Bundesliga
Dusseldorf win “home match away from home” against Fulda
To close Matchday 13 in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL), record champions Borussia Dusseldorf celebrated a special kind of home victory. Against TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, the Rhineland club won their “home match away from home” at Berlin’s Sportforum by 3:1. The match in the German capital was staged under the banner “Champions Doppelpack”.
For Dusseldorf matchwinner Kanak Jha, the concept was an entirely new experience. “It was my first time in Berlin at all. It was good, a great arena and good energy. I enjoyed playing here,” the American said at the Dyn microphone after the match. Jha contributed two points to the success at the Sportforum, where guests of honour included club legend Timo Boll. The TTBL encounter was the highlight of Sunday’s event; earlier, women’s Bundesliga side ttc berlin eastside had swept past ESV Weil 6:0 for their eighth win in eight matches.
“Papa” Meng makes life difficult for Jha
Jha had to go into the box twice, and both times he faced a Meng. “Papa” Meng, Fulda coach Qing Yu Meng, was forced to play due to a shortage of personnel and opened the evening against Jha. “Papa did really well,” said son Fanbo afterwards, impressed. After trailing 0:2, the player-coach battled back in spectacular fashion and only went down in the deciding set. “If he starts better, he also has a chance to win. But you can’t expect that, he doesn’t train anymore,” Fanbo added. Jha, for his part, admitted his relief. “I had a lot of problems with Papa Meng. I had no idea how he plays, it was a strange style.”
Jha had far fewer issues against Fanbo Meng, something the Fulda player acknowledged painfully. “The defeat against Kanak was very clear in the end. The disappointment is huge right now,” Fanbo said, before adding that, in view of his first-ever win (3:2) over Dang Qiu, he would “be very happy in half an hour”. The third point for the nominal hosts came from Li Yongyin, who beat defensive specialist Ruwen Filus in four sets.
Dusseldorf take top spot by the narrowest of margins
After 13 matchdays, Borussia Dusseldorf have taken over top spot from SV Werder Bremen. With both clubs level on 20:6 points and a match record of +14, first place comes down to a single additional match win. Fulda, meanwhile, must keep looking over their shoulder: the chasing pack in the relegation fight have closed in, with the club from Hesse now only two points clear of the bottom three.
Matchday 13 fixtures
Borussia Dusseldorf – TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell 3:1
Kanak Jha – Qing Yu Meng 3:2 (11:4, 11:6, 7:11, 10:12, 11:5)
Dang Qiu – Fanbo Meng 2:3 (11:5, 11:9, 11:13, 8:11, 9:11)
Li Yongyin – Ruwen Filus 3:1 (11:8, 11:4, 8:11, 11:4)
Kanak Jha – Fanbo Meng 3:0 (11:7, 11:7, 11:5)
ASC Grunwettersbach – Borussia Dortmund 2:3
Tom Jarvis – Cedric Nuytinck 3:0 (11:9, 11:8, 11:4)
Tiago Apolonia – Kristian Karlsson 1:3 (11:2, 4:11, 7:11, 8:11)
Ricardo Walther – Adam Szudi 0:3 (5:11, 4:11, 5:11)
Tom Jarvis – Kristian Karlsson 3:0 (11:6, 11:4, 11:8)
Walther/Apolonia – Nuytinck/Szudi 1:3 (8:11, 11:9, 5:11, 9:11)
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt 1:3
Iulian Chirita – Frederik Duda 3:0 (11:2, 11:3, 11:3)
Leonardo Iizuka – Romain Ruiz 2:3 (2:11, 15:13, 12:10, 10:12, 8:11)
Andreas Levenko – Leo de Nodrest 0:3 (6:11, 7:11, 9:11)
Iulian Chirita – Romain Ruiz 0:3 (9:11, 6:11, 8:11)
TSV Bad Konigshofen – TTC Zugbrucke Grenzau 3:2
Bastian Steger – Maciej Kubik 3:2 (11:5, 11:8, 9:11, 12:14, 11:6)
Filip Zeljko – Feng Yi-Hsin 1:3 (11:9, 7:11, 9:11, 5:11)
Daniel Habesohn – Martin Allegro 2:3 (3:11, 11:8, 6:11, 11:9, 6:11)
Bastian Steger – Feng Yi-Hsin 3:0 (12:10, 11:8, 11:4)
Habesohn/Bertelsmeier – Walker/Allegro 3:0 (11:7, 13:11, 11:4)
Post SV Muhlhausen – 1. FC Saarbrucken TT 2:3
Ovidiu Ionescu – Cedric Meissner 3:0 (11:8, 11:7, 11:5)
Liao Cheng-Ting – Darko Jorgic 0:3 (6:11, 7:11, 3:11)
Steffen Mengel – Patrick Franziska 3:1 (12:10, 11:9, 12:14, 11:8)
Ovidiu Ionescu – Darko Jorgic 2:3 (11:6, 4:11, 11:8, 13:15, 5:11)
Mengel/Liao – Franziska/Meissner 0:3 (8:11, 9:11, 7:11)
TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg – SV Werder Bremen 2:3
Csaba Andras – Irvin Bertrand 3:0 (11:9, 11:4, 11:4)
Juan Perez – Kirill Gerassimenko 2:3 (11:8, 11:3, 10:12, 8:11, 8:11)
Ivor Ban – Mattias Falck 3:1 (4:11, 11:3, 11:6, 11:8)
Csaba Andras – Kirill Gerassimenko 2:3 (5:11, 11:7, 11:6, 8:11, 3:11)
Ban/Perez – Falck/Bertrand 1:3 (3:11, 8:11, 12:10, 2:11)
All matches are streamed live on Dyn.
Picture: Kanak Jha of Borussia Düsseldorf (Photo: Borussia Düsseldorf)
