The German table tennis players only had outside chances going into the bronze medal match at the Olympics. But these chances were not fulfilled, not least because the previously phenomenal Annett Kaufmann was weak this time.
The German table tennis players missed out on the bronze medal at the Olympics. The trio Annett Kaufmann, Yuan Wan and Xiaona Shan had to admit defeat to South Korea 0:3 in the battle for third place. For the team, which was weakened by a lack of replacements, reaching the bronze duel was already a great success.
The last time a German women’s team won an Olympic medal was in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, when they won silver. The German Table Tennis Association ended the Summer Games in Paris without any medals; this last happened in 2004 in Athens.
China and Japan will face each other in the final (3 p.m.). China has won all table tennis team competitions for both men and women held at the Olympics since 2008.
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In the opening doubles match, Wan and Shan put up a great fight against the much stronger Shin Yubin and Jeon Jihee after trailing by two sets and were already leading 7:4 in the decisive fifth set. In the end, however, they lost the match 2:3 in sets.
Olympic debutant Kaufmann, who had previously won all five of her matches in Paris, got off to a miserable start with a 0:3 defeat in the first singles match against Lee Eunhye and was unable to find her usual rhythm after that. The 18-year-old had a lot of trouble with her opponent’s varied serve. Shan lost 0:3 to Jeon Jihee in the end.
The German team was missing two top players. Nina Mittelham, the best-placed German player in the world rankings at number 17, had injured her slipped disc when she was knocked out in the second round of the singles in Paris. Ying Han was unable to travel to the event due to a torn Achilles tendon. Shan competed with a slipped disc injury.
Source: Stern
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