Led by the ten-time European champion Timo BOLL Germany’s men’s team enters the the 41st Team STUPA European Championships in Malmö (September 10th to 17th) with the goal of securing medals once again. Supported by Team World Championship runners-up Benedikt DUDA Ricardo WALTHER and Kay STUMPER as well as the European Championship debutant Cedric MEISSNER the team is eager to claim medals in Malmö.
Starting with hosts Sweden and France and with strong competitors like European Games fourth-placed Portugal the competition in Sweden is fierce as they hunt down the defending champions who clinched gold in 2021 without freshly crowned Olympic silver medalists BOLL OVTCHAROV and FRANZISKA.
Men’s national team coach Jörg ROSSKOPF has decided not to include European singles champion QIU Dang (Düsseldorf) Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Neu-Ulm) and 2021 Europe Top-16 winner Patrick FRANZISKA (Saarbrücken) in the lineup as they seek a medal.
In the Olympic season leading up to Paris 2024 the current top German trio will undergo an intensive training phase as commitments to international tournaments and their home clubs leave little room for extended preparation. As a result the men’s coaching staff will divide their roles this time: ROSSKOPF will accompany the German trio during the training phase in Düsseldorf. The responsibility during the European Championships in Malmö falls to Lars HIELSCHER the head coach in Düsseldorf.
The German team has demonstrated its strength even without a full roster winning the European Championships in 2021 and the silver medal at the World Championships in Chengdu in 2022 without OVTCHAROV BOLL and FRANZISKA following the Tokyo Olympics. This time BOLL DUDA and WALTHER along with the young talents MEISSNER and STUMPER aim to prove the strength of German men’s table tennis in Malmö.
Germany’s men will compete in the preliminary round against Poland and Finland. The defending champions face formidable opponents in host Sweden who recently contested the final against Germany in the European Games in Krakow. Additionally European Games semi-finalists France and Portugal pose a threat. Croatia Slovenia England and Belgium are seeded in positions five to eight.
Timo BOLL Record-European Champion:
On his return to the team after a long injury break: “My form is definitely on the rise. After the long break I still lack some instinct but physically I’m in a state that no longer worries me.”
On the importance of the European Championships for his return to form: “The match practice at the European Championships will help me get back to my desired form faster. As a player I need competitions to be in top shape.”
On the team’s chances: “If everyone in the team plays at their limit we can challenge anyone but only then. The level in Europe has become closer; Sweden and France have made enormous progress. Portugal is a dark horse for me but surely four to six other teams can also be at the top. However we’re aiming for gold.”
Benedikt DUDA:
On the challenge of being one of the team’s leaders at the European Championships: “It is of course a challenge to be one of the team leaders at the European Championships. I’m happy if I can help carry the team. But in a team all players are equally important. As an individual player you can’t win; you need the whole team. We’re in good shape as a team.”
On the team’s chances and parallels with the Team World Championships 2022 and Team European Championships 2021: “I see a great chance that we’ll go far as a team. People shouldn’t underestimate us. Just because three players aren’t there doesn’t mean Germany is significantly weakened. In 2021 and 2022 we showed that Germany can win titles and medals with a completely different lineup. Winning a European Championship is never a given. We’ll focus on Finland and Poland in the group stage to become group winners. Then we’ll take it game by game even though we dream of bringing gold home again.”
Ricardo WALTHER
On his role in the German team: “I am the second-oldest in the squad after Timo and therefore I automatically have a leadership role. It’s unusual for me in the national jersey but it’s not new as it has been the case in Grünwettersbach at the club for quite some time. I hope I can guide and support the young players in our team. My form has been excellent for months both in the league and in international tournaments.”
On the team’s chances at the European Championships: “We are Germany. We always have a good chance. We will certainly have a squad capable of winning a medal in Malmö. We demonstrated that last year at the Team World Championships when we won silver with a team that on paper was considered a B-team. Everything is possible if we play well and the team chemistry is right. But we need to start small: Even in the group stage we face a dangerous opponent in Poland which has many young rising players. There are many strong opponents and we must be ready from the first match and give our best from the beginning. We have Timo the greatest legend in table tennis with us and he is undoubtedly a crucial element for our success. I’m confident Timo will be in good form and will lead us with his class and experience as the team’s leader.”
Cedric MEISSNER
On his first nomination for the European Championships: “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to participate in the European Championships. I was surprised twice: First that the top stars are not playing in the European Championships although that is understandable in the context of the Olympics. The second surprise was that there was a qualification in which I could participate even though I am not part of the prospective squad. I am super happy that I seized my chance and qualified.”
On his personal expectations for his European Championship debut: “I am aware that I may only be on the bench for my first European Championships but that’s not a problem for me. I will try to absorb everything and take as much as I can from the European Championships for my development and learning. I want to help the team as much as possible whether it’s during warm-up or just by fetching water.”
Kay STUMPER
On his personal expectations after playing crucial games for the team at the 2022 Team World Championships: “I hope that as a team we go far. If I get the chance to play I will give my best to help the team. It’s beneficial that I already have some experience from my previous nominations for the last Team European Championships and Team World Championships. Having played and won important games at the World Championships naturally boosts my confidence. My form is okay even though it’s not my best form yet. But I’m training very well and it’s getting better day by day.”
Richard Prause Sportdirektor
On the selection of the squad: “The continental championships in addition to the already held European Games and the Team World Championships at the end of February in South Korea are one of the top three events on the road to our absolute season highlight the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Our selection aims to get our teams in top form for Paris. For the women who haven’t played any tournaments after the European Games the European Championships are part of the competition phase so the team competes in Malmö with its best lineup. For the men however we have a different approach: we want to provide Dang QIU Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Patrick FRANZISKA with an extended training phase with the view of Paris which includes the European Championship period.”
On expectations for the German teams: “The situation is similar to 2021 at the European Championships and 2022 at the World Championships for the men. We enter with a very strong team capable of competing for medals in Malmö. We saw at the Team World Championships how a German team can play itself into a tournament but the strong nations are all very closely matched. Host Sweden France and Portugal are all highly regarded competitors. For the women I hope that our team will likely compete for the title again alongside their perennial rival Romania.”
Jörg ROSSKOPF Man’s national trainer
On the decision to have Dang QIU Dima OVTCHAROV and Patrick FRANZISKA undergo a multi-week training phase in Düsseldorf including during the European Championships: “The idea has been growing on me for a while that with an eye on the 2024 Olympics we need creative measures to get the necessary training phases for performance improvement. Additionally our players’ current form isn’t great. In such a situation you have to set priorities and weigh them individually. That’s what we did in the case of this European Championship. For Timo who has trained quite a bit after recovering from an injury competitions are currently the top priority. However Dima Dang and Patrick have had less training in the summer but many tournament travels. With such a packed schedule we practically have to buy slots by giving up competitions to train for an extended period. The planned multi-week training phase for the three is crucial to bring the players to a better level with targeted training in the second half of the season. They will be in better shape both physically and mentally starting from October.”
On the European Championship nominations and the division of coaching roles: “We have the advantage of drawing from a large pool of talent and traveling to the European Championships in Malmö with a fantastic team. We are going with strong experienced players and two younger ones just as we did successfully in the last European Championship and World Championship. It’s crucial to introduce the younger players to international highlights. We as coaches will also split up this time with Lars HIELSCHER being responsible on the bench in Malmö and I will work with the three players in Düsseldorf. The schedule demands that we take these new paths.”
Lars HIELSCHER Head Coach
On the new situation of being solely responsible on the bench during the Team European Championships: “I have had this experience quite frequently at individual tournaments but experiencing a Team European Championship not as an assistant but in this case as the head coach is entirely new. It’s a special challenge and motivation for me to sit alone on the bench for the first time and coach the team in a team tournament. I’m looking forward to it very much. I want to express my gratitude for the trust placed in me by Richie and Rossi (referring to Sport Director Richard PRAUSE and Men’s National Team Coach Jörg ROSSKOPF) which I clearly feel.”
On expectations for his team: “Our team’s goal is to win a medal and stand on the podium. Everything is possible; we are certainly capable of beating any other team with our lineup. But there’s now a really broad circle of strong competitors including host Sweden France and Portugal. However it’s not just these four teams that reached the semifinals at the European Games but also Slovenia with Darko JORGIC and Deni KOZUL Croatia with Andrej GACINA and Tomislav PUCAR the currently strong Denmark with Anders LIND and Jonathan GROTH. There are many teams playing at a very similar level. Therefore this will be a wide-open European Championship. But our goal is to win a medal and maybe more.”
