When the 88th German Table Tennis Individual Championships begin in Chemnitz on Saturday at 10 a.m., Sabine Winter and Laura Tiefenbrunner, a duo of the table tennis Bundesliga team TSV Schwabhausen, will also be in the pits. Both belong to the reduced, 32-member field that fights for the gold medal in women's singles.
A year ago in Wetzlar, 48 players started, 32 of whom were challenged in the group stage. Qualification is history. From now on, the main round starts in knockout mode.
Sabine Winter is in third place behind Nina Mittelham (TTC Berlin eastside) and Kristin Lang (SV DJK Kolbermoor), Laura Tiefenbrunner takes 15th place in the ranking. Since the draw will only take place this Friday evening in the Richard-Hartmann-Halle, the two players from the Dachau district are keeping themselves covered with a specific objective.
"Of course everyone would like to become a German champion," said Schwabhausen's top actor Sabine Winter. "I still lack single gold. I'll probably have to wait a bit for that. But I'm going to be surprised. "
The chance to be at the top of the podium has never been as great as this year. With Petrissa Solja (TSV 1909 Langstadt), Shan Xiaona (TTC Berlin eastside) and Han Ying (STK Tarnobrzeg / Poland), three top favorites are missing in Saxony for different reasons.
Winter won bronze at the DM a year ago. Nina Mittelham starts as defending champion in Chemnitz. The seed list in the double competition is led by Sabine Winter and Nina Mittelham. The TSV returnee won gold in this competition twice: in 2010 alongside Kathrin Mühlbach (TTC Berlin eastside) and three years later with Petrissa Solja.
In Wetzlar, Winter / Solja took third place. "A medal should come here. We would take care of the color when the time comes, ”Sabine Winter said with a wink.
The biggest competitors are Kristin Lang and Nadine Bollmeier (TuS Bad Driburg). Chantal Mantz / Yuan Wan (TTG Bingen / Münster-Sarmsheim) and Jessica Göbel / Tanja Krämer (TV Busenbach), who regularly play together in their clubs, should not be forgotten when awarding the medals.
Laura Tiefenbrunner starts in the double competition with Svenja Horlebein (TV 1921 Hofstetten), who moved up due to the Shan cancellation.
Sabine Winter will not take part in the mixed competition this year, Tiefenbrunner will go into the pits alongside Daniel Weber (SpVgg. Thalkirchen). This duo won the Bavarian Championship title six weeks ago.
Marco Steinbrenner
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