The German national table tennis team will compete in the Team World Championship at the end of the month without their three top players Timo Boll, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska.

Boll (Borussia Düsseldorf) and Ovtcharov (TTC Neu-Ulm) were injured for a long time in the first half of the year, Franziska (1. FC Saarbrücken) just became a father for the first time. Germany coach Jörg Roßkopf nominated Dang Qiu from Borussia Düsseldorf as the number one in his completely newly formed team.

Benedikt Duda (TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt), Ricardo Walther (ASV Grünwettersbach), Kay Stumper (Borussia Düsseldorf) and Fanbo Meng (TTC Fulda-Maberzell) are also part of the squad for the World Cup from September 30th to October 5th in Chengdu, China.

"You have to give the next generation of players responsibility at an early stage, because they have to learn how to deal with pressure situations in good time," said Roßkopf. At the European Team Championships last year, the Germans won the title without Boll and Ovtcharov. At a World Cup, however, the competition from the strong Asian teams is significantly greater.