Dimitrij Ovtcharov "We Are Ready For The Team Event In Rio!"

One can only imagine what it means for a top athlete, meticulously preparing for months and years on end for the great goal - and then missing out on it. Dimitrij Ovtcharov provides insight into his inner life after the singles quarter final knock out in Rio. "I tried to write off this matter as fast as possible to simply be as positive as possible in the Team competition. The full focus is now on the team. We want to win a medal," says "Dima". On Saturday evening Germany competes against the strong opponent Taiwan the in the round of 16.

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Dimitrij Ovtcharov ready for the team event - Via ITTF Flickr

How did you spend your time in the two days after the bitter quarter-final knock out?

Dima Ovtcharov: "Of course the first two days were very hard. My big dream in Rio was, to get into the singles final - especially after I saw the draw, it was possible. Or to win a medal at least. I prepared very long and very conscientious for Rio. It really is a pity that some things did not work out as I had imagined: That I could not live up to my potential, I had some bad luck, everything was a bit unlucky and in the end I used my chances were not consistent enough ."

How did you distract yourself?

Ovtcharov: "The day after I watched other sports, for example I watched basketball with Timo, on the second day we watched Golf. Last night, I then tried to make the first stokes. It was still very bumpy, but I think it was important to move. Today for the first time I slept much better than the night before, those were pretty much restless.

How do you find the right rythem now for competing in the team event?

Ovtcharov: "This morning, I trained through a bucket of balls (multi ball training) with Xiaoyong (assistant coach Zhu Xiaoyong), later I trained one more time with the team. I am glad that we start on Saturday and I am firmly convinced that I can show a top performance again. The full focus is now on the team. We want to achieve a team medal. "

(TL-Note: The German sports system is really harsh. If they don't achieve at least 1 medal the budget cut is serious. The future is also not bright. In 2020 pretty much only Ovcharov is strong enough to be able to win a medal. 2024 is going to be even worse depending on how much of a force Ovcharov still is. But there are promising talents for 2028 and maybe some other players will step up their game a lot but i doubt that. So it would be really important for the future of German table tennis to win a medal in the team competition)

Did you watch the medal deciding matches?

Ovtcharov: "I watched the semifinals, the match for the bronze medal and the final, I will not miss those, even if a bit of me melancholy wanted to be there that I was not participating this time."

Did you analyze the match against Samsonov afterwards or did you try to refocus immediately?

Ovtcharov: "For me there was no need to analyze the match. Right after the match I recognized my mistakes and that would have caused an overload of negative emotions. It would have kept me down for to long. It just makes more sense to do this after the tournament. The team competition starts right afterwards so I tried to write off this matter as fast as possible to simply be as positive as possible in the Team competition .

How do you evaluate the first knockout round opponents Taiwan?

Ovtcharov: "Taiwan is by far the toughst team we could get. They have a top player with Chuang Chih-yuan, Chen Chien-An was injured for a longer time, but is back again in the Top 30, before he won against Zhang Jike. I think that says it all. I think we draw the maximum challenging opponents in each round. But none of these teams is better than us, and we will give everything to reach the final, even if it is a very, very difficult task. "

Follow the live scoring of the encounter on TTD here: http://www.tabletennisdaily.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?13650-Rio-Olympics-2016-(Team-Event)/page5

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Written by TTD User: MaLongPower
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