(by Steve Hopkins)

Kanak Jha joined TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt late in the season – bolstering a team that already has Romain Ruiz and Benedict Duda for the last three matches of the Bundesliga season. Bergneustadt was unable to make a run – finishing 1-2 over those three matches.  With the season now over, the team finished 5-5 – tied with Ochsenhausen and Koenigshofen in the 5th/6th/7th positions – where only the top four teams advance to the end of year playoff.

For Kanak, it was a strong finish. His first match (against Grenzau) was a win over World No. 66 Yi Hsin Feng.  The team went on to win that match 3-0, giving them hope for a late season come-back, but they faltered in their second match as a team.  That match was earlier this week, when the faced off against Bremen.  Kanak started the team off well with a 3-2 win over Marcelo Aguirre (World No. 130).  But Werder has strong players from top to bottom, and their top two players each won their matches – Mattias Falck 3-0 over Benedict Duda and Kirill Gerasimenko 3-2 over Romain Ruiz.  This brought Kanak up against, but he fell 1-3 against Mattias Falck (World No. 24).

The final match of Bergneustadt’s season was played today, and it was against Kanak’s old team – TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.   Today, Ochsenhausen won the first two matches with Alvaro Robles defeating Rassenfosse and Sam Kulczycki defeating Benedict Duda.  Kanak then defeated Hayate Suzuke 3-1 to put Bergneustadt on the board.  However Can Akkuzu defeated Duda 3-0 to close out the match for Ochsenhausen.  The two squads both end with the same record (5-5) and neither will be advancing to the Final Four.

For Kanak – the short season included a number of good showings.  His wins over Feng and Aguirre are quality wins over strong opponents.  Hi loss to Falck is a loss against a veteran player with a high ranking.  And Kanak’s place on the team seems secured with 3 wins and 1 loss at a time where no other player on the squad had as good of a record.  Perhaps next season, we’ll see TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt competing in the post season in their Final Four.

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