Round 5 will be held on December 1st and 2nd as ten times TTCLM champion hosts 2012/13 runner-up. Saarbrucken`s Coach Slobodan GRUJIC focused on the top spot of Group C
Penultimate round of the group stage in the 2016/17 Table Tennis Champions League Men will be held this Thursday and Friday December 1-2nd as two top seeds and multiple TTCLM champions host former runner-ups: TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG– TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN (Dec 2 15:30 CET) BORUSSIA DUSSELDORF – CHARTRES ASTT (Dec 2 18:00 CET). It will be clashes for the top spot of Group A and Group D respectively.
BORUSSIA DUSSELDORF (actual 4-0 score in the Group D) and CHARTRES ASTT (3-1) used to play one against another in last couple of seasons. Their battles have always been close and unpredictable even last year when German side couldn’t count on Timo BOLL who missed half of a season due to injury. Last time they met four week ago when the most decorated European club won 3:2 thanks to Timo BOLL who took two points. Borussia`s Manager Andreas PREUSS expects one more hard clash:
“The match on Friday against Chartres is the decisive game to win the group. The team that will be successful in this duel will be number one. Our target is to reach the quarter finals as winner of our group. So we have to play on the highest possible level to beat Chartres as we´ve seen in France. And for sure this clash could be a match in the semis or in the finals.”
Coach of Dusseldorf`s side Danny HEISTER stated:
“We´ve played against Chartres several times in the last years. It has been close the most time. Sometimes we won sometimes we lost. Chartres is always hard to play. I think that or players are in a good shape at the moment and that we are motivated to win this match and to decide the group.”
Borussia`s newcomer Stefan FEGERL former Niederosterreich`s player now will experience well known TTCLM rivalry:
“In Chartres we won 3:2 and I´ve been successful against Robert GARDOS in the final match in five sets. This shows how close the match was. This time Kristian KARLSSON is back. He was injured in the first game and he is one important player of our team. I feel good and I hope that I can help my team to win this match.”
Other Group D match will be held in Austria as SPG WALTER WELS (0-4) hosts KST ENERGA-MANEKIN TORUN (1-3). They will fight for the third spot.
TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG (4-0) and TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN (3-1) will play for the top of Group A. Russian club prevailed in the first meeting winning 3:1 away. In other Group A game VAILLANTE SPORTS ANGERS TT (1-3 score) hosts ROSKILDE BORDTENNIS BTK61 (0-4) whose sport’s director Allan BENTSEN stressed:
“In Roskilde we lost 0-3 in very strong style from Angers. We would like to chance that and give them a hard match specially ZHAI would like to get a revanche from first match. He showed good form against Ochsenhausen and hope to continue”.
In the Group B the 2011/12 runner-up awaits double TTCLM winner and current champion: UMMC vs. AS PONTOISE CERGY. Russian club has 2-2 score while French team already booked the quarter-final spot as unique unbeaten side in this group. Their latest clash belonged to Pontoise (3:1) as Marcos FREITAS beat both leading UMMC`s players Andrej GACINA and Alexander SHIBAEV.
“As soon as we saw the results of the draw we new that wouldn’t be easy. We fight for every point in the match that’s why all of our matches last around 4 hours and we will continue to do our best in order to win” said TTSC UMMC Coach Tatiana KUTERGINA.
Actual TTCLM runner-up ESLOVS Al BORDTENNIS travels to Poland to play against KS UNIA AZS AWFiS GDANSK – ESLOVS AI BORDTENNIS (Dec 1 18:00 CET). Both sides have 1-2 score and chances for the second spot of Group B. Eslovs won 3:1 in their previous clash.
FC SAARBRUCKEN TISCHTENNIS (4-0) hosts BOGORIA GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI (2-2) in the Group C game. German side already secured its place in the quarter-finals while Polish team needs victory. Saarbrucken Coach Slobodan GRUJIC stated:
“We are awaiting Bogoria in good shape determined to defend our top spot in Group C. Concerning the strength of their team we are fully aware how hard job stands in front of us. We know that we must give our best in order to win”
G.V. HENNEBONT TT (2-2) and TTC OSTRAVA 2016 (0-4) will play in France in the other Group C match. Ostrava’s Petr KORBEL believes that his side is able to reach first victory in the ongoing season:
“Our situation in the group is not the optimal one. Our goal before the season started was to finish on third position at least. So against Hennebont we must win if we still want to reach it. In past games we had a lot of set-points match-points but did not use it… This must be changed if we want to be successful.”
The 2016/17 TTCLM Round 5 (December 1st-2nd)
GROUP A
TTC FAKEL GAZPROM ORENBURG– TTF LIEBHERR OCHSENHAUSEN (Dec 2 15:30 CET)
VAILLANTE SPORTS ANGERS TT – ROSKILDE BORDTENNIS BTK61 (Dec 2 19:30 CET)
GROUP B
KS UNIA AZS AWFiS GDANSK – ESLOVS AI BORDTENNIS (Dec 1 18:00 CET)
UMMC – AS PONTOISE CERGY (Dec 2 14:00 CET)
GROUP C
FC SAARBRUCKEN TISCHTENNIS – BOGORIA GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI (Dec 1 19:00 CET)
G.V. HENNEBONT TT – TTC OSTRAVA 2016 (Dec 1 20:00 CET)
GROUP D
BORUSSIA DUSSELDORF – CHARTRES ASTT (Dec 2 18:00 CET)
SPG WALTER WELS – KST ENERGA-MANEKIN TORUN (Dec 2 20:00 CET)
