TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt remains on the road to success in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). On the third matchday, the team led by Kanak Jha, Adrien Rassenfosse and Benedikt Duda achieved a convincing 3:1 home win against Post SV Mühlhausen. While Bergneustadt continue to be among the league leaders, the Thuringians' crisis is deepening and they remain at the bottom of the table after this latest defeat.
The match began with a dominant performance from Kanak Jha, who defeated Irvin Bertrand with a clear 3:0 (11:4, 11:5, 11:9). Jha played almost flawlessly in the first two sets. Only in the third set did it briefly get a little tighter, but the US American remained calm and secured Bergneustadt the early lead.
After the perfect start, Adrien Rassenfosse continued his impressive run. The young Belgian came up against the experienced Austrian Daniel Habesohn. But there was little sign of a duel at eye level. Rassenfosse played freely and dominated Habesohn right from the start. The sets (11:3, 11:4, 11:7) went to Rassenfosse in no time at all, who set a strong example with his performance.
Mühlhausen only managed one point of honor that evening. This was secured by Ovidiu Ionescu, who defeated Benedikt Duda 3:0 (11:9, 12:10, 13:11) in a close duel in the third singles match of the evening. The close set scores in particular showed how hard-fought the match was. Duda, who was often considered a safe bet for Bergneustadt last season, fought his way into extra time in all three sets, but ultimately had to concede defeat to Ionescu.
“We got off to a poor start to the season and are not currently playing at our top level,” said Ionescu after the match. “Bergneustadt played well today and Kanak Jha showed an extremely strong level against Mengel and Bertrand. We now have to prepare better for the next games in order to get the points we urgently need.”
In the last match of the evening, Kanak Jha secured the overall victory for Bergneustadt. He won 3:1 (11:4, 10:12, 11:7, 11:6) against Steffen Mengel, who had replaced Daniel Habesohn. After the match, Jha expressed his satisfaction: “I'm very happy about the win. Mühlhausen is a great team with four good players and it's always difficult to predict who you're going to play against. It was a very good day for us today.”
With the 3:1 victory, TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt remains in the top group of the TTBL. The performance of Jha in particular, who now has six singles wins to his name, shows that Bergneustadt can continue to fight for the top of the table in the coming weeks.
Mühlhausen, on the other hand, will now have to get over their false start as quickly as possible and get back to their game. Coach Erik Schreyer's team urgently needs to collect points to avoid losing touch with the midfield.
Click here for the current table: https://www.ttbl.de/bundesliga/table
TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt - Post SV Mühlhausen 3:1
Kanak Jha - Irvin Bertrand 3:0 (11:4, 11:5, 11:9)
Adrien Rassenfosse - Daniel Habesohn 3:0 (11:3, 11:4, 11:7)
Benedikt Duda – Ovidiu Ionescu 0:3 (9:11, 10:12, 11:13)
Kanak Jha - Steffen Mengel 3:1 (11:4, 10:12, 11:7 11:6)
BV Borussia 09 Dortmund - ASC Grünwettersbach 2:3
Li Yongyin - Guilherme Teodoro 3:1 (13:11, 11:8, 9:11, 11:6)
Anders Lind - Tiago Apolonia 1:3 (14:12, 9:11, 7:11, 8:11)
Cedric Nuytinck – Ricardo Walther 0:3 (5:11, 8:11, 9:11)
Li Yongyin - Tiago Apolonia 3:0 (16:14, 11:4, 11:9)
Anders Lind / Cedric Nuytinck - Guilherme Teodoro / Ricardo Walther 2:3 (11:9, 11:9, 3:11, 9:11, 9:11)
TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell – TSV Bad Königshofen 3:1
Dimitrij Ovtcharov - Filip Zeljko 3:1 (12:10, 12:14, 11:4, 11:7)
Fanbo Meng - Bastian Steger 3:2 (4:11, 11:9, 11:7, 9:11, 5:11)
Ruwen Filus - Jin Ueda 2:3 (11:7, 6:11, 11:7, 3:11, 8:11)
Dimitrij Ovtcharov - Bastian Steger 3:0 (11:6, 11:7, 11:5)
1. FC Saarbrücken TT – SV Werder Bremen 2:3
Patrick Franziska – Marcelo Aguirre 2:3 (11:8, 5:11, 9:11, 11:7, 8:11)
Wang Lichen – Kirill Gerassimenko 1:3 (4:11, 10:12, 11:6, 9:11)
Darko Jorgic – Mattias Falck 3:1 (11:8, 8:11, 12:10, 11:8)
Patrick Franziska – Kirill Gerassimenko 3:0 (11:9, 11:8, 11:5)
Wang Lichen/Darko Jorgic – Mattias Falck/Marcelo Aguirre 1:3 (10:12, 11:5, 9:11, 8:11)
Borussia Düsseldorf – TTC OE Bad Homburg 3:0
Dang Qiu - Csaba Andras 3:2 (11:8, 13:15, 11:5, 8:11, 11:8)
Kay Stumper - Yuma Tsuboi 3:1 (11:8, 8:11, 11:7, 11:7)
Anton Källberg - Kristian Karlsson 3:1 (11:5, 12:14, 11:5, 11:3)
Montag, 23. September
19 Uhr: TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen - TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau
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Featured image: Kanak Jha (Photo: TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt)