Champions League Men | 26 Aug 2014

Playing against BOLL excites Wels

After their best season ever in the Austrian League, Walter Wels look forward something special on European stage. Three months ago ZHAN Jian & Company surprisingly ended 14 year-long winning streak of Niederosterreich in Austrian Bundesliga, becoming for the very first time champions, so everybody in the Men`s European Champions League will be highly motivated against them now.

“We are quite happy that we have been drawn into group D. With Hennebont, a club we already know. Also Borussia Düsseldorf is a very exciting opponent, we hope that great names like Timo BOLL will account for a lot of visitors and amazing games. However, also Bogoria Grodzisk, with OH Sang Eun will definitely be worth watching”, stressed Walter Wels` President, Bernhard HUMER.

The lowest ranked club in 2014/15 MECL Walter Wels plays in Group D, alongside ten times European champion Borussia Dusseldorf, and two more clubs which used to play in quarter finals: Polish Bogoria and French Hennebont. ZHAN Jian, Zolt PETE, Dominique PLATTNER and Lehel DEMETER started excellent the 2013/14 season, beating 3:1 away Werder Bremen (German champion in that time), but they lost other three rounds and missed the second stage. They were beaten twice by Hennebont, the club that will face again.

“The draw was very exciting. All teams consist of experienced players as well as some young talents which will account for very interesting matches”, says Walter Wels` sports director, Mr. Rudolf BRÄUML.

Good circumstance for Austrian side is the fact that Singaporean ZHAN Jian plays excellent in last few months. He won gold on 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, beating compatriot GAO Ning in the final (4:1). He moved from no. 34 to no. 26 on new ITTF World ranking list. Also, Serbian Zolt PETE showed that is able to beat much better ranked player than him.

Alex MILETIC, EWT, Alex MILETIC, EWT