Men’s Germany national coach Jörg ROSSKOPF will give the 25-year-old European singles champion Dang QIU and the two-time European team champion Benedikt DUDA (28) the responsibility as top players of his national team at the World Team Championships in Chengdu (30 September to 9 October). The German women’s team will compete in their best line-up with the exception of Petrissa SOLJA who is still injured (spinal disc).
“Of course we are not yet making a generational change in the men’s team but we are already taking the young generation to task ” explains Richard PRAUSE Sports Director of the German Table Tennis Assocation. In this test for the young generation the DTTB takes advantage from the fact that this time in Chengdu there are no points to be won for the individual world rankings.
Timo BOLL and Dimitrij OVTCHAROV who were injured for a long time before the European Championships in Munich as well as the young father Patrick FRANZISKA together the Olympic silver trio of Tokyo can continue to build up their form during their World Championships break and re-enter the international tournament circus after the World Championships at the WTT Champions and WTT Cup Finals in China competing also for the individual as well as for the Olympic team ranking.
“You have to give responsibility to the following generation of players early on because they have to learn in time how to deal with pressure ” says Jörg ROSSKOPF. This had already worked excellently at last year’s European Team Championships without BOLL and OVTCHAROV who were taking a break after the Olympics. Led by Patrick FRANZISKA Germany’s men’s team won gold. The DTTB women with Nina MITTELHAM and Sabine Winter at the first and second positions this year’s European silver and bronze medallists in singles achieved the same feat even without Ying Han Petrissa SOLJA and Xiaona SHAN.
Besides QIU and DUDA Germany’s men will compete in Chengdu with the German singles champion from 2020 Ricardo WALTHER as well as two young World Championships’ debutants: 19-year-old European U19 Champion from 2021 Kay Stumper and Fanbo MENG who is two years older and was a semi-finalist at the German nationals in 2021. In the women’s singles national coach Tamara BOROS has nominated 16-year-old reigning European U19 champion Annett Kaufmann alongside world number eight Ying Han and the individual medallists of the recent European Championships in Munich Nina MITTELHAM Xiaona SHAN and Sabine WINTER.
The World Team Championships in Chengdu are the first since Halmstad 2018. The World Team Championships in Busan South Korea which was supposed to have taken place in 2020 was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
“We have a good team and a good team spirit. The only thing negative will be our COVID tests everything else will hopefully be positive for us “ said Women’s national coach Tamara BOROS
Nina MITTELHAM: “If we are all in good shape we are a very good team. It depends on the draw of course. Inwardly we’re hoping to play for the medals and even fly home with a medal in the end.”
Men’s national coach Jörg ROSSKOPF: “You have to set high goals. Of course it won’t be easier in this constellation but I believe that my team can achieve the maximum and I trust them to do so in Chengdu.”
Dang QIU: “I gladly accept the responsibility as a leading player and try to do my best and fight for every ball for the team. Then no matter how it turns out I will learn a lot from these World Championships.”
Men’s team
Dang QIU (Club: Borussia Düsseldorf) Benedikt DUDA (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt) Ricardo Walther (ASV Grünwettersbach) Kay STUMPER (Borussia Düsseldorf) Fanbo MENG (TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell)
Women’s team
Ying HAN (KTS Enea Siarka Tarnobrzeg POL / Top Nagoya JPN) Nina MITTELHAM (ttc berlin eastside / Kyushu Asteeda JPN) Xiaona SHAN (ttc berlin eastside / Kyoto Kaguya JPN) Sabine WINTER (TSV Schwabhausen) Annett KAUFMANN (SV Böblingen)
