The dream of the seventh Olympic heaven

“It’s the last chance for us to qualify.” Liu Jia sums up what is at stake for Austria’s table tennis team at the World Championships starting tomorrow in Busan (Kor). The quarter-finalists have their Paris ticket fixed. Before that, the – quite feasible – group with Hong Kong (Friday), Portugal (Saturday), Kazakhstan (Sunday) and Australia (Tuesday) awaits the ÖTTV ladies.

The group winners are directly in the round of 16, the group runners-up play in the round of 16. While the rest of Austria’s team around European champion Sofia Polcanova completed a training camp in Düsseldorf, Liu Jia has been in Korea since the beginning of the week. For the 41-year-old, Paris would be her seventh Olympic participation.

“I would be happy if we could do it as a team,” she promised, sacrificing herself for the others. Particularly attractive: A team ticket also includes two individual starting places. Froschberg hope Anastasia Sterner is in the World Cup squad for the first time.

Thanks to good club contacts in South Korea, Felbermayr Wels professionals Andreas Levenko and Maciej Kolodziejczyk took the opportunity to prepare for the World Cup with Korea’s team in Incheon. Daniel Habesohn and Robert Gardos complement the team ranked 31 in the world rankings. Your group opponents are Algeria (Fri.), Australia (Sat.), France (Sun.) and Denmark (Tue.).

“France is probably out of reach as a medal candidate, but we are clear favorites against Australia and Algeria,” said ÖTTV sports director Stefan Fegerl. “So the 50:50 match against Denmark is about second place.”

Defending champions and clear favorites are China’s selection for both men and women.