Timo Boll of Germany competes during the men's singles quarterfinal match against Kanak Jha of the United States at 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, the United States on Nov. 27, 2021. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)
German's eight-time European champion Timo Boll may have to miss his chance to play in the upcoming European and World Championships due to late effects of a broken rip injury.
by Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Eight-time singles champion Timo Boll finds himself in a fierce battle to secure his participation at the 2022 European Table Tennis Championships in Munich, Germany from August 13 to 21.
The 41-year-old was confirmed to suffer from the late effects of a broken rip injury and pulled out of major parts of his team's pre-competition preparations to attend a medical check and receive further treatment.
"My rip injury is ongoingly causing problems," the Olympic silver medalist said, admitting to having missed most parts of the German team's training camp in Dusseldorf and instead went through workouts in his home in Hochst near Frankfurt.
Timo Boll of Germany serves during the men's singles round of 64 match against Zhou Qihao of China at 2021 World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, the United States on Nov. 24, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)
Time is running out not only regarding the competition in Bavaria but when it comes to Boll's World Championship participation.
The Munich tournament is followed by the 2022 World Championships from September 30 to October 9 in Chengdu, China.
The German veteran and former guest player of the Chinese Super League said he is continuing his intense effort to make it as "I can't deny Munich is most likely one of the last opportunities to compete in front of a home crowd in my remaining career."
Assuming the injury is a thing of the past Boll and his staff recently reported the chest pain has returned.
Boll's injury came to light in mid-June 2022 after his club team's triumph in the German league in Frankfurt against the 1. FC Saarbrucken.
The European title record holder took part in the competition despite his injury and played a singles match.
Boll said the injury has been caused by a "technical error in my game."
Timo Boll of Germany reacts during the table tennis men's team gold medal match between China and Germany at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Aug. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)
The German evergreen revealed to have hurt himself by "always hitting his lower chest with his elbow before using my backhand instead of moving the arm in front of my body to be safe."
Boll said he is optimistic regarding a quick return when considering the pain intensity as the current trouble is far from the muddle, he had to go through to cure his back problems suffering from in the past.
In July 2022 Boll returned to action after several weeks-long breaks and attended two WTT tournaments in Budapest reaching the last eight rounds.
German head coach Joerg Rosskopf has appointed the reigning German champion Dang Qiu, Patrick Franziska, Benedikt Duda, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Boll for Munich.
Franziska recently caused attention by beating China's icon Ma Long in Budapest but said the victory grew in a perfect game for him and China's team is remaining the World's most powerful force in table tennis and the 2022 World Championships favorite. ■
