Grand Smash tournaments are to table tennis what Grand Slams are to tennis: the biggest tournaments of the year. From a German perspective, things are going very well in Singapore at the moment.
Three German table tennis professionals have reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Smash tournament in Singapore.
Record European champion Timo Boll (43) prevailed in 3-1 sets against Lin Shidong, 25 years his junior. The 18-year-old is considered the greatest talent in the table tennis powerhouse China and had previously defeated the world champion and world number one Fan Zhendong (China).
Patrick Franziska surprisingly won the German duel with former world number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov 3-2. The 31-year-old from 1. FC Saarbrücken had previously defeated Olympic champion Ma Long (China).
European individual champion Dang Qiu reached the round of the top eight with a 3-2 win against Cho Daeseong from South Korea. The 27-year-old from Borussia Düsseldorf has what is supposed to be his toughest quarter-final opponent on Friday: world number two Wang Chuqin from China.
Grand Smashes have a similar importance in table tennis as the four Grand Slam competitions in tennis. They are the most important tournaments of the year.
Source: Stern
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