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Ten-time European table tennis champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov has withdrawn from the European Individual Championships in Ljubljana due to injury. As the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) announced on Friday, the 38-year-old is suffering from problems with his right biceps. In the Slovenian capital, Ovtcharov had been scheduled to compete in both the singles event and the doubles alongside Patrick Franziska. Ricardo Walther will replace him in the singles, while Andre Bertelsmeier and Wim Verdonschot will take his place in the doubles.

“The withdrawal really hurts. I was in very good form recently and had high hopes for the European Championships. It’s all the more frustrating that I won’t be able to compete now,” Ovtcharov said in a statement released by the association. The tournament calendar is “extremely packed, and sometimes you have to give your body the recovery it needs.”

Last year, the European singles champion from 2013 and 2015 had already been forced to withdraw from the European Team Championships due to problems with his intervertebral discs. In Ljubljana, Franziska, Dang Qiu, Benedikt Duda and Bertelsmeier will compete in the main singles draw, while Walther, Verdonschot and Kay Stumper will have to go through qualifying.

Source: SID
Featured image: Dimitrij Ovtcharov