‘I was really scared that this decision was coming, but it was clear that this day was inevitable.’
Recently, 43-year-old German table tennis world champion veteran Timo Boll himself recorded a video statement saying that he will say goodbye to international competition after the Paris Olympics because ‘a lot of injuries and pains are now making me take this decision,’ although his career will continue until at least 2025, when he will continue to represent FC Düsseldorf in the major leagues.
As the ‘evergreen tree’ that once fought against the Chinese team for more than 20 years, Timo Boll has dedicated countless classics to the ping pong world, conquering a large number of fans with exquisite technology and excellent character, and now it’s finally time to say goodbye, which is really upsetting!
Born in 1981, timo boll is the flag bearer of the 21st century European table tennis world, but also after Waldner, the national ping continued to cause the impact of the longest time of the foreign association athletes, as early as 2002 to beat Wang Liqin, Kong Linghui won the World Cup men’s singles champion, 2005 World Cup is shocked the ping world, even won the Chinese table tennis team three core main Wang Liqin, Ma Lin, Wang Hao topped again.
In addition, Timo boll also eliminated the only two participants of the Chinese table tennis men’s team in the 2017 World Cup, Lin Gaoyuan and Ma Long to take the silver, as for the Olympic Games, the World Series, the Open to beat the main force of the Chinese table tennis team is also countless.
After 2024, Timo Boll was once again on top of his game, winning the WTT Doha Regular Season with consecutive victories over top players Jang U-jin, Aramyan, Lee Sang-soo, Lin Yun-ru, and Zhang Moto-Jiwa, and was in a superb form that has rarely been seen in recent years.
However, even so, already 43 years old Timo Boll is really difficult to return to their peak state, in recent years has repeatedly withdrawn from the international tournament, including the World Series, the World Cup, such a big game, in the German team also fell out of the top two core main position, although selected for the Paris Olympics, but only to become the group ‘third person’, not to participate in the singles programme. No chance to participate in the singles programme.
For their own strength now, Timo Boll himself also know very well, so in the Paris singles programme after the defeat did not chagrin, but chose to accept, while actively preparing for their seventh Olympic trip, and now publicly stated that will soon be out of the international arena, which means that he and the Chinese table tennis team between the long more than 20 years of confrontation will be drawn to a close.
Speaking about the WTT Chongqing Championships, Timo Boll said that this is his ‘last match in China and I’m really looking forward to it’, so let’s cheer for this old rival and old friend!
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