The three key members of the Hungarian men’s national team are in Ochsenhausen while women’s national team is practicing with the Polish team in a home soil environment. After the best male players trained in Austria for a week and then prepared at home together with the Croats Bence MAJOROS and Ádám SZUDI returned to Ochsenhausen and a week later they were joined by Nándor ECSEKI and Péter MUSKÓ the head coach of the national team. “We can train in completely professional conditions” Péter MUSKÓ told about the table tennis center in Germany again. “There are two or three workouts a day along with a conditioning program. A team that is unprecedented in Hungary helps our work. Everyone is watching and observing everyone everyone is sharing everything with others everyone is helpful and considers the development of the other a priority. There were times when the six of us were watching eight players. There is always someone who deals with the players on a daily basis and also who travels with them to international competitions. There are also two multi-ball coaches one Chinese and one Romanian. I asked the former to show the benefits and use of Chinese soft and the serve-serve receive to Nándi with whom he then spent separately an hour and a half.” The Hungarian boys train together among others with the Brazilian Hugo CALDERANO and Vitor ISHIY as well as with the Frenchan Simon GAUZY and Can AKKUZU. “They put one hundred and ten percent into their workouts every single day” praised the head coach the before mentioned world class players. “I could not come to training in the morning without AKKUZU being there before the scheduled time. It is this attitude that makes it easier the work for the coaches as well. This is how when there is a common goal.” Starting on Wednesday the three Hungarian players will take part in the challenger series in the company of players like the Serbian Alexander KARAKASEVIC and the Slovenian Bojan TOKIC. The European Championships organized in Warsaw have been postponed but the members of Hungarian national team are confident that the national championships can begin and they also try to make up for the missed competitions with friendly matches played with neighboring countries. The Central European cooperation also continues on the women’s line the Polish national team arrived in Budapest on Monday. “With the exception of LI Qian who is of Chinese descent they have their bests here with Natalia PARTYKA Natalia BAJOR a European Youth Champion. They came with eight players and three coaches. We sat down discussed with each other what our ideas and expectations were and we have reached a ‘compromise’. We definitely wanted to play matches so we will have friendly matches with them on Thursday afternoon and on Friday morning” reported on this week’s program Zoltán BÁTORFI the head coach of the Hungarian female national team. The Hungarian “bench” consists of Dóra Madarász Mercédesz Nagyváradi Bernadett Bálint Orsolya Fehér Leila Imre and Fanni Harasztovich while Helga Dari Anna Fejős and Kíra Balogh are representing the younger age groups. The Polish players are scheduled to return for the Budapest Championships held next week and even a few Slovak players have indicated their intention to participate so a very high-quality field can come together.    

The overall winner of the Dusseldorf Masters is Dang QIU. The world number 52nd from Grunwettersbach clearly defeated his national team colleague Steffen MENGEL (Muhlhausen) in the final match of the final tournament 11:6 11:7 11:4 5:11 and 11:4. The twelfth and last tournament of the Master Series at the ARAG CenterCourt will be the second women’s edition next weekend which will be held on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.   The final became an unexpectedly clear-cut affair after two previously close matches. In the third duel between the two opponents however Dang QIU managed to make an appearance in absolute world class manner against a strong Steffen MENGEL. If the Portugal Open winner failed to open the duel himself for once the penholder ace responded in the first three sets and in the fifth round with an even more aggressive shot or a placement so accurate that it gave him the initiative again after the rally. Only in the fourth game QIU lost the reins against the unattached MENGEL but he took control again in the fifth game and won numerous spectacular rallies.    Dang Qiu who had won tournament seven and was the most consistent of all players throughout the series was happy about the deserved win of the Masters Final: “I played quite well today and it is a nice fact that I won the Final tournament. It’s great that we had the chance to play a competition series with the Düsseldorf Masters in Corona times. That’s important to control our shape and the fact that the matches are streamed live is of course an additional incentive. It’s good to see that since mid-July a few spectators have been allowed to be in the hall again so it’s even bigger motivation.”    Spanish Open semi-finalist Steffen MENGEL who had also reached the final at the Masters premiere and was also one of the most consistent players in the Masters series congratulated the winner: “Dang is in super form and played really well today. After my good semi-final I was hoping to make the final more open. He deserved to win.”   Both Dang QIU and Steffen MENGEL had already presented themselves in brilliant form in their preliminary round matches this morning.   In the first semi-final the later winner Dang QIU didn’t really let the 21-year-old Gerrit ENGEMANN unfold his full potential. The second-league player of TTC GW Bad Hamm who yesterday with his victory over the top favourite and world number 16 Patrick Franziska (Saarbrucken) had caused the Masters exclamation mark of the last three months also today at 9:11 6:11 6:11 11:9 and 7:11 repeatedly proved his class and talent. But the 2019 U21 European Championship runner-up did not find a really tried and tested recipe in his fourth duel with the penholder ace. After all the Westphalian who had started the match strongly managed to win his first game against the man from Grunwettersbach with a remarkable final phase in the fourth game.   For the future however the ambitious man wants more than just a set win: “As I expected it was a difficult match for me. I was able to win my first set against Dang today but unfortunately I didn’t show my best performance. I made too many simple mistakes that should not happen to me so that it might be tighter. But overall I’m satisfied with the Masters final: I played a very good match against Patrick Franziska on Friday. Today it was okay but I have to continue to train hard in order to be able to win against Dang one day. Dang Qiu praised the talent of the DTTB’s U23 squad: “Gerrit did a great job against Patrick Franziska on Friday. Although I had won against him the last few times I knew that it wouldn’t be easy today and therefore I prepared myself accordingly concentrated for the match. Unlike against many international competitors there are no big secrets among each other due to the many joint training sessions. We both knew what to expect.”   Similar to the duel QIU against ENGEMANN Steffen MENGEL always had the better answer to every good ball of the Swede Anton KALLBERG in the second semi-final. KALLBERG who was ranked 57th in the World ranking list and who yesterday threw out of the tournament no. 39 Benedikt DUDA had no chance today at his 5:11 8:11 7:11 and 8:11 performance. MENGEL on the other hand seamlessly continued his outstanding performance in Friday’s 4-0 quarter-final win over multiple African champions Omar Assar (Egypt) commenting on his performance with satisfaction: “As in the quarter-final against Omar things went very well for me today. I got in very well moved well again. I was very safe and scored many of the important little points especially in the short-short game. But Anton can certainly play better than he showed in this semi-final.”   KALLBERG commented: “Steffen played well and very confidently the whole match. I on the other hand made many simple mistakes and didn’t put enough pressure. Unfortunately I didn’t really have a chance today.”   One week after the men’s final tournament a second women’s event will conclude next weekend (August 29-30 starting at 10 a.m.) the twelve-part Masters series which has been held almost every weekend since the beginning of June by Borussia Düsseldorf together with the German Table Tennis Federation (DTTB). The first Masters edition of the women’s series was won by Germany’s defensive ace HAN Ying in July. Düsseldorf’s record European champion Timo Boll and world number 11 Dimitrij Ovtcharov did not start as planned at the men’s final tournament. BOLL had to cancel because of a gastrointestinal disorder OVTCHAROV was not available due to obligations for his Russian club Fakel Gazprom Orenburg.   Düsseldorf Masters Men’s Final Tournament (21 and 23 August) Final August 23 Dang Qiu GER – Steffen Mengel GER 4:1 (6 7 4 -5 4) Semifinal August 23 Dang Qiu GER – Gerrit Engemann

The quarter finals concluded with one big and two small favorite falls at the Final tournament of the Duesseldorf Masters. After the top rated upset caused by U23 talent Gerrit ENGEMANN over the world number 16 Patrick FRANZISKA and the defeats of Benedikt DUDA against Anton KALLBERG (Sweden) and Omar ASSAR (Egypt) against Steffen MENGEL only Dang QIU who was seeded on no. 4 was able to justify his role as favourite today. The two preliminary round matches (from 11am) and the final (2pm) will be broadcast live on Sunday on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and tischtennis.de.   Gerrit ENGEMANN provided a big surprise. The 21-year-old talent from TTC GW Bad Hamm who replaced Dimitrij OVTCHAROV threw Saarbrucken’s Patrick FRANZISKA who was seeded no. 1 out of the title race in seven games. The 2019 U21 European Championship runner-up turned the match around just at the moment when the world number 16 seemed to be on the winning track with a 7:3 lead in the fifth game at 2:2. Second division player ENGEMANN took the game 11:8. After a 5-0 start the decisive game even went to the Westphalian player with 11:3.   Franziska praised his opponent but was also clearly self-critical: “Gerrit played quite well I rather less then perfect. I was not satisfied with my performance today. It’s good that the season will start in a few weeks. I’ve clearly noticed what deficits are still there.”   The proud surprise winner admitted afterwards: “I can’t really believe it myself right now. Patrick certainly didn’t have his best day and there were also difficult conditions due to the high humidity in the hall. But I played well and am very happy to have beaten a player who is so high in the world ranking. I’ve never managed that before.”   However Engemann who has already twice beaten World Rankings 76th Alberto MINO (Ecuador) in the Masters Series attributes his good form to the intensive training of the last months: “The very long training phase through Corona has been good for me. It was really time to work intensively on the basics. I feel that I’m playing better and better.”   DTTB-sport director Richard PRAUSE praised the performance of the talent: “Even if Patrick can certainly play better Gerrit certainly deserves this victory with many good balls and a strong performance today.”   21-year-old Tobias HIPPLER also did well in his match against penholder ace Dang QIU. After all the underdog from Cologne after a 4:8 deficit in the third game managed a 1:2 connection against the world number 52nd from Grunwettersbach. In the fifth game the second-division player who is getting better and better into the match also worked his way up three game points but missed the entry into the sixth game.   Favourite Dang QIU then praised his opponent: “Tobi improved during the match and almost reached the sixth game. It was a good match from both of us. I’m happy that I won 4-1 and that it didn’t get any tighter.”   Tobias HIPPLER said: “Tactically I made a few mistakes today that I can’t win such a match with. But overall it was quite okay: tactically not perfect but play-wise quite good.”   In the semi-final QIU now has to face the surprise semi-finalist Gerrit ENGEMANN on Sunday at 11 am. In the previous Masters editions both opponents had already faced each other several times. Engemann remembers the previous duels less fondly: “We played three times and so far I haven’t been able to win a game. That’s why my goal on Sunday is to win a game. But of course I hope that I can annoy Dang a bit more.”   Third German in the semi-finals is Steffen MENGEL who entered the tournament with a wild card. The Spanish-Open semi-finalist dominated the Egyptian Omar ASSAR in the 4-0 win. The player from Muhlhausen was the more aggressive player in the duel between the two top spin artists from the beginning and never let the world rankings 38th find his game.   Even if it was already the second Masters victory for the German over the multiple African champion Mengel had not expected such a clear result: “I was surprised myself that it became so clear today. But I played almost flawlessly over the four games so that Omar also seemed a bit dismayed at the end. But even if the result looks clear I had to be wide awake in every rally until the end to prevent such a game from turning around. The decisive factor was that I managed to play very aggressively right from the start and put Omar under pressure. That’s when such a result comes about.”   Gentleman ASSAR congratulated: “I couldn’t find the rhythm for my game today. I congratulate Steffen. He played great.”   In the semi-finals on Sunday at 11:50 a.m. Steffen MENGEL faces the Swede Anton KALLBERG who defeated the world number 38 Benedikt DUDA 4-2 today.   For Kallberg it was the second success within a few weeks in the quarter finals over the man from Bergneustadt whom he had also defeated in the final of the eighth Masters edition.   Anton Kallberg was satisfied: “It was a very close match between Benne and me in which serve and gameback were very dominant. But the main thing was that I won. In the end the deciding factor was that Benne made a few more simple mistakes. But I’m also in good shape a week ago I won a tournament in Sweden. Tomorrow I’ll train once and rest otherwise to be fit for the semi-finals on Sunday.”    Benedikt DUDA admitted after the defeat: “Anton played well today. I didn’t have enough resources today to win the match. That’s why he deserved to win.”   Duesseldorf Masters final tournament (21 and 23 August)   Final August 23 Final August 23 2 p.m. Semifinal August 23 Dang Qiu GER – Gerrit Engemann GER 11 o’clock Steffen Mengel GER

The doubles World champion from 1957 and singles European champion from 1962 Agnes SIMON passed away on August 19th at the age of 85 after a short illness.   Agnes SIMON born ALMASI had shaped table tennis in Germany and Europe for decades. She was the only world-class player who represented three national associations at nine Worlds and nine European championships. Born in 1935 in Budapest she took part in a World Cup for Hungary for the first time at the age of 15 reaching the quarter-finals in doubles. This was followed by World Cup bronze (1953) and silver (1954) with the team.   Her biggest success was in Stockholm in 1957 where she won the doubles title alongside teammate Livia MOSSOCZY. Following that success she moved to Netherlands. In Dutch jersey she reached the quarter-finals in singles and doubles at the 1959 World Cup in Dortmund.   In 1960 SIMON moved to Germany and the family settled in Duisburg. The success of the DSC (formerly DTC) Kaiserberg is closely linked to her name. She led her Duisburg district club to the German team championship 18 times won the German Cup 15 times won the European Cup in 1966 and the Nancy Evans Cup in 1971 and 1981. She was still active in the Bundesliga at the age of 60. Her teammates over the years have included the former national players Ursula KAMIZURU (born HIRSCHMÜLLER) Margit FREIBERG and Katja NOLTEN.   She entered the Bundesliga at the age of 57 and remained loyal to the Kaiserbergs as a founding member of the league even after relegation to the first division in mid-1993. Her international career was long over by then but she said she was playing “better than ever today”.   She won the German Open three times in a row: 1960 for the Netherlands 1961 and 1962 for Germany. On her European championship debut for her new home country in 1962 she won medals in all four competitions: gold in singles and with the team (with Buchholz Harst and Matthias) silver in doubles and mixed. In 1968 she added a team title (with Buchholz Hendriksen and Krüger) and four more medals by 1976. Between 1962 and 1976 she made 93 international matches for the DTTB.  

Benedikt DUDA is the winner of the tenth Duesseldorf Masters. The man from Bergneustadt secured the tournament victory with his second final victory in seven games over the Egyptian Omar ASSAR. Numbers 39 and 38 of the world had already played the final of the sixth Masters against each other in July. On Friday and Sunday the Masters final will now see a big showdown with eight world-class players. The two final round days can be watched on 21.8. (from 5 pm) and 23.8. (from 11 am) in live streaming on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and on tischtennis.de.   In a high-class final Benedikt DUDA secured the title of the tenth Masters Edition with 13:11 11:13 4:11 11:4 11:6 6:11 and 11:8 ahead of Omar ASSAR. The multiple African champion was in a Masters final for the third time but after his previous defeats against Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Benedikt DUDA he was unsuccessful this time as well. Although ASSAR initially fended off two match points in the deciding game at 6-10 the Bergneustadt player’s third attack attempt was successful.   DUDA was happy about his second title win which in the final spurt also allowed him to overtake the long leading Dang QIU (Gruenwettersbach) in the Masters overall standings: “I am very satisfied with my performance. Against Omar it’s always a difficult match for me. His timing matches my balls very well so it was again a great final with incredible rallies. I’m very happy that I could win by a narrow margin at the end.”   Omar ASSAR did not see the reasons for his renewed defeat in the playing field: “I need to work more on my tactics so that I can be more flexible. Seven games are very long and my problem was that I played the same in all seven games. But Benne was also very strong today I congratulate him on his victory.”   In the semi-final in the morning the hopes of Steffen MENGEL and Tobias HIPPLER for the first tournament victory were dashed. Like a week ago Mengel from Muelhausen lost the duel of friends with his long-time Bergneustadt club colleague Benedikt Duda.   As with the ninth Masters edition it was a match at eye level with Duda finally winning 4-3 after trailing 2-3 in games and then admitting self-critically: “I played a bit unstable. In the fourth game with a 5-1 lead I missed a few good balls and a possible 3-1 lead. Instead Steffen then won two games in a row. But in the end I managed to play more aggressively and put him under pressure with balls taken early. But a bit of luck was also there today.”   Spanish-Open semi-finalist Steffen Mengel analysed: “It was a relatively balanced game over seven games. In the end a few key situations tipped the scales and Benne used them well. That’s why he won.”   In the second fight for a place in the final second division player Tobias HIPPLER was left behind against Egypt’s number one Omar ASSAR. The 21-year-old from Cologne found his way into the match in an exchange of shots with many worthwhile rallies after a 3-0 deficit secured the fourth game and fought his way back to game points in the fifth round.   In the end however the experienced player prevailed as expected and was satisfied: “I think I had a good day today. It was a very good match today Tobias also played strongly”.   Talent Tobias HIPPLER was satisfied with his performance but he also knows that there is still a lot of work ahead of him: “From a playing point of view I was in a good mood but I made a few tactical mistakes that you can’t afford to make against a player of his level. Omar is going quickly to the back and is very much there so you can’t afford the one or two slight mistakes per game that I made.”   At the big Masters final on Friday (21.8 from 5PM) and Sunday (23.8. from 11 AM) eight world class players will play for the overall victory. The field of participants is made up of the five best players on points from previous tournaments and three more aces who will receive a wild card.   While the names of the three chosen players will not be announced until the beginning of the week five participants have already been determined based on the Masters overall standings. With Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (No. 11 in the world ranking list) Benedikt DUDA (WR 39) and Dang QIU (WR 52) three German stars as well as the Egyptian Omar ASSAR (WR 38) and the Swede Anton KALLBERG (WR 57) two international stars will be competing in the final.   DUDA (180 points) won the points ranking of the Masters series with his second tournament victory in the final spurt ahead of qiu (170) OVTCHAROV (160) ASSAR (140) and KALLBERG (130). The nine men’s tournaments were won by Timo BOLL (Masters I) Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Masters II Masters III and Masters IX) Bastian STEGER (Masters IV) Benedidkt DUDA (Masters VI and Masters X) Dang QIU (Masters VII) and as the only foreign winner so far the Swede Anton KALLBERG (Masters VIII). The women’s tournament was won by HAN Ying (Masters V).   Duesseldorf Masters 10th tournament (August 14-16) Final August 16 Benedikt Duda GER – Omar Assar EGY 4:3 (11 -11 -4 4 6 -6 8) Semifinal August 16 Omar Assar EGY – Tobias Hippler GER 4:1 (6 6 6 -8 13) Benedikt Duda GER – Steffen Mengel GER 4:3 (10 -9 7 -8 -4 7 5)  

The quarter-final matches of the tenth Duesseldorf Masters concluded without upsets. In the semi-finals on Sunday at 10 a.m. the tournament favourites Omar ASSAR (Egypt) and Benedikt DUDA (Bergneustadt) will now meet Tobias HIPPLER (Cologne) and Steffen MENGEL (Muelhausen). The semi-final matches and the final (1 p.m.) will be broadcast via live streaming on Sportdeutschland.TV Borussia-TV and on tischtennis.de.   With his entry into the semi-finals the world number 38 Omar ASSAR finally conquered his place as one of the five best players on points in the eight-man field of the Masters finals which will be held next week on Friday and Sunday at the ARAG CenterCourt. The multiple African champion had a tough nut to crack however and in a top-class match kept Mainz talent Cedric MEISSNER at bay in only six contested games.   Omar ASSAR praised his opponent: “Cedric played much better today than he did last time. The guys from the German U23 squad are in a good mood right now. I hope I can improve again in the semi-finals tomorrow.”   ASSAR’S opponent in the fight for entry into the final will be Tobias HIPPLER on Sunday at 10.45 am. In a left-handed duel against Fanbo Meng (Fulda) who is two years younger the 21-year-old Cologne second-division player secured his second place in a Masters semi-final with a 4-1 victory.   Tobias HIPPLER: “Fanbo and I have known each other for ages. That’s why it’s always a special game: He knows where I’m playing and vice versa. I played very well was very concentrated and made few mistakes. And of course I’m glad that it didn’t get any tighter.”   Benedikt DUDA is flirting with his second title win at the Masters. The winner of the sixth tournament had no trouble in any of the four sets today with surprise quarter-finalist Michael SERVATY (Buschhausen) who beat Kirill FADEEV (Dortmund) yesterday.   Benedikt DUDA said after the match: “Michi and I know each other from our youth and have often played against each other. I think he won against me more often than I won against him. It was a good game. He surprised me more often but it was a solid performance from me.”   The number 39 of the world will face Steffen MENGEL in the first semi-final on Sunday at 10 a.m. who beat Gerrit ENGEMANN (Hamm) in six worth seeing sets today. The duel which ended 4-2 for DUDA a week ago should again be a high-class and exciting affair. The two friends wore the Bergneustadt jersey together for several years and know each other inside out.   Mengel was satisfied with his performance: “Gerrit played very well. At the beginning I had him pretty much in control of the game. Afterwards I became a bit more passive and he made good use of that. The last two sets I played more actively again and now I’m of course very happy that I won.”   Düsseldorf Masters 10th tournament (14-16 August) Final August 16 1 p.m. Semifinal August 16 Benedikt Duda GER – Steffen Mengel GER 10 o’clock Omar Assar EGY – Tobias Hippler GER directly after but not before 10.45 a.m. Quarterfinal August 15 Omar Assar EGY – Cedric Meissner GER 4:2 (8 -8 6 -11 8 8) Tobias Hippler GER – Fanbo Meng GER 4:1 (11 9 -7 6 8) Steffen Mengel GER – Gerrit Engemann GER 4:2 (3 10 -8 -7 6 6) Benedikt Duda GER – Michael Servaty GER 4:0 (6 6 9 8)