Werner Schlager will be at the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships!

The ITTF have confirmed that Werner Schlager the 2003 World Champion will be returning to the place where he made history ten years ago. Schlager who has been absent from ITTF World Tour tournaments for a year will be competing in the upcoming 2013 World Table Tennis Championships in Paris in May.

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Werner Schalger - Photo by: wsa-tt.com

The Austrian player is now 40 years of age and so he will not be expected to do as well as he has in the past, he hasn’t been seen at any of the ITTF World Tour tournaments this season and his last big competitions consist of London 2012 Olympics and the 2012 European championships in Denmark.

In 2003 Schlager went down in history as the 2003 World Champion after beating Nigeria’s Segun Tariola 4-1 in the round of 128, this was then followed by victories over Koji Matsushita 4-0 in the round of 64 and Serbia’s Slodoban Grujic 4-1 in the round of 32. It was in the last 16 where Schlager really showed off his talent he defeated Kim Taeksoo 4-2 before having a shocking 4-3 win over Wang Liqin. In the semi-finals the Austrian was on top form beating Kong Linghui 4-3. In the final he had his biggest victory of the tournament capturing the world’s attention as he overcame Joo Saehyuk in 4 games to 2 to take the well deserved title of Champion.


Despite Schlager’s age and recent absence from tournaments it is clear to see he is still a world class player and it will be interesting for us to see if he can cause a stir at the 2013 WTTC in May. Are you looking forward to this event in Paris? :)

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Source: ITTF
Written by: Emily Standing
TableTennisDaily
 
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