Timo Boll can't play the World Cup in 2015

anchorschmidt · Aug 24, 2015

ITTF have taken the decision to give the wild card place to someone else

Timo Boll will not take part in this years World Cup held in Halmsted, Sweden. Timo Boll did not participate in the qualifications due to injury. Timo Boll was expecting to the receive the wild card however did not get it. The wild card was handed to Sweden's Anton Kallberg.

The men's world cup will be held from the 16th to 18th October this year without Timo Boll.

Timo Boll - Photo by: english.people.com.cn

Timo Boll is not happy with this decision of not receiving the wild card and expressed, "I have been in the ITTF top 10 World Rankings for the passed 13 years and I am currently at world number 7. I believe I have been taken out without any reasons, and this is the year before the Rio Olympics.

Michael Geiger the German Federation's president commented, "Sweden already have a player (Kristian Karlsson) in the competition as they are host nation. It is fair for Sweden to apply for the wild card, however I don't understand the ITTF's decision not taking into account the level of Timo Boll and the effect this will have on his fans across the world.

Judit Farago, the ITTF Director, quoted "there is no doubt about Timo's level and great success, but these results are not relevant for the wild card."

The only way Timo Boll can play is a withdrawal from a participant.

The players qualified to the 2015 Men's World Cup are listed below:

1. World Champion: Ma Long, CHN (World ranking: 1)
2. Winner Asia Qualifiers: Xu Xin, CHN (2)
3. Winners Europe Qualifiers: Dimitrij Ovtcharov, GER (5)
4. Third Asia Qualifiers (Asia runner, Fan Zhendong is not eligible as a third for the Chinese World Cup maximum of two players per nation are allowed..): Jun Mizutani, JPN (6)
5. Second European Qualifiers: Marcos Freitas, POR (10)
6. Seventh Asia Qualifiers: Koki Niwa, JPN (11)
7. Fourth Asia Qualifiers: Tang Peng, HKG (14)
8. eight Asian Qualifiers: Gao Ning, SIN (17)
9. Fifth European Qualifiers: Tiago Apolonia, POR (18)
10. Third European Qualifiers: Panagiotis Gionis, GRE (23)
11. Sixth European Qualifiers: Robert Gardos, AUT (24)
12. Winner Africa Qualifiers: Omar Assar, EGY (30)
13. Fifth Asia Qualifiers: Kim Minseok, KOR (32)
14 Fourth European Qualifiers: Simon Gauzy, FRA (36)
15. Sixth Asia Qualifiers: Sharath Kamal Achanta, IND (41)
16. Winner South America Qualifiers: Gustavo Tsuboi, BRA (52)
17th grid position Host Association: Kristian Karlsson, SWE (69)
18. ITTF Wildcard: Anton Källberg, SWE (105)
19. Winners Oceania Qualifiers: William Henzell, AUS (117)
20. Winner North America Qualifiers: Jimmy Butler, United States (415)

Source: tischtennis.de

NextLevel · Aug 24, 2015

A pity. But sometimes, it's frustrating how susceptible Timo Boll is to injury and illness. But I think he will also be obviously ranked high enough if he plays more events.

vvk1 · Aug 24, 2015

Well, Ovtcharov, Freitas, Apolonia, Gionis, Gardos, Gauzy all managed to qualify by participating in enough events. Timo Boll didn't qualify - does not really matter why. As much as it saddens me that he won't be there, the rules should not be bent for anyone. If I understood the translated article correctly, he really had no reasonable expectation to be granted the wild card.

aerial · Aug 24, 2015

The way it's written it looks like ITTF just "decided" to put in Kallberg instead of Boll--if that's the case I think that is wrong.

However if Kallberg had a higher standing in the world tour circuit I think it's fair, and if that's the case it would suck to not have Boll in the 2015 world cup.

megaexception · Aug 24, 2015

It's a pity that this worldcup will be played without Timo Boll.

But why question is only about Timo? Why you are not suggesting that wildcard should be given to Samsonov (I would be very pleased to see Vladi on worldcup!)?
Or Maze? Or any other world-class player?

Hamasaki_Fanz · Aug 24, 2015

wildcard should be something to fight for... this is the chance for players that didnt have 'title' to still play for world cup.

You cant just say: "oh timo should have that chance cuz he's the best player EU", but still no title or "oh anton should be in wildcard cuz sweden is the host country"...

schybbe · Aug 24, 2015

What is even more stupid is that FZD is not allowed to play!

anchorschmidt · Aug 24, 2015

In my very humble opinion, the players below the top 40 should not play the World Cup. I have a lot of respect for their level, which is lightyears beyond my level, but they would be able to give much of a fight against the top players. I hope that they are given a lot of opportunities in the ITTF World Tour circuit.

However, if we are to accept the qualification system of the ITTF, I still think that someone from the top 10 should have been selected for the World Cup via the Wild Card system. Be it Boll, Samsonov, FZD etc.

NextLevel · Aug 24, 2015

On mytabletennis.net, someone made some very good arguments. He pointed out that in 2011, there was LEgout and MAttenet. In 2012, it was Pitchford and Drinkhall. In 2013, Germany had 3 spots and Belgium didn't try to get the 2 that had been customarily established at that point.

In other words, other than the fact that Timo Boll could not qualify, he has nothing to complain about.

Baal · Aug 25, 2015

The ITTF could have taken any number of decisions, irrespective of what they may have done in the past (unwritten rules). Is the tournament better with Anton Kallberg or would it be better with Timo Boll?

NextLevel · Aug 25, 2015

Baal said:
The ITTF could have taken any number of decisions, irrespective of what they may have done in the past (unwritten rules). Is the tournament better with Anton Kallberg or would it be better with Timo Boll?

From the host's perspective, definitely Kallberg. As someone pointed out, the tournament has missed Samsonov for a while as well. Would the tournament not be better with him? Ultimately, not everyone can play.

Baal · Aug 25, 2015

Maybe, but I wonder if having a tournament that lacks Timo Boll is ideal even from the Swedish perspective. Also, is the tournament just for the host? I don't have a huge dog in this fight. I think it would be better if they just took the top 16 players in the world. I don't entirely agree that the argument at MyTT as to what they did in the past (and this time) is a good one. But you can certainly argue that the decision they made is consistent with what they did in the past.

NextLevel · Aug 25, 2015

Baal said:
Maybe, but I wonder if having a tournament that lacks Timo Boll is ideal even from the Swedish perspective. Also, is the tournament just for the host? I don't have a huge dog in this fight. I think it would be better if they just took the top 16 players in the world. I don't entirely agree that the argument at MyTT as to what they did in the past (and this time) is a good one. But you can certainly argue that the decision they made is consistent with what they did in the past.

In decisions such as these, I usually find consistency reasonably important when judging whether a decision was fair or unfair. Moreover, I see no reason why Boll should be treated any differently from say Samsonov with respect to this kind of decision.

UpSideDownCarl · Aug 26, 2015

One thing I think about the World Cup as a tournament: to me, in spite of having the word "World" in it, there are many tournaments that are more interesting to watch, more competitive and harder to win, at least after you qualify to play in it.

It is still fun and I guess that it is cool to see players from lots of places who might not get to be seen as deep into a tournament with a larger field of players. For example Quadri Aruna might still be completely unknown without a great performance at The World Cup.

So it will be a slightly different World Cup without Timo but there are many players who won't be there who would make the tournament more interesting.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NextLevel · Aug 26, 2015

UpSideDownCarl said:
One thing I think about the World Cup as a tournament: to me, in spite of having the word "World" in it, there are many tournaments that are more interesting to watch, more competitive and harder to win, at least after you qualify to play in it.

It is still fun and I guess that it is cool to see players from lots of places who might not get to be seen as deep into a tournament with a larger field of players. For example Quadri Aruna might still be completely unknown without a great performance at The World Cup.

So it will be a slightly different World Cup without Timo but there are many players who won't be there who would make the tournament more interesting.

Sent from my Phone using Tapatalk

Fan Zhendong is not going. I think when you think about what he signifies for the future of the sport, the fact that he hasn't played one yet because of the two players per nation rule is pretty amazing.

UpSideDownCarl · Aug 26, 2015

NextLevel said:
Fan Zhendong is not going. I think when you think about what he signifies for the future of the sport, the fact that he hasn't played one yet because of the two players per nation rule is pretty amazing.

Dead on! Exactly!

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Baal · Aug 26, 2015

The trend of ITTF of creating rules that limit the number of great players that can attend major tournaments (Olympics, World Cup) is bad for the sport. It was not always like that. It is also kind of crazy that WTTC is only every other year, but it has been like that for a long time. What other sport does that?

I personally don't think Timo Boll was treated unfairly. But they have weakened the field by not including him (among other players). How is this good for the sport?

Timo Boll can't play the World Cup in 2015

What do you think of this decision?

Outrageous - Timo Boll should play!

Yes Timo Boll should play

No - It is up to the ITTF

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