After two sets: Boll missed a place in the World Cup final

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"More was just not possible": Timo Boll

Photo:

LESLIE PLAZA JOHNSON / EPA

Timo Boll won bronze singles for the second time in his career at the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston.

The 40-year-old lost his semi-final against 19-year-old Swede Truls Möregardh 3: 4 (11: 8, 11: 8, 6:11, 8:11, 12:10, 8:11, 5:11) and thus missed the first-time entry into an individual final at world championships.

"It hurts, but in the end I have to acknowledge it and say: It just couldn't be more," said Boll after the semi-finals in the USA.

»I am happy that I managed to win a medal again at a World Cup.

At almost 41 you can’t really expect that anymore. "

The record European champions from Borussia Düsseldorf have been plagued by abdominal muscle complaints since the beginning of this week of the World Cup in the USA.

At the beginning of the tournament, these own statements had hardly affected him.

Before the quarter-finals against the 19-year-old American Kanak Jha on Saturday, however, the pain had become massive.

Boll got off to a good start against Möregardh and led 2-0.

After the equalization, he also got the set to 3: 2.

If you notice “that your opponent is getting nervous, then you want to grab it somehow and close the bag.

It hurts when you don't make it and you notice that your opponent is simply coming up with good solutions, ”said Boll.

Third place is not played out separately, the losers of the two semi-finals both get a bronze medal.

So far, Boll had only succeeded in doing this at the World Cup in Rotterdam ten years ago.

He was also at the top of the world rankings four times, won eight European Championship titles and already six World Cup medals with the German team.

sak / dpa