TTC 46 Weinheim is back in the DM semi-finals
Weinheim’s women finish the 1st Bundesliga in second place. Now Langstadt or Bingen await – and some changes
Report from the WNOZ by Anja Treiber
The strong Dario Trigolos and Mateja Jeger in conversation with TTC coach Rainer Schmidt
TTC 46 Weinheim were delighted with their 6:4 win against Bingen yesterday and thus direct qualification for the semi-finals of the German Team Championships at the end of June.
It is 4.49 pm when Yuan Wan raises her arms in the sports hall of the Werner-Heisenberg-Gymnasium. The German national player, who took to the court yesterday as TTC 46 Weinheim’s number 1, has just scored the fifth point for the hosts. And so it is clear: the reigning German runners-up have once again reached the semi-finals of the German Team Championships – in the end even on equal points with the German champions ttc berlin eastside, who also qualified directly for the semi-finals as leaders of the 1st German Table Tennis League.
Weinheim’s opponent will now be determined in the pre-play-offs at the end of April. Weinheim will play the winner of the match between TSV Langstadt and TTG Bingen Münster-Sarmsheim, who were guests in Weinheim yesterday. “In any case, short distances. That’s good for us and the fans,” said TTC manager and club board member Christian Säger after yesterday’s tight standings. If Weinheim had lost, Langststadt would have pulled ahead of the Bergstrasse club by winning one more game.
Top even without Bruna Takahasi
However, the TTC, who had to do without top player Bruna Takahashi in the final 6:4 home win against Bingen yesterday, were once again jubilant in front of 128 spectators. Weinheim’s number 1 was playing a WTT tournament in Korea, Yuan Wan moved to the top of the team line-up and not only won the second doubles match together with Sophia Klee, but also the singles match against Elena Kuzmina in three dry sets. It was 3:0 for the hosts because Daria Trigolos was also ahead in the top doubles match with Mateja Jeger. The Belarusian-Croatian pairing only trembled briefly at 13:11 in the second set, but then it was 3:0. “It’s amazing what Daria delivers, even though she has no competition or training practice due to the international ban on Belarus,” said Christian Säger about his number five. In contrast to the other players who train every day, Trigolos is now only in the training hall three times a week after studying German and psychology.
Daria Trigolos and Yuan Wan strong
Lea Rakovac scored the first point for Bingen against Mateja Jeger, who was unlucky to lose in the fifth set after leading 2:0, but Daria Trigolos restored the gap with a four-set victory over Karolina Mynarova. However, Sophia Klee’s four-set defeat against Tomanovska made it 5:3, but Yuan Wan held her nerve to make it 5:3 with a 12:10, 4:11, 11:5, 11:5 win. Trigolos was almost rewarded for her brilliant performance with the winning point after Jeger’s defeat. In the end, it was reserved for Sophia Klee in her 4:11, 12:10, 11:8 and 11:2 win against Mynarova.
Now, after qualifying for the DM once again, TTC 46 Weinheim awaits its semi-final opponent, which will be played at the end of April. The mode recently announced by the DTTB stipulates that there will no longer be a third deciding match. If Weinheim were to win once and lose once, the second leg would be followed by a “Golden Match”, in which two doubles and four singles matches would be played to just one winning set each.
“For now, we’re looking forward to reaching the semi-finals. And of course the team is eager to win it,” says Christian Säger. All the more so because they will no longer be competing in this composition in the future. Bruna Takahashi’s management plans to play in France, while Sophia Klee has been linked to Langstadt, according to information from this editorial team. “That hurts us, but that’s sport,” says Säger, who very much regrets both departures. “But we’ll find a solution for that too.” For now, however, the focus is on the semi-finals.
