(by Steve Hopkins, photo TTBL)
Four weeks in to the new season of the German Professional League (TTBL), and there are no undefeated teams – and 8 of the 12 teams are within one match of the lead.
Preseason favorite Saarbrucken (who added Fan Zhendong to an already incredibly talented roster) lost their first match and has now won three in a row. Saarbrucken is one of three teams tied in first, and one of the five teams with a 3-1 overall record. Similar to his team’s fate, Fan lost his first two matches on his new team, but has since won 3 straight.
Schwalbe Bergneustadt fell to Bremen in their third week – like Saarbrucken’s sole loss, Schwalbe fell in a week when their best player (Benedict Duda) was upset twice. The other first place team, ASC Grunwettersbach, had their sole loss against Muhlhausen. Bremen and Muhlhausen are also 3-2 but with lower point totals, so that puts them in fourth and fifth by a fraction. Bremen’s only loss was to Ochsenhausen, and they have taken out two of the squads ahead of them. And Muhlhausen’s only loss was to Schwalbe.
Expect things to get even tighter as the 2-2 squads find their stride. Ochsenhausen (2-2) has the best performing player thus far, Togami, and a deep squad with consistent players. Rhonsprudel Fulda-Marberzell has Ovtcharov, Groth, Fan Bo Meng, and Filus. And despite logging two losses, Borussia Dusseldorf has not had their “first” team present for their losses – in fact, their best three players (Dang Qiu, Anton Kallberg, and Kanak Jha) have only all been present once – and that was one of their wins.
The only 4-0 player is Shunsuke Togami who plays for Ochsenhausen. Jo Yokotani, a lesser known Japanese player, is 4-1 along with Tiago Apolonia, and Matias Falck. Some other players are undefeated, but due to their travel schedules they have not played as many matches – so, for example, Darko Jorgic, Anders Lind, and Patrick Franziska are all 3-0. USA’s Kanak Jha is 3-2 for Dusseldorf.
With two thirds of the league legitimately vying for a chance at the Final Four, there should be lots of great table tennis this season.
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