Kilian ort and christoph schuller will never forget this day and this success in their lives. At the 81. The duo from regional league leader TSV bad konigshofen caused the first big surprise at the table tennis singles championships in bamberg. In the eighth final of the doubles competition ort/schuller knocked out the national players patrick baum/ricardo walther, seeded third, with 9:11, 8:11, 11:9, 14:12 and 12:10.
The joy was accordingly great, not only for the two protagonists, but also for the small number of fans on the tribune. "We didn’t think we had a chance beforehand," ort revealed, "there was a lot of respect at the beginning." this was subsequently discarded. "When we decided the third and fourth rounds for ourselves, our opponents became nervous."With the audience behind them, the two musicians from bad konigshofen played themselves into a real frenzy. "Then you get a result like that," says schuller with a wink.
Two hours later, however, the disenchantment was written all over their faces. In the quarterfinals against nico christ/lennart wehking (TV hilpoltstein/1. FC koln) there was the possibility to enter the semifinals with a victory and win a medal. Christ/wehking finally had silver dangling around their necks.
With 6:11, 12:10 as well as 11:9 kilian ort and christoph schuller were on the winner’s ropes. "Then we stupidly lost two sets, each 9:11," ort complained. The sixth round then went clearly (2:11) to the left-right combination christ/wehking.
Kilian ort and christoph schuller can also be satisfied with their performance in the singles competition, as they reached the first main round. For youth international ort, erik bottroff (SV brackwede) meant the end of the line. "I played well in the first three sets. However, I made too many mistakes afterwards."
The result: the match was lost with 8:11, 11:5, 11:13, 4:11 and 8:11. "The defeat is deserved", ort showed himself to be a fair loser, who had made a very strong impression the day before in the qualification with victories against frederick jost (TTC weinheim/3:2), sebastian borchardt (hertha BSC berlin/3:1) and fabian moritz (hamburger SV/3:1). "I played well in a group that wasn’t exactly easy," said the 16-year-old, who was delighted with the group victory.
Christoph schuller was eliminated in the round of the last 32 players against patrick baum, number 32 in the world rankings. "I can get over this defeat," the number two of the regional league leaders remarked with a twinkle in his eye. "He let me win one set as well. I am satisfied."Despite the 8:11, 8:11, 12:10, 5:11 and 8:11 defeat, it was fun to play against a national player."
Schuller had won his place in the main draw the day before in the qualifier. He lost 2:3 against hermann muhlbach (TTC indeland julich), but kept the upper hand against pascal naumann (FC saarbrucken) with 14:12 in the deciding set. Christoph schuller had no problems with niklas matthias from tus celle (3:0) and finished second in the group behind muhlbach.