't believe in myself anymore," said Ovtcharov. In the fight for a place in the semifinals, the professional from TTC Neu-Ulm meets Kristian Karlsson of Sweden.
Eight-time European champion Boll is getting better and better. As in the second round, the 41-year-old did not lose a set in the round of 16 and only needed 29 minutes. "Good game, good days from me today," said the world number 14. satisfied. In the quarter-finals on Saturday, Dang Qiu will face a German duel with his club-mate from Borussia Düsseldorf. "He knows me well. I'm looking forward to it," said Boll. Dang Qiu previously defeated his doubles partner Benedikt Duda 4-1 in another German encounter.
Patrick Franziska, on the other hand, was eliminated. The twelfth in the world rankings lost 4-2 to the Portuguese Tiago Apolonia. The German women already have three medals for sure. Nina Mittelham (4:3 against the French Yuan Jianan) meets Shan Xiaona (4:3 against the Portuguese Shao Jieni) in the semifinals on Saturday. Sabine Winter surprisingly defeated the Italian Giorgia Piccolin 4:0 and is in the semifinals against the Austrian Sofia Polcanova.
