Verschiedenes

In a social media poll, fans of the Table Tennis Bundesliga were able to vote for their “TTBL Player of the Month for November” after match days seven to nine and two WTT tournaments, with the Champions Event in Frankfurt as the highlight. A total of five candidates were up for election (in alphabetical order): Ivor Ban (TTC OE Clarity Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg), Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell), Dang Qiu (Borussia Düsseldorf), and Shunsuke Togami (TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen). Ban received the most votes.

Ivor Ban had a “golden November” at TTC OE Clarity Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg. In the middle of the month, the 22-year-old played a key role in his team's jump from the relegation zone to the middle third of the table, and then in the cup, particularly in the 3-2 quarterfinal coup against record winners Borussia Düsseldorf.

For his impressive run with victories against Andre Bertelsmeier (TSV Bad Königshofen), in the decisive doubles match against 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT, and also in reaching the cup final against former European champion and Frankfurt finalist Dang Qiu, as well as again in the doubles, the TTBL community voted Ban “Player of the Month.” With 70 percent of all votes, the Croatian left the entire competition far behind. Only double world champion Shunsuke Togami was also able to achieve a double-digit share of the votes.

Ban played down his contribution to Bad Homburg's surprise success despite his world ranking of over 300 on the day of the match. “The ranking doesn't matter,” said the bearded Croatian. “In the TTBL teams, anyone can beat anyone on a good day. I had a good day and a bit of luck in some situations.”

However, Ban had worked hard for his good fortune in the weeks leading up to the match. Due to hip surgery last May, the left-hander was only able to start preparing for his first season in the German top flight after several weeks of rehabilitation and a corresponding delay following his transfer from Austrian Bundesliga top team TTC Wiener Neustadt to Taunus.

The TTBL had been Ban's goal for quite some time. “The Bundesliga in Germany is the strongest league in Europe with the best players from across the continent,” said the Hesse resident, explaining an important motivation for his move to Bad Homburg after announcing his transfer on an online portal in his home country.

However, the decisive factor was the excellent reputation of Bad Homburg's coach Helmut Hampl. “I accepted Bad Homburg's offer because of him. He is a coach with enormous experience. Under him and through all facets of his training, I can develop further and become better,” said Ban, describing his ambitions at last year's promoted club.

However, Ban was already a familiar face when he signed. During his three years in Wiener Neustadt, which is located in Lower Austria and, contrary to its name, is not part of the capital Vienna, Ban, who was already ranked among the top 140 in the world in 2022, won the Austrian national championship twice. In 2024, Ban and his teammates also reached the Final Four of the Champions League in Saarbrücken: in the semifinals, the Zagreb native caused an upset against Düsseldorf with a victory over Anton Källberg – as he has now done in the cup.

Bans' development did not go unnoticed in Croatia, of course. Thanks to his impressive progress, the new TTBL ace made his national team debut at the World Team Championships in his hometown of Zadar in October – which, in retrospect, seems like a warm-up for Bans' “golden November.”

Florian Manzke