Timo Boll has participated in every European Championships since 1998, but after competing in eleven of the tournament the German player has made a shock withdrawal from the upcoming LIEBHERR European Championships which are due to take place in Schwechat.
Timo Boll - Photo by: Feng Li/Getty Images Europe
Boll who is the current record holder at the European Championships with six singles, five doubles and five team titles has always been a popular player at the tournament; he has stated that he is currently suffering from the flu and so it would not be suitable for him to attend.
Boll commented “I have recently had a shoulder injury but it has been improving and I was confident I would have been fully recovered soon, but then I have caught a fever and the flu which means I have no time to prepare at all. I am feeling extremely sick and tired and Europe’s players are very strong, I would not be able to two titles with only half of my capacity”.
He went on to explain how he is very disappointed to be missing the championships and mostly regrets his cancellation because of the host and his team mates, “I would really like to defend my title in both the singles event and with the team, I have been looking forward to a tough fight against the Austrians in the first round. I am also very sorry to Patrick Franziska, I care very much about this young player and would have liked to see how far we could have got in the doubles”.
The German national coach Jorg Rosskopf also commented on Boll’s withdrawal “In addition to his world class performance Timo is a very important player to the team for both his calmness and his presence, the team must now prove they can win without Timo and compensate for his absence”.
Timo Boll is due to be substituted in the team, singles and doubles event by Ruwen Filus who according to the world rankings is Germany’s sixth best player with a ranking of 79. Jorg Rosskopf made a further comment “Ruwen has recently strongly caught people’s attention due to his good performances on both national and international level, he has also shown his worth in practice sessions and is making his way up the world rankings”. Filus recently reached the semi-finals of the Czech open.
Much of the attention will now be on Dimitrij Ovtcharov who has so far only won an individual bronze medal at the European Championships in his European debut in 2007. The German player is longing for the title and with the absence of his team mate it will be interesting to see if this year is finally his for the taking.
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Source: ettu.org & DTTB
Written by: Emily Standing
TableTennisDaily
Timo Boll - Photo by: Feng Li/Getty Images Europe
Boll who is the current record holder at the European Championships with six singles, five doubles and five team titles has always been a popular player at the tournament; he has stated that he is currently suffering from the flu and so it would not be suitable for him to attend.
Boll commented “I have recently had a shoulder injury but it has been improving and I was confident I would have been fully recovered soon, but then I have caught a fever and the flu which means I have no time to prepare at all. I am feeling extremely sick and tired and Europe’s players are very strong, I would not be able to two titles with only half of my capacity”.
He went on to explain how he is very disappointed to be missing the championships and mostly regrets his cancellation because of the host and his team mates, “I would really like to defend my title in both the singles event and with the team, I have been looking forward to a tough fight against the Austrians in the first round. I am also very sorry to Patrick Franziska, I care very much about this young player and would have liked to see how far we could have got in the doubles”.
The German national coach Jorg Rosskopf also commented on Boll’s withdrawal “In addition to his world class performance Timo is a very important player to the team for both his calmness and his presence, the team must now prove they can win without Timo and compensate for his absence”.
Timo Boll is due to be substituted in the team, singles and doubles event by Ruwen Filus who according to the world rankings is Germany’s sixth best player with a ranking of 79. Jorg Rosskopf made a further comment “Ruwen has recently strongly caught people’s attention due to his good performances on both national and international level, he has also shown his worth in practice sessions and is making his way up the world rankings”. Filus recently reached the semi-finals of the Czech open.
Much of the attention will now be on Dimitrij Ovtcharov who has so far only won an individual bronze medal at the European Championships in his European debut in 2007. The German player is longing for the title and with the absence of his team mate it will be interesting to see if this year is finally his for the taking.
Like and tweet our articles to the World. Lets spread the word of Table Tennis.
Source: ettu.org & DTTB
Written by: Emily Standing
TableTennisDaily
