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3–0 against Hong Kong: DTTB men in contention for a World Championship medal
Following another outstanding performance, the German men’s table tennis team are on course for a medal at the World Team Championships in London. Thanks to their convincing 3-0 victory over Hong Kong in the round of 16, the team led by national coach Jörg Roßkopf need just one more win to achieve their goal of reaching the podium.
In the battle for a medal, the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) squad, led by former European champion Dang Qiu (Düsseldorf) – who had not dropped a single point in their 3-0 victory over Slovenia to kick off the knockout stage – will face Japan on Thursday (1.30 pm CEST/Dyn) in the quarter-finals. “It’s all or nothing,” said European Championship runner-up Benedikt Duda (Bergneustadt) with determination.
However, Qiu did not want to draw any conclusions for the upcoming showdown for a medal from the 3-2 victory over the Olympic fourth-place finishers in the first group stage match in London: “The standard is incredibly close, so every match is different.” Veteran Patrick Franziska (Saarbrücken) saw the victory over Hong Kong as merely achieving the “minimum target”: “We want the medal.”
In the team world rankings, the Japanese are in fourth place, just ahead of the DTTB team. In 2024, Germany were knocked out in the quarter-finals at both the previous World Team Championships in Busan, South Korea, and the subsequent Olympic tournament in Paris, and thus failed to win a medal.
The DTTB women’s team, featuring Sabine Winter (Dachau), currently ranked ninth in the world, are also aiming to take the penultimate step towards the podium later on Wednesday evening. In the round of 16, the European champions will face North Korea, a challenger who has made few appearances on the international stage recently and is therefore difficult to assess.
Roßkopf’s team emphatically underlined their medal ambitions against the Hong Kong Chinese, who remain independent in table tennis regardless of their political situation. In their clash with the Asian side, whose best player is just inside the world’s top 50, the German top-20 trio of Qiu, Duda and Franziska once again confirmed their status as favourites in less than two hours. Duda celebrated his fifth victory in his seventh appearance on the Thames, and thus currently boasts the best record in the DTTB quintet.
Source: SID
Featured image above: Benedikt Duda (Photo: Sven Kubeile)
