(by Steve Hopkins)

Eight teams atop the German League began battling in November, culminating in today’s Finals – with the winner claiming the German Cup.  The favorites this year included the deep Borussia Dusseldorf,  Saarbrucken with co-anchors Franziska and Jorgic, and Fulda with Ovtcharov leading the way.

The surprises in the run to the finals started early this session – with both Fulda and Dusseldorf losing before the Final Four.  That left Ochsenhausen against Bad Homburg and Saarbrucken against Werder Bremen as the Semifinals.  The Bremen squad had Mattias Falck, Marcelo Aguirre, and Kirill Gerassimenko, but they fell 3-1 to Saarbrucken (with Jorgic winning two matches and Franziska taking the third point).  Ochsenhausen then dispensed easily with Homburg with Calderano logging wins against Tsuboi and Karlsson, and Gauzy taking the third point with a win over Karlsson.

The Final was the Hugo Calderano show – with Calderano taking out both Darko Jorgic and Patrick Franziska.  Saarbrucken’s Eduard Ionescu narrowed the score with a 3-2 win over Shunsuke Togami, but Gauzy had already topped Franziska, so Saarbrucken won 3-2.

As the year moves forward, USA’s Kanak Jha will be joining Dusseldorf – perhaps solidifying that team with a more consistent presence.  You can also expect to see Fulda at full strength with both Ovtcharov and Kao playing more.  It should be a competitive year in the German leagues.

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