Both German teams reached the quarter-finals of the European team championship in table tennis. The men and women both won 3-0 against Ukraine in Malmö, Sweden.
Timo Boll (Borussia Düsseldorf), Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt) and Ricardo Walther (ASV Grünwettersbach) will play against Croatia on Friday (4 p.m./Dyn) for a place in the semi-finals.
“We played a good game,” said record European champion Boll after the clear win against Ukraine. But Croatia is now “definitely the toughest opponent we’ve had so far. We all have to play to the limit. I rate the Croatians very highly and have a lot of respect for them.” The German men recently won the European Championship title three times in a row, but this time they are competing without the three top players Dang Qiu, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska.
Both teams are guaranteed a place at the World Team Championships
The German women also won their round of 16 without their current best player Han Ying. The tenth in the world rankings from the Polish club KTS Tarnobrzeg was rested due to minor muscular problems. Xiaona Shan, Nina Mittelham (both TTC Berlin Eastside) and Sabine Winter (TSV Dachau) scored the points against Ukraine.
As quarter-finalists of this European Championship, both German teams also have a place at the World Team Championships next February in South Korea. Only the two tournament winners will qualify for the team competition at the 2024 Olympic Games in Malmö.
