reference:
http://www.tischtennis.de/aktuelles/meldung/18596
Richard Prause summs up the performace of the german team in the olympic singles competition
Prause: "We are going to tear ourselfs apart in the team competition"
Rio de Janeiro. Training and a bit of distraction were announced on day one after the quarter-final knock out of Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Han Ying in the German camp . The focus is now on the team competition, which starts on Friday. DTTB-Sports Director Richard Prause looks back again at the singles event , but is already laying the groundwork for Team tournament ". We will give everything to be successful"
We focus on the future now. Once it became clear that Germany remains without a singles medal in Rio, on Wednesday there was a mix of analysis, training, distraction and focus on the next competition with the teams.
Ovtcharov and Boll in basketball
After the bitter quarter-final knock out against Vladimir Samsonov Dimitrij Ovtcharov had already announced to relax and have a table tennis free day, while the rest of the team Timo Boll, Bastian Steger and Patrick Franziska trained in Riocentro 3 .In the evening Ovtcharov and Boll, both US sports followers and basketball fans, took the opportunity to divert a little and watch the basketball match between the US and Australia.
The DTTB ladies watched the bronze medal and the singles final between Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia (4: 3) after thier practice. The singles competition was in the coaching staff only conditionally subject. "We summerized where we could have done better, but primarily we focus on the future," says DTTB Sports Director Richard Prause. Now it is necessary to take a breathe and to focus on the Team Event. "We need to pull ourselfs together to be successful."
The men with the quarterfinal opponent Taiwan on Saturday (15 pm local time) is a hard nut to crack in front of them, the ladies play on Friday at 15 o'clock local time against the underdogs USA. On Thursday afternoon the team of national coach Jie Schöpp gets the opportunity to train in the main hall, the men complete their session in the afternoon.
DTTB-Sports Director Richard Prause about the singles competiton and the performance of the DTTB Starters:
"Our goal was a medal in the singles competition and so we are disappointed accordingly, that it did not work out. We will shake us twice now and we want to return to fight in the Team Event for every little bit of luck that was missing in the singles. The focus is now on the team, and we will pull ourselfs together, to be successful. "
Dimitrij Ovtcharov:
"Dimitrij made it to the quarterfinals because of his fighting spirit. I remember the match against Li Ping, which was touch and go whatever. There were phases were he played well here, but still lots oft ups and downs. Against Vladimir Samsonov, he did not take the opportunities at the key moments, as for example in London were he succeeded against Michael Maze or Chuang Chih-yuan. He got punished for this. "
Timo Boll:
"We would have liked to see Timo in the quarterfinals against Ma Long, even if this game would have been a difficult task. Against an unorthodox playing Aruna it took until the fourth set until Timo had figured out his tactics . He lost the first two sets with 10:12. The game might have gone differently if he had won one of these first sets. So he was 0:3 down, has indeed again fought back, but it simply took too long to find a rythem against a very good playing Aruna ".
Han Ying:
"Han Ying played a good tournament , unfortunately she was in the draw one of the two Chinese women in the quarterfinals. Otherwise it was a really good performance. Against the Olympic and world champion Ding Ning she tried everything, but the Chinese women are reallyhard to beat with defense, and Ding Ning improved because of the expirience of the last two duels with Ying. "
Petrissa Solja
"Peti had really hard draw with the North Korean defender Ri Myong Sun. The two North Koreans are among the world's top defenders, as evidenced by the third place of Kim. Peti has undoubtedly improved her play against Defence, but it wasn t enough. She will continue to work on that. "
