Title Retained, Timo Boll Secures European Gold in Emphatic Manner

October 22, 2012

Courtesy of ITTF

Top seed and favorite for gold, Germany’s Timo Boll won the Men’s Singles title at the European Championships on Sunday October 21, 2012 and thus brought to a conclusion, proceedings in the Danish town of Herning to a conclusion.

Furthermore, he retained the title, won one year ago in the Polish city of Gdansk-Sopot, in a most emphatic manner. At no stage of his march to glory was the 31 year old extended the full seven games distance.

On the concluding day of play he extracted revenge for his London Olympic Games fourth round defeat by Romania’s Adrian Crisan. He overcame the Romanian, the no.5 seed, in five games (10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10) in the penultimate round.

Title Sealed
A place in the final booked; he sealed the title with victory over Croatia’s Tan Ruiwu by a similar score line (11-2, 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 11-9).

Only Poland’s Daniel Gorak extracted more than one game from Timo Boll, one day earlier he had extended the champion elect to six games in their third round clash (8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-1, 11-6).

Surprise Finalist
Unquestionably, Tan Ruiwu was the surprise player of the tournament; the no.26 seed, he caused upset after upset and prevented an all-German Men’s Singles final.

In the semi-finals, he ended the aspirations of Bastian Steger, the no.8 seed; the 29 year old Croatian winning in five games (11-6, 8-11, 11-2, 15-13, 11-6).

Twice the Number
It is the sixth time that Timo Boll has won the Men’s Singles title at a European Championships; twice the number of his nearest rivals!

He won for the first time a decade ago in Zagreb before succeeding in 2007 in Belgrade, the following year in St Petersburg, in 2010 in Ostrava and most recently in 2011 in Gdansk-Spot.

Germany’s Favorite Number
Furthermore, if the year ends with the number “two”, it would seem it is a good year for Germany.

In addition to Timo Boll winning in 2012 and 2002, Jörg Rosskopf, the only other German to win the title, won in 1992 in Stuttgart.

Nearest Rivals
The nearest rivals to Timo Boll are Sweden’s Mikael Appelgren and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus; both won three times.

Mikael Appelgren succeeded in 1982 in Budapest, in 1988 in Paris and in 1990 in Gothenburg. Vladimir Samsonov emerged victorious in 1998 in Eindhoven, 2003 in Courmayeur and 2005 in Aarhus.

Daniel Gorak was the only player to extract two games from Timo Boll
Photo By: Remy Gros

Biennial Basis
However, it must be remembered that in the era of Mikael Appelgren, the European Championships were staged on a biennial basis; not annually as nowadays.

Would Mikael Appelgren have succeeded on more occasions had the tournament been staged on a yearly basis? We will never know but I think to have won six times, most unlikely.

Illustrious Peers
Consider his Swedish peers. Stellan Bengtsson, Jörgen Persson and Jan-Ove Waldner, all three crowned Men’s Singles World champions; each only ever won the Men’s Singles title at a European Championships on one occasion during their illustrious careers.

Stellan Bengtsson won in 1972 in Rotterdam, Jörgen Persson in 1986 in Prague and Jan-Ove Waldner at his eighth attempt in 1996 in Bratislava.

Never Won Title
Three World champions from Europe, who won the European title only once and during the era of the European Championships, which started in 1958 in Budapest; there are three who have never won the illustrious crown.

Hungary’s Istvan Jonyer, World champion in 1975 in Calcutta, never secured the title; neither did Jean-Philippe Gatien of France, successful in Gothenburg in 1993 nor Austria’s Werner Schalger, the victor in Paris in 2003, ever win the coveted European title.

A Men’s Singles bronze medal for Bastian Steger
Photo By: Remy Gros

A Question of Competition
Is Timo Boll that much better than his predecessors? Or is the competition from Europe less than in previous eras?

Three Europeans reached the quarterfinal stage of the Men’s Singles event at the recent London 2012 Olympic Games – Adrian Crisan, Michael Maze, Dimitrij Ovtcharov – but each country was limited to a maximum two players.

Perhaps, the GAC GROUP 2011 World Championships in Rotterdam reflects the situation more accurately? Timo Boll was the only European, the only non-Asian, the reach the Men’s Singles quarterfinals.

Title Haul
Two decades ago it was a different situation but whatever the conclusions, great credit must go to Timo Boll; the victory in Herning means he has now a total of 16 European Championships gold medals.

In addition to his six Men’s Singles titles, he has five Men’s Doubles and five Men’s Team gold medals; it is an outstanding record.

Clear Answer
Is Timo Boll that much better than all other current European male players?

With the greatest of respect to all pretenders on duty in Herning the answer was clear – yes!

Tan Ruiwi, the surprise Men’s Singles silver medalist
Photo By: Remy Gros

Download Full Results
For full results visit: European Championships 2012 – Full Results