March 5th, 2021 – 12:10 pm Clock
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Höchst (AP) – The Chinese Liu Guoliang has perhaps the most promising job in the world. He was Olympic champion in singles and doubles, he coached the national team of his country and has been the head of the Chinese Table Tennis Association since 2018. He wins almost every competition he participates in. Nonetheless, in one of his rare interviews in Europe, Liu said: “As long as Timo Boll is playing, I can’t sleep peacefully.”
This sentence can be heard in the documentary film “The Spin of Life”, which traces the remarkable career of the best non-Chinese table tennis player of this century. In January 2003, when he was only 21 years old, Boll was number one in the world rankings for the first time. And Hesse, who has been playing for Borussia Düsseldorf since 2006, is still one of the ten best players in the world this Monday when he celebrates his 40th birthday.
Should the record European champion trumpet on his special day: “I want to be Olympic champion this year!”. Then nobody, not even in China, would tap their forehead with their fingers. Alone: Timo Boll would never trumpet such a thing, because in addition to his success he owes his great popularity to an equal share to his down-to-earth attitude and his sportsmanship. At the 2005 World Cup in Shanghai, he indicated that his opponent Liu Guozheng’s setback had not been noticed or touched the edge of the table. It was Boll’s match point, and the referee wanted to attribute this point to him. In the end, Boll lost the game.
Why is he still with us more than 15 years later? “I still love to play.” And why is it still so good? “Nobody denies my talent or my abilities. Physically, I’ve held up quite well,” said Boll. In the podcast “Ping, Pong & Prause” in February, he added that “I have become more and more attention to detail over the years. What is the opponent planning, how do I react? I play a lot of chess in my head between the rallies.”
To be a world-class athlete at his age is no longer uncommon. Football star Tom Brady won the Super Bowl for the seventh time at the age of 43. At 39, Roger Federer is one of the top 5 in the tennis world rankings. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores one goal after the other for AC Milan at the same age.
Modern training and nutritional science favors this development. With Boll, there is something else: “He’s extremely calm. He doesn’t stress if he’s injured or needs a break,” said national coach Jörg Roßkopf of the German press agency. “In the first rounds of a tournament you often think: Oh, maybe he’s not in a good mood after all. But Timo is calm. He has so much confidence in his strengths, a great respect for this sport and a great one too The joy of training and playing so that he can continue playing for many years to come. “
So is there still an Olympic medal for Boll? “Whether in 2021 or 2024 – he still has time,” said Roßkopf and laughed.
Timo Boll is always reminded of his age when he meets his former opponents. With Roßkopf he still played in the Bundesliga and the national team. The year of his international breakthrough in 2002 was also the last year in the playing career of the great Liu Guoliang. Another well-known name told the German press agency: “Timo played one of his first second division games for TTV Gönnern against TTC Elz. Back then, he played for Gönnern and I for Elz. At that time, Timo was 14 years old.”
This memory comes from Thomas Weikert, President of the World Table Tennis Association. “If he wins or loses, I am happy or suffer. That’s just the way it is. It would be hypocritical if I were to say something else,” said Weikert of Boll. “I hope that his 40th birthday will be a happy one and that something big will happen in Tokyo in the summer. That would be my wish for him!”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210305-99-700951 / 2
Source: DPA
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