October 6, 2008
Butterfly at the World Cup
Powerful Timo Boll shakes the Chinese World Cup throne in Liège
Liège. Timo Boll shook the Chinese World Cup throne once again in Liège. Germany's European champion bolted into the finals for the third time. After Jinan in 2002 and Belgium in 2005 (same place), he was looking to win the $135.000 doted tournament. In the final round, however, Duesseldorf's 27-year old local lost after a tough fight to world's top ranked Wang Hao in the fifth game. Kalinikos Kreanga, a second Butterfly player, presented himself in great shape during the course of the tournament. Losing only to world's third ranked Ma Long, who was defeated by Boll in the semi-finals, he left him the third place.
Boll's win over China's future table tennis emperor may be considered a warning sign for the other aces from the Asian continent. In and out of injuries for the last two years, Timo Boll has not been able to beat a Chinese top player since his appearance at the China Open in the autumn of 2006 until the final day of the World Cup. After the tournament he expressed his confidence: "I haven't played that good for a long time. The match against Ma Long went almost without mistakes. Wang was better this time. But he had to give it his best in order to defeat me. I'm on the right track."
The European champion is among the favorites in St. Petersburg. It will host the continental title matches from October 4th to October 12th. Boll let the press know that his material change due to the speed gluing ban of September 1st went rather smoothly: "I'm doing fine with the change. I'm under the impression that the new material helps me play better. It gives me improved control over the ball and makes me feel confident during the matches." By the way, Boll plays red and black TENERGY 05 on both sides with 2.1 mm each.
Surprisingly, the German lost to his Butterfly colleague Kreanga at the start of the tournament. However, he won against the bronze medalist of the 2003 World Championships in their last encounter in the Champions League: "A torn muscle fiber bothered me for some time. Realizing that there was no pain anymore, I finally got it out of my head. A little too late though, for the Kreanga match. He also played very well." Boll, who is ranked seventh in the world, explained. After losing his first match he went on to dominate the rest of his opponents. In the preliminary round, he beat world's twelve ranked Gao Ning (Singapore) and African champion Segun Toriola. A win against ex-Olympic champion Ryu Seung Min in the quarterfinals paved his way into the final four. In the semi-final match he defeated German Open winner Ma Long.
In Liège, Kalinikos Kreanga also played an excellent tournament. Greek topspin and footwork wonder went undefeated in the preliminaries. Defensive artist Joo Se Hyuk (South Korea), also a Butterfly player, did not stand a chance afterwards. Along with Joo, Werner Schlager failed to proceed to the semi-finals. Austria's ex-world champion and Tamasu associate lost to both Chinese players, Wang Hao in the preliminary round and Ma Long in the quarterfinals.
In the 2008 World Cup, athletes for the first time had to abstain from speed gluing. Whether all of them chose to abide by this rule may be doubtful. Not everyone is as confident with their gear as Timo Boll. Lacking a control tool that can identify each and every booster and speedster it still remains a problem. Without distinctive penalties for the rule breakers even the best monitoring systems are futile.
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