Dimitrij Ovtcharov Wins His First Major as Germany Dominate the 2017 World Cup!

Dimitrij Ovtcharov Wins His First Major as Germany Dominate the 2017 ITTF World Cup!

dimaworldcuppodium2017.jpg


The 2017 Men’s World Cup is over and what a World cup it was! It had everything, dominant performances, 7 set thrillers, incredible comebacks and also featured the biggest shock in a Major for a very long time.
It all started quite normally with most players beating who you would expect them to beat. This was until the quarter final stage where Timo Boll pulled off one of the most incredible comebacks of all time against China’s Lin Gaoyuan. Not only did the German come back from being 3-1 down he also saved 7 match points in the 7th set to win it 13-11. 4-3 (5-11, 11-13, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 12-10, 13-11).

1timodefeatmalong2017.jpg


However, Boll was not done there because in the semi-final he would go on to do the same to Olympic and World Champion Ma Long, again coming back from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in an epic seven set thriller. Surely this has to go down as one of the biggest upsets of all time in a major, especially considering that Timo Boll at 36 was the oldest player in the tournament and Ma Long hasn’t lost in a major event in many years.

In the other half of the draw it was Timo Boll’s German compatriot Dimitrij Ovtcharov doing all of the damage. The European number 1 defeated Kou Lei 4-1, Alexander Shibaev 4-3 and in the second semi-final took out Simon Gauzy in another incredible seven set showdown to reach the final.


The Final: Dimitrij Ovtcharov vs Timo Boll

This would be the first all-German World Cup final since way back in 1980 when the event was held in Hong Kong and the first men’s major where someone from China hasn’t featured since Werner Schlager’s victory over Joo See-hyuk in the 2003 World Championships.

dimitrijwinworldcup2017.jpg


The final between Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov did not disappoint either with some great table tennis being played, however it was Ovtcharov who would come out victorious beating Boll. 4-2 (10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2). This is Dimitrij Ovtcharov’s first ever major win and is also a reminder to the table tennis world that although the Chinese are undoubtedly still number one, they are beatable.


Watch the full video playlist from the World Cup in the TableTennisDaily Video Library.

Like and tweet our articles to the World. Lets spread the word of Table Tennis.
TableTennisDaily
 
Top