Timo Boll Wins The European Pre Rio Olympic 2016 Tournament!

On Friday 15th July the 2 day European preparation tournament began in Hamm, Germany for the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics! 12 of the finest European players competed with the main goal of gaining match preparations and sharpness prior to the players heading to the Olympic village in Brazil. The event also had prize money for 1st: 2500€ 2nd: 1500€ and 3rd place: 500€. Full results below:

Timo Boll Photo by: noz.de

Over 2000 spectators watched the final unfold between Timo Boll and Vladimir Samsonov. Timo Boll (World Ranked 14) was in excellent form throughout the tournament winning all his matches. Boll met good friend and world number 9 Samsonov in the final winning in 3 straight sets. The notable game of the warm up event was the semi final clash between Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov. The match went to the full 7 sets with Boll winning the first 3. Dima made a great comeback however Boll clinched the 7th set. Full set scores: 11:7, 11:3, 12:10, 9:11, 7:11, 9:11, 11:9.

Full results:

Group A
Li Ping vs Paul Drinkhall 0:3 (5:11, 6:11, 9:11)
Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs Li Ping 3:1 (11:9, 11:7, 8:11, 12:10)
Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs Paul Drinkhall 3:1 (9:11, 11:4, 11:6, 11:8)

Group B
Kou Lei vs Patrick Franziska 2:3 (11:3, 6:11, 9:11, 12:10, 5:11)
Vladimir Samsonov vs Kou Lei 3:0 (11:4, 11:7, 11:9)
Vladimir Samsonov vs Patrick Franziska 3:0 (11:7, 11:7, 11:8)

Group C
Gionis Panagiotis vs Liam Pitchford 2:3 (8:11, 8:11, 11:7, 11:2, 8:11)
Timo Boll vs Gionis Panagiotis 3:1 (5:11, 11:6, 11:8, 11:9)
Timo Boll vs Liam PItchford 3:0 (11:3, 13:11, 11:1)

Group D
Bastian Steger vs Sam Walker 3:2 (5:11, 11:8, 8:11, 11:9, 11:7)
Alexander Shibaev vs Sam Walker 3:2 (10:12, 5:11, 11:9, 11:7, 11:9)
Alexander Shibaev vs Bastian Steger 2:3 (5:11, 11:8, 8:11, 11:6, 6:11)

Semi Finals
Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs Timo Boll 3:4 (7:11,3:11, 10:12, 11:9, 11:7, 11:9, 9:11)
Vladimir Samsonov vs Bastian Steger 4:2 (11:4, 11:5, 11:5, 7:11, 9:11, 13:11)

Final
Timo Boll – Vladimir Samsonov 3:0 (11:8, 11:3, 11:7)

Timo Boll is back! The German has had a string of unexpected losses recently, will we see Boll in top performance in Rio? Lets hope so!

Congratulations to Timo Boll winning the 2016 European Pre Rio Olympic warm up tournament! For all the latest news on the TTD Topic click here.

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Source: ETTU.org
TableTennisDaily

 

[fanTT]

Good job Timo! Interesting why final was best of 5 games, when semifinals were best of 7.

Poor Dima, he trained so hard and didn't make it... Unless.. He did it on purpose to not show how strong he became

 

[baumschule]

I have to admit I haven't been keeping up with the competetive scene but I'm quite surprised Timo was able to win against Dima. I thought Dima became the somewhat undisputed nr. 1 in german tt. Can someone more informed than me share their thoughts on this?

 

[4Tables]

easy for Boll

 

[Boogar]

Good job Timo! Interesting why final was best of 5 games, when semifinals were best of 7.

Poor Dima, he trained so hard and didn't make it... Unless.. He did it on purpose to not show how strong he became

Boll and Samsonov agreed on a best of five for the final, as they were exhausted.

Btw are there any videos avaible?

 

[karan705]

I know Dima wasn't trying...there is no way. Dima will come back in the olympics. But I can't believe Zhang Jike lost to Hao Shuai.

 

[achalwins94]

It's simple, top players are not playing to their whole strength so that they might not get injured or some special technique they have practiced. Mostly it's about injury. Hence they don't put much of a fight. Hence Dima lost . And about zjk,, you will see him chooing in Olympics only. Till then, he will keep looking a bored player.

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[redonix76]

It's simple, top players are not playing to their whole strength so that they might not get injured or some special technique they have practiced. Mostly it's about injury. Hence they don't put much of a fight. Hence Dima lost . And about zjk,, you will see him chooing in Olympics only. Till then, he will keep looking a bored player.

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agreed...ZJK only serious in big tournaments. It's just a warm up for him, win or loose. I think Timo needed the boost of confident for the Olympics. Recovering from a surgery and being able to win is something unexpected to everyone for sure.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Glad Timo played well. It is true though. It is hard to say if this says much of anything about what will happen in the Olympic Singles event.

And as for ZJK, I have to be honest, I can't figure the guy out. If he is on, he is the only person who really can handle Ma Long. But, man he isn't on very often. I am definitely not going to guess what will happen with him in the Olympics. Will he be able to turn it on? Or will he get knocked out by someone before the finals.

It is really hard to say what will happen.


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[NextLevel]

Glad Timo played well. It is true though. It is hard to say if this says much of anything about what will happen in the Olympic Singles event.

And as for ZJK, I have to be honest, I can't figure the guy out. If he is on, he is the only person who really can handle Ma Long. But, man he isn't on very often. I am definitely not going to guess what will happen with him in the Olympics. Will he be able to turn it on? Or will he get knocked out by someone before the finals.

It is really hard to say what will happen.


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Luck of the draw will have some influence. So that will be important to see as well.

 

[TTFrenzy]

People seem to forget timo's value, grats to dima though from being 3-0 down and forcing a close decider. Mentally timo is definitely stronger than dima through the years. Dima is a meticulous planner and if things did not get his way he got frustrated easily in the past but now he rebounds better from tough moments in his game. I think being coached by persson definitely showed mental improvement and confidence

 

[JeffM]

Amazing results for Timo Boll. Do we have any videos of gameplay?

 

[Musaab]

Glad Timo played well. It is true though. It is hard to say if this says much of anything about what will happen in the Olympic Singles event.

And as for ZJK, I have to be honest, I can't figure the guy out. If he is on, he is the only person who really can handle Ma Long. But, man he isn't on very often. I am definitely not going to guess what will happen with him in the Olympics. Will he be able to turn it on? Or will he get knocked out by someone before the finals.

It is really hard to say what will happen.


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Which why I can't wait to watch the olympics. However, even if he is only going to play the doubles, XX is the only other guy that can handle ML IMO

 

[Karolis]

ZJK is a crazy one and has not really got back on the same level after those injuries he suffered one after another. Liu Guoliang showing that much of belief in him is currently the only man that seems to truly believe in ZJK although he was the guy who banished ZJK from national team years ago. Funny how life goes and things turn around

I tend to believe that LGL is man that knows what he is doing especially considering the pressure even from their government and the whole country for winning Olympics.