(by Steve Hopkins)

Ochsenhausen dominated Muhlhausen today.  If one were to judge by the standings, 3rd place Muhlhausen was favored over 6th place Ochsenhausen.  However, by ITTF Ranking, Ochsenhausen’s squad had a decided advantage.  Ochsenhausen played with Simon Gauzy and Kanak Jha (both Top 30) and added young Polish Champion Sam Kulczycki (World No.327).  The Muhlhausen squad countered with Daniel Habeson (World No. 46), Ovidiu Ionescu (World No. 55), and Irvin Bertrand (World No. 360).  Basically, the two teams were evenly matched – but with slight advantage to Ochsenhausen across the board.

The opening match was Simon Gauzy, Ochsenhausen’s top player, against Irvin Bertrand, Muhlhausen’s lowest player.  Gauzy won, but they were close games.  3-1 Gauzy puts Ochsenhausen up 1-0 (11:7, 8:11, 11:7, 14:12).  The second match was between Ochsenhausen’s young Polish player Kulczycki who played against Daniel Habesohn.  This should have been a lopsided match-up favoring Habesohn, but it was an easy 3-0 win for Kulczycki.  Ochsenhausen in the lead 2-0.

The third match was between Kanak Jha and Ovidiu Ionescu.  Jha has a slight advantage in ranking, but Ionescu has been hot – including a Finals appearance in last weeks WTT Event in Dusseldorf.  In today’s match, Ionescu started strong, winning the first game 11-8.  But Jha dominated from that point forward – an 11-2 win to even the score and then 11-8 and 11-7 wins to secure a great 3-1 victory for himself and a 3-0 win for his team.

Ochsenhausen is back on track – and now seeded fifth, just one game behind fourth place Neu Ulm (and only two behind Muhlhausen).  The second half of the season has just kicked off – there’s a lot of action on the horizon.

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