(by Steve Hopkins)
USA’s Kanak Jha is moving to Borussia Dusseldorf in 2025. With Timo Boll transitioning out of his leadership role for perennial contender Borussia Dusseldorf, the team has announced the addition of Kanak Jha in the next season – which will begin in 2025 and conclude in 2026. Currently Dusseldorf’s two leading players are Anton Kallberg who is 7-1 in the current season and Dang Qiu who is 5-0 in the current season. The other players on the team all have losing records with Timo Boll at 4-5, Kay Stumper at 1-3, and Borgar Haug at 0-2. Jha is currently 10-2 in the same league (for his TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt team) – a decided upgrade. For Jha, he should be in a position to play many important matches both in the German League and the European Champions League – and he will be practicing two top 25 players (Kallberg and Qiu) and a hard-hitting, fast-improving young German (Stumper).
When Kanak Jha joined Bergneustadt a year ago, he joined a solid squad with Romain Ruiz and Benedikt Duda. The team has performed better than expected – but they are in sixth, one of the middle-of-the-pack teams. Jha has played much of the season as the team’s anchor, and his is having a break-out season – by far his best season in the TTBL.
Jha is one of two players with 10 wins in the German League (Dimitrij Ovtcharov is 12-0). And while some of the top players have only put in limited time thus far (Kallberg is 7-1, Calderano is 6-1, Dang Qiu is 5-0), Jha will finish near the top in total points won for his team. And among Jha’s big wins this season include topping Patrick Franziska, Darko Jorgic, and Anders Lind. If Jha continues to play this way, he should be back in the Top 25 soon – and as important for his new team, perhaps Dusseldorf has found someone to help fill Timo Boll’s shoes.
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