As in the previous year in Saarbrücken, European Championship champion Dang Qiu left his stamp on the table tennis championships in Nuremberg. Sabine Winter triumphs in the women’s category.
Qiu (Düsseldorf) was the first player to successfully defend his individual title on Sunday (03/26/2023) after Timo Boll’s departure from the German Championship four years ago.
With his sixth success in a row in doubles with his partner Benedikt Duda (Bergneustadt), he advanced Pen holderplayer even became the “man of the weekend” and also matched the winning record of former world champions Jörg Rokopf/Steffen Fetzner.
In the absence of Boll and Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Neu-Ulm/training break), Qiu confirmed his number one status in Germany at the Noris. Veteran Patrick Franziska didn’t come close to his first German title in his 4-2 defeat in the final against the 26-year-old.
Winter keeps the competition at bay
In the women’s category, Sabine Winter (Schwabhausen), third at the European Championships, outperformed the competition despite the teenager generation following behind. The 30-year-old repeated her DM success from 2022.
Winter also won gold in doubles with her partner Sophie Klee (Weinheim), eleven years her junior, and set a DM record with her seventh title in the competition. Like a year ago, Klee’s club colleague Yuan Wan and Cedric Meissner secured the title in the Olympic mixed.
Strong offspring
After the cancellations of top players Han Ying, Xiaona Shan and Nina Mittelham, apart from Winter, young talents dominated the women’s field. The 16-year-old youth European champion Annett Kaufmann (Böblingen) made it to the final, but she didn’t stand a chance against Winter. Klee’s entry into the semi-finals confirmed the youngsters’ strong impression.
The only 13-year-old talents Josephina Neumann (Berlin) and Koharu Itagaki (Bad Königshofen) wrote DM history as the youngest finalists with their surprising entry into the doubles final.
