Bundesliga

More than two months later than planned, US star Kanak Jha is set to make his debut for TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL) following the end of his more than one-year doping ban. The club of national player Benedikt Duda announced the debut of the former top 20 player for the home match on Monday (March 18/19:00/Dyn) against 1. FSV Mainz 05 on the club's website.

Jha was suspended in his home country in December 2022 for violating anti-doping rules. This was followed by a twelve-month ban on March 15.

However, because the 2021 World Championship fifth-placer had played in an official tournament shortly after his suspension, the US Anti-Doping Agency refused to allow the Californian to count his provisional ban towards his subsequent ban.
The appeal by Jha, who could not be found by doping control officers three times in 2022, was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last fall.

The extension of his involuntary break from playing caused a stir on the TTBL player market. After his contract with TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen expired last summer, TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau initially brought the 23-year-old back to the Brexbach despite his suspension and planned to sign the 2016 Olympian from December. However, in light of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Jha's ban, the Westerwald club terminated the contract in December without the four-time US champion having played once.

Bergneustadt then secured Jha's services. On the day of the game against his former club Mainz, his suspension will have expired by just three days. After that, the Oberberg club only has three more matches left in the main round in the race to reach the playoffs.

Bergneustadt is the fifth stop in Germany for Jha, who was discovered by German coach and former national player Stefan Feth. Before joining Ochsenhausen, the right-hander played for TTC Herne and the then second-division club Mainz in the lower leagues and for one year in Grenzau in the upper leagues.

Source: SID
Featured image above: Kanak Jha (Photo: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt)