(by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor)
Partners two years ago in Suzhou, once again Germany’s Timo Boll will partner China’s Ma Long; it is just one of the intriguing pairings announced for the forthcoming Liebherr 2017 World Championships which begin in Düsseldorf on Monday 29th May.
Also, in the Men’s Doubles event Fan Zhendong will pair with Xu Xin, whilst in the Mixed Doubles, Fang Bo joins forces with the host nation’s Petrissa Solja, Feng Yalan teams with Denmark’s Jonathan Groth.
China’s elite with European partners poses an intriguing scenario with Timo Boll and Ma Long no doubt hoping that the fortunes of the draw may prove more favourable in Düsseldorf than in Suzhou.
“I’m very excited to be playing with Timo in the Men’s Doubles event. It’s a pity that we lost in the second round in 2015, actually we played well and we had chances back then. I hope that we will be able to perform our best on Timo’s home soil this year. I will put in my best effort to value this opportunity!” Ma Long
In the Chinese city they were beaten in the second round by the eventual champions, Xu Xin and Zhang Jike. However, they have experienced success; on the ITTF World Tour in 2013 in Chengdu, they won the Men’s Doubles event at the final expense of respective colleagues Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Yan An.
“I am looking forward to our second attempt at a World Championships. On one hand I have a good contact with Ma Long also away from the table. On the other hand our performances at the China Open 2013 as well as in 2015 in Suzhou brought great and memorable moments for both of us, even if our success had different results. Now we have a third attempt in my home country. This is another, wonderful and very fine career highlight for me to play with Ma Long at home soil in Düsseldorf.” Timo Boll
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