International

The German table tennis men have reached the quarter-finals at the World Team Championships in Busan/South Korea and booked their ticket for the Olympic Games in Paris. The team led by Dimitrij Ovtcharov beat Iran 3:0 on Wednesday and their place at the Summer Games is secure thanks to their progress. The women, already qualified for Paris as European Championship winners, are also through to the quarter-finals after beating Sweden 3-0.

"It could have gone in a different direction right to the end," said national coach Jörg Roßkopf: "It was a good and concentrated performance."

European Champion Dang Qiu put Germany, who are playing without record European Champion Timo Boll in South Korea, on the road to victory with a 3:1 against Noshad Alamiyan. Ovtcharov went one better with a smooth 3:0 against the second Alamiyan brother Nima, Patrick Franziska then prevailed 3:2 against Amir Hossein Hodaei in a hard-fought match. Germany will face Taiwan in the quarter-finals on Friday.

Like the men, the DTTB women led by Nina Mittelham also made it through to the knockout round unbeaten. In the round of 16, Xiaona Shan opened with a commanding 3-0 win over Linda Bergström, while Mittelham had to go the full distance in her 3-2 victory over Christina Kallberg. Sabine Winter then converted the first German match point with a 3-0 win against Filippa Bergand. France awaits in the quarter-finals on Thursday at 09:00 CET.

"I'm glad that we won the match. It was a good team performance," said Mittelham after the win. However, the German team's journey should not end in the quarter-finals: "I hope that we can fly home with a medal again."

Source: SID
Featured image above: Patrick Franziska (Photo: ITTF)