(by Steve Hopkins)
USA’s Kanak Jha has had an amazing start to the 2024/25 German League. TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, Jha’s team, are currently in third position, ahead of many of the perennial favorites including Dusseldorf, Saarbrucken, and Ochsenhausen. FC Bayern Munich is currently in first, a squad that features Kirill Gerasimenko and Mattias Falck. The other team ahead of them is RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell, a team that has bulked up their roster by adding Ovtcharov and Cheng-Jui Kao – moving them from a middle of the pack team, to one of the elite squads.
For TTC Scwalbe Bergneustadt, they will need to maintain a Top 4 position even as three strong squads below them press. For Jha, he has already won 6 singles matches, giving him the best record in the TTBL (6-0). Gerasimenko, the best player on the No. 1 team, is currently 7-1, and Ovtcharov, the best player on the No. 2 team, is 5-0. In both cases, the American is holding his own as one of the elite players in the league.
The most recent action for Jha and his Schwalbe squad was outside of the league, in the German Cup tournament. In the tournament, the team fell to Ochsenhausen in the Quarters. Ochsenhausen’s Calderano won the opening match over Schwalbe’s Frederik Duda 3-0, Jha then topped Simon Gauzy in an impressive 3-2 win to even the score. Adrien Rassenfosse then upset Shunsuke Togami 3-1 to give Schwalbe a 2-1 lead. Hugo Calderano then defeated Kanak Jha 3-1, Jha’s first loss in Germany this season for his team. Gauzy and Togami topped Rassenfosse and Duda in doubles to win. However, for the Schwalbe squad, they lost narrowly without one of their starters (Benedikt Duda was injured). And for Jha, he defeated World No.29 Gauzy and lost 1-3 to World No. 3 Calderano. Lots of positive take-aways for Jha and his team.
The Ovtcharov-lead Fulda squad eliminated defending champions Borussia Dusseldorf in the Quarters. Saarbrucken needed doubles in order to squeeze by Dortmund, but the dangerous squad featuring Jorgic and Franziska has advanced.
Next up for Kanak Jha – one last league match tomorrow (against Fulda) before heading to China for the WTT China Smash.
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