With record European champion Timo Boll, the German table tennis players are traveling to the European Team Championships in Malmö. With Benedikt Duda (Bergneustadt), the Borussia Düsseldorf veteran leads the five-man squad for the finals in Sweden (September 10-17). Individual European champion Dang Qiu (Düsseldorf), Tokyo bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov (Neu-Ulm) and Patrick Franziska (Saarbrücken) are not in the squad. The top trio will start a training phase with a view to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Instead, Ricardo Walther (Grünwettersbach), Cedric Meissner (Saarbrücken) and Kay Stumper (Düsseldorf) complete the squad in Malmö, which will take on the mission of defending the title in the preliminary round against Poland and Finland.
Led by Ying Han (Tarnobrezg) and Nina Mittelham (Berlin), who came second at the European Championships, the top seeded women also want to repeat their triumph from the last European Team Championships. In addition, Xiaona Shan (Berlin), Annett Kaufmann (Böblingen) and Sabine Winter (Dachau) serve for the German team. In addition to the gold medal, the European champions from Malmö secured a direct starting place for the Olympics.
