Champions League Men | 15 Apr 2022

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV joined Neu-Ulm for the Champions League

The TTC Neu-Ulm e.V. reacted quickly to the current sports-political situation caused by the war in Ukraine and the changes caused by the professionalization of the TT tournament scene and offered a whole range of world-class players a place in its Champions League team for the 22/23 season. In addition to the Germany’s Dimitrij OVTCHAROV, a native of Ukraine, winner of the bronze medal in the singles and the silver medal with the team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Truls MOREGARD of Sweden, reigning vice World champion, the Japanese Tomokazu HARIMOTO, No. 5 in the World rankings, and Taiwan's LIN Yun-Ju, ranked No. 6 in the World, joins the team.

Club manager Florian EBNER is happy: "It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we didn't want to miss. To get such talents to Neu-Ulm thanks to Dima OVTCHAROV'S charisma -who could have imagined that 3 years ago when our club was founded?"

Dimitrij OVTCHAROV talked of his move and the new perspective: "I felt very comfortable in Orenburg, but the situation left me no choice. Thanks to Florian EBNER'S enthusiasm for sports and his understanding of my desire to continue playing up front in the Champions League, we have now started an exciting and inspiring project with HARIMOTO, LIN and MOREGARD, which fascinates me and totally motivates me. I am very happy to be coming back to Germany.”

The TTC Neu-Ulm was only founded in 2019 and was accepted into the table tennis Bundesliga by wildcard in the same year. The first participation in the European Champions League also took place via wildcard in the 21/22 season. The Ebner Media Group from Ulm is behind the TTC Neu-Ulm.