by Simon Daish
A standing ovation for Timo Boll, new heights for one of Sweden’s teenage stars, triple crown successes in Italy and Serbia and a number of first time champions.
Catch up with the main headlines from National Championships weekend with our recap of the biggest talking points from across Europe.
We start off in Wetzlar where Timo Boll made his final appearance at the German National Championships. Competing in front of 3200 spectators the 37-year-old legend emerged victorious over Patrick Franziska at the final hurdle (11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9) to lift the Men’s Singles trophy for the 13th time. Once again the champion and Boll received a standing ovation from the crowd, bringing a terrific nationals journey to a fitting conclusion.
“It was more emotional than I expected. I’m not stopping yet, but somehow it looks a bit like that. Of course, I was highly motivated to create a grand farewell here. It was the right place – in front of such a great audience!” Timo Boll
Nina Mittelham has hit a new milestone in her career, putting in an impressive shift against Petrissa Solja (11-7, 6-11, 16-14, 11-8, 12-10) to claim the title of Women’s Singles champion for the first time. The 22-year old earned another gold medal, partnering up with Franziska Schreiner to Women’s Doubles glory while Benedikt Duda and Qiu Dang took the gold medal in the Men’s Doubles event. Patrick Franzsika and Petrissa Solja emerged as Mixed Doubles champions.
With positions at the Liebherr 2019 World Table Tennis Championships up for grabs Truls Moregard and Linda Bergström outperformed expectations in Eskilstuna: teenage ace Moregard dethroned 2018 winner Kristian Karlsson (5-11, 11-6, 5-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 12-10) to claim his first Men’s Singles success and over in the Women’s Singles final the defensive skills of Bergström proved highly effective against Matilda Ekholm (9-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9).
Truls Moregard came away with another title, standing atop the Men’s Doubles podium with Jon Persson. Beaten singles finalist Matilda Ekholm combined well with Mattias Falck to take the plaudits in the Mixed Doubles while Michaela Karlsson and Christina Källberg stole the show in the Women’s Doubles.
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