It was a day of disappointment for the home fans on the opening day of play in the Men’s Singles event at the Liebherr Europe Top Twelve in Frankfurt, Germany.
Four groups, three players in each group, with the top two progressing to the quarter-finals which concluded play on Saturday 2nd February 2008.
For Germany’s Timo Boll, the top seed, it was a shock exit in the group stage, for his young compatriot, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, it was a quarter-final farewell.
Timo Boll lost to both Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and Russia’s Alexei Smirnov with the former finishing Group `A' in top spot ahead of the Russian.
Not Surprised
“I am not surprised by today’s results”, said Timo Boll. “For sure, I had hoped to be in Stage Two on Sunday but I have an injury for the past three weeks and that’s affected my training.”
However, Timo Boll was quite philosophical and he has the ultimate target in sights, the Olympic Games in Beijing. “That’s what I am working for this year”, he said. “I am still optimistic to reach my goals in China.”
Slightly Better
Meanwhile, for Dimitrij Ovtcharov, the day was slightly better.
He finished in first place in his group by the very narrowest of margins; he lost 14-12 in the seventh game to Spain’s He Zhi Wen who then lost in five games to Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive.
Success for the Belgian star but then, when facing Dimitrij Ovtcharov, it was a reversal of fortunes. He lost in five games. The end result was that Dimitrij Ovtcharov finished the group in first place with Jean-Michel Saive second and He Zhi Wen eliminated.
Quarter-Finals
Good news for the German but then a reverse; in the quarters he lost to Alexei Smirnov whilst Jean-Michel Saive hit form. He defeated Zoran Primorac in six games to book a penultimate round place.
Semi-Final Places
A semi-final spot for Jean-Michel Saive and it was the same for both Austria’s Werner Schlager and Vladimir Samsonov of Belarus.
The former beat both Petr Korbel of the Czech Republic and Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece to book his quarter-final places whilst Vladimir Samsonov overcame Austria’s Chen Weixing and Denmark’s Michael Maze to progress in similar style.
In the round of the last eight Vladimir Samsonov ousted Kalinikos Kreaga who had finished in second place in Group `C’ whilst Werner Schlager ended the hopes of Chen Weixing, the runner up in Group `D’.
Semi-Finals
In the semi-finals Werner Schlager meets Jean-Michel Saive whilst Vladimir Samsonov confronts Alexei Smirnov.
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