Germany’s medal hope and world number four Timo Boll has withdrawn
from the Men’s Doubles event at the H.I.S. 2009 World Table Tennis
Championships starting on Tuesday.
Problems during the
preparation with his lumbar column forced Boll to take this
precautionary measure. Boll is not the only male top player focusing on
the Singles.
Only One Event for Boll’s Body
German
national coach Richard Prause explained the reason: "Timo has practised
only a limited amount due to his injury and it is not yet completely
healed in spite of intensive care during the past days."
Although
the medal chances are reduced for the German delegation, Prause
justified the decision. "Together we decided that Timo does not have
the necessary physical shape to resist two events at the World
Championships."
Süss for his part will play the Singles as well as the Mixed Doubles event with Elke Schall.
Chinese Stars Reduce their Schedules
Boll
is not the only absentee in the Doubles. Men’s Singles defending
champion Wang Liqin and Olympic winner Ma Lin will not play Doubles
events either.
Female world number one Zhang Yining will only compete in the Singles event, like Boll, Wang and Ma too.
Kreanga not in Yokohama
Kalinikos
Kreanga does neither play the Singles nor the Men’s Doubles events in
Yokohama. The 37 year old Greek will miss his second consecutive World
Championships. After Werner Schlager, Kreanga is already the second
player from the top 16 to cancel his participation in the Men’s
Singles.
Source: www.ittf.com
