Tournament number two seed, Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov claimed a major title of his career after beating compatriot – Timo Boll 4-2 to emerge the champion of the 2017 ITTF World Cup held in Liege, Belgium.
The exciting final was watched by a large crowd at the Country Hall of Liege with both players displaying exceptional skills to the admiration of the cheering spectators.
From the start of the match, it was as if Ovtcharov knew how to play against Boll by ensuring that his compatriot committed series of mistakes.
An excited Ovtcharov said after the encounter that he was honoured to be listed among the stars to have won the prestigious title.
“I could never have imagined few years ago that I could be winning the World Cup. I think the support from my family was very helpful because without them I could not have been here today as champion of the World Cup. I am indeed privilege to be listed among the World Cup winners particularly I must acknowledge the quality of Timo Boll who defeated two great Chinese players on his way to the final. I could see he was a bit tired as he could not move very well having played some fantastic matches. I think he deserves the victory as much as I do. I think I will have to go home and celebrate with my family,” the German star said.
Prior to making it to the final, Boll has bundled out World number one- China’s Ma Long in the semi finals.
Before this epic semifinal match, the last time the World and Olympic champion MA has lost to a non-Chinese player was back in 2012, where he lost to CHUANG Chih-Yuan. Since then, MA Long has gone on to win two World Championships titles and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Gold and was seen to be unbeatable!
This all changed today, as 36-year-old BOLL rolled back the years to make one of the biggest upsets in table tennis history, coming back from 1-3 to beat MA 6-11, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 12-10 to book his place in the final and a chance to win a third Men’s World Cup crown.
BOLL’s win, coupled with him, saving seven match points on Saturday to beat the other Chinese player at the competition LIN Gaoyuan in the quarterfinals means that there will be a non-Chinese winner for the first time in seven years and signals that the rest of the world are starting to catch up with the Chinese.
OVTCHAROV also defeated France’s Simon GAUZY 6-11, 11-2, 11-8, 10-12, 7-11, 11-4, 11-8 to berth in the final.