Timo Boll to Undergo Surgery, Withdraws from European Championships
Courtesy of ITTF

September 22, 2015 – A knee injury has forced Timo Boll to withdraw from the forthcoming Liebherr 2015 European Championships, scheduled to start in Ekaterinburg on Friday September 25th.

Originally the 34 year old German had hoped he would be able to rest for the Men’s Team event, which starts proceedings, and then compete in the ensuing Men’s Singles competition. However, following advice from Dr. Johannes Peil, Timo Boll has decided to withdraw completely from the tournament.

There is a thickening of the Mocous Fold, a thin synovial membrane, below the knee cap.

Ten Months to Rio
“Almost ten months before the start of the Olympic Games in Rio I will have to undergo surgery on Thursday, in order to preserve the chances of my fifth Olympic participation”, explained Timo Boll, who made his Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000.

Notably, he was crucial to Germany’s Men’s Team success in both Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. In the former the colour of the medal was silver; in the latter it was bronze.

“If this problem is not solved in time, the cartilage may be affected; in recent weeks I’ve mostly been playing under pain”, added Timo Boll. “Now I have to act, I have to cancel the European Championships; also, it will be sometime before I am available for my club Borussia Dusseldorf, how long the break will take, it is not clear at the moment.”

Record Unparalleled
Disappointment for Timo Boll in what is very much his tournament.

He has won the Men’s Singles title a record six times (2002, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012); he has been a member of the successful gold medal winning Men’s Team on five occasions (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011).

Furthermore, he won the Men’s Doubles title with Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth on one occasion (2002) and four times with Christian Süss (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010).

The Team
Now, following the withdrawal of Timo Boll, the German outfit for the Men’s Team event will comprise Patrick Baum, Ruwen Filus, Patrick Franziska, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Ricardo Walther.

In addition Steffen Mengel will compete in the Men’s Singles event; whilst in the Men’s Doubles event Patrick Baum will partner Patrick Franziska, Ruwen Filus will join forces with Ricardo Walther.

Bojan Tokic Withdraws
A blow to German ambitions, there is also a blow to Slovenian hopes; tennis elbow, which causes pain in forearm, has forced Bojan Tokic to withdraw from the tournament.