Borussia Dusseldorf hosts Sporting Clube de Portugal this Thursday while the new season will be opened by two games tomorrow September 26th. BOLL: “The matches in Alicante will help me to come closer to 100 percent and to be in a good shape against Sporting”
The 2018/19 Table Tennis Champions League Men will be opened this Wednesday (Sept 26) by two games to be held in Poland and Denmark while the reigning TTCLM champion and current No. 1 seed Borussia Dusseldorf commences its Group A contest this Thursday against last year´s semi-finalist Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Two Borussia`s players finished on the podium in the Men`s Singles event at the recent 2018 LIEBHERR ITTF European Championships in Alicante: Timo BOLL improved his record to seven titles while Kristian KARLSSON won bronze. It was a huge encouragement for the upcoming TTCLM season for sure.
„After a longer period in summer without practicing I only played one Bundesliga game and European Championships. So I am not at me highest level at the moment but I feel better and better every day” stated Timo BOLL seven-time individual European champion and six-time TTCLM winner. “The matches in Alicante will help me to come closer to 100 percent and to be in a good shape against Sporting. I am very happy that I could win the title in Spain one more time but I know that all the other players will be stronger every time. So me and my teammates have to be prepared for hard matches against Sporting.”
Coach Danny HEISTER believes that Alicante`s success will bring a lot self-confidence to his side:
“We are in pleasant anticipation to the start of new TTCL season. We will start with a very interesting match against Sporting. It´s the first time that we play against the Portuguese team. They reached the semis last season and the will still have a strong team with ARUNA MONTEIRO and CARVALHO. Timo (BOLL) and Kristian (KARLSSON) played European Championships. They have been very successful and I am sure both will play with self-confidence and power on Thursday. We will fight to start with a victory.”
German club won all three titles last season TTCLM Bundesliga and German Cup. They beat Fakel Gazprom Orenburg in the 2017/18 TTCLM final on aggregate 6-3 to lift the trophy 11th time in their history more than any other side.
Egyptian player Omar ASSAR current world no. 29 is unique real newcomer in Borussia`s squad bearing in mind that Indian Sharath Kamal ACHANTA spent four seasons there (2013-17). Two-times ITTF Africa Championships winner (2015 2016) continues his career in Bundesliga as he was Werder Bremen`s member in the last season.
2018/19 TTCLM Round 1
Group A
TTC Ostrava 2016 – AS Pontoise Cergy (Sep 27 18:00 CET)
Borussia Düsseldorf – Sporting Clube De Portugal (Sep 27 19:00 CET)
Group B
K.S. Dekorglass Dzialdowo – SPG Walter Wels (Sep 26 18:00 CET)
TTSC UMMC – Stella Sport La Romagne (Sep 28 16:00 CET)
Group C
Roskilde Bordtennis BTK61 – K.S. Dartom Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki (Sep 26 19:00 CET)
FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis – Vaillante Sports Angers TT (Sep 28 19:30 CET)
Group D
TTC Fakel Gazprom – Post SV Mühlhausen (Sep 28 14:00 CET)
Eslovs Ai Bordtennis – G.V. Hennebont T.T. (Sep 28 18:30 CET)
More information: here
ETTU Facebook
ETTU Twitter
ETTU Instagram
