Timo Boll was one of the players who yesterday secured a place at the Olympic Games Rio 2016. The German star emerged successfully over Robert Gardos in the deciding match. Marcos Freitas, Tiago Apolonia and Bastian Steger also booked a ticket to Rio de Janeiro.
Chinese players ruled the world’s top ten as expected. Ma Long, who reached the finals in both Kuwait and Qatar Open ended in the top spot. Meanwhile, Zhang Jike still remained in top 4 despite his victory in Kuwait. As for the women’s division, Li Xiaoxia improved her rankings from 8 to 5. Li Xiaoxia won the Kuwait Open but failed to participate in Qatar.
The German superstar Timo Boll is objective when dealing with the Chinese Team. In his recent interview, he said that the Chinese Team is still very strong and among them, Ma Long is the strongest. He may dare to challenge other Chinese players but not Ma Long. In addition, Timo Boll also said that psychological strength is very important in the Olympic Games.
The field of sports can be difficult. Players don’t just need to pay attention to their opponents but also to their physical condition. Recently, the 35- year old Timo Boll went through a series of injuries which led him to miss a number of competitions. In a recent interview, the table tennis superstar admitted that it has been difficult for him to deal with the injuries.
Timo Boll and Kuka Robot will clash in 2016. In 2014 Timo Boll faced the Robot by the German company KUKA Robotics for first time. The encounter was part of a promotional video in the opening of the first plant in China. In 2015 human and robot met again and in 2016 the story continues.
No German players in semifinals of the 2016 German Open. Timo Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov said good-bye to the competition after being swept in quarterfinals. Boll suffered defeat by hands of Vladimir Samsonov, while Ovtcharov fell against Chuang Chih-Yuan. Ma Long and Zhang Jike are in semifinals.
Following his recent achievements, especially in the European circuit, Dimitrij Ovtcharov has certainly raised his level as a top European player in the world now. His world ranking will support such. In his interview, he has acknowledged his current status but he said that he never had planned to replace Timo Boll.
Top players will see action tomorrow at the 2016 German Open. Players such as Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll will make their debut in the 2016 World Tour circuit. In the women's event top seed Ai Fukuhara will have a hard first match against China's Chen Xingtong.
Timo Boll is back but Borussia Düsseldorf still can't find victory route in the 2015-16 Bundesliga. The record-breaking club faced defeat against Zugbrücke Grenzau and fell to the fifth place. TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, that was enjoying success in the first rounds, went down to the 7th place.
Borussia Dusseldorf is considered as the strongest team in the European circuit and one of the main contributors of it is Timo Boll. Recently, the team and Boll has signed a contract that allows both parties to work together until 2018. The team acknowledges the contribution of Timo Boll while the player hopes to lead the team to more victories.
Aside from China and Asia, Europe is also considered as a cradle of brilliant table tennis players. We can take Jan-Ove Waldner for example who was very strong against the Chinese players. According to Timo Boll, his teammate Dimitrij Ovtcharov has the same capacity but in order for him to achieve such status, he still needs to overcome some weaknesses.
Timo Boll withdrew from the 2015 European Championships to be held in Yekaterinburg this week. The German star announced on his facebook fan page that he will have a surgery tomorrow. He has experienced some pain in his kneecap that needs to be treated. Boll explained that he made this decision thinking of the Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janiero next year.
The German Table Tennis Federation has announced that Timo Boll won't compete in the upcoming 2015 Men's World Cup to be held in Halmstad, Sweden. Timo Boll, WR 7, didn't qualify in the 2015 Europe Cup, because he didn't play for injury. After that, the former European champion was waiting for the wild card but this was eventually given to Sweden's promising player Anton Källberg.
With several years playing table tennis, Timo Boll has already been against a lot of Chinese players. Among the current members of the National Team, there is one player who really impressed him the most and he is Fan Zhendong. Whether in the China Open or in this season’s Chinese Super League, Fan Zhendong has been a really hard player to beat.
Competition continued into the penultimate day of the China Open. In the Men’s Singles, the German star Timo Boll found himself in a very challenging match against Jung Youngsik who surprised everyone with a strong performance. At the end, it was Boll who had more to offer. In other events, the Chinese Team had to bid farewell to some of their players.
Competition heated up as the 2015 China Open started their main draw today. Some seeded players failed to advance further into the competition and first on the list is Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany. He was eliminated by a Japanese qualifier. Interestingly, his partner in the Doubles, Vladimir Samsonov also followed the same route out of the competition.
Zhang Jike was recently in a controversy once again after news broke out about his dispute against his Shandong Luneng Team in the Chinese Super League. Aside from that, he also experienced a serious injury. But according to a staff of the Chinese Team, Zhang Jike will play in the competition. Meanwhile, Timo Boll, Ding Ning and Zhu Yuling also revealed their expectations from the tournament.
The table tennis fans will have another treat as the 2015 China Open is scheduled in the coming days and world-class players will be gathering for the competition. To be held in Chengdu, core members of the Chinese National Team will be in full force. Aside from them, big foreign names like Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, among others will also be on duty in the competition.
After Shanghai posted a defeat in the previous round, they recorded another one today as they faced the strong team of Bayi. In their battle, Fan Zhendong remained undefeated as he offered two points, one coming from Xu Xin. Meanwhile, Zhang Jike was not in the playing lineup of the team for today’s round. Lastly, Ma Long’s Ningbo maintained their high status in the competition.
Shanghai successfully built up their momentum since their first victory in the fourth round. Last weekend, their winning streak was ended by Shandong Weiqiao and Timo Boll was responsible for their victory. Meanwhile, Zhang Jike was still off duty in the competition but despite his absence, Shandong won the round.
