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Timo Boll (born March 8, 1981 in Erbach im Odenwald, Hesse) is a German professional table tennis player who currently plays with Borussia Düsseldorf and is the German No.1 of the German Table Tennis National League. He is No.1 in the World Rankings as of January, 2011
Childhood
Already at the age of four years Timo Boll was playing table tennis and at that time was coached by his father. In 1987 he became a member of the TSV Höchst and played there at association level. At the age of eight years he was discovered by Helmut Hampel, a Hessian trainer who promoted him. In 1990, he started to train at the training centre
Pfungstadt and four years later changed to
FTG Frankfurt with which he took part in the second division, at which time other associations became attentive of him.
TTV Gönnern hired him in 1995. Timo Boll was put in position five on the team but, nevertheless, lost only one match in the whole season and thus contributed to the rise of the team i
table tennis national league. In 2007, Timo Boll went to the German table tennis champion team
Borussia Düsseldorf.
Career
National league and international junior results
At age 14, Timo Boll took together with Frank Klitzsch the title of the youngest player of the national league. Timo Boll celebrated his first international results during the student European championships in
Den Haag 1995, where he won three gold medals. After a second place finish in his first junior European Championship 1996, he won during the following two years the title in the singles, in the doubles and with the team. He finished school with a secondary school level I certificate.
International results
In 2002, Timo Boll joined the ranks of the world top-10 players with his
Europe-Top-12-Tournament victory against
Vladimir Samsonov. He reached final of the
European Table Tennis Championships in
Zagreb in the singles, and in doubles with
Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth the gold medal. The German team was defeated in the finale by a score of 2–3, by the Swedish team. With his victory in the Chinese
world cup in
Jinan (he beat the world champion
Wang Liqin and the Olympic champion
Kong Linghui clearly), Timo Boll finished the year at first position in the world rankings in January, 2003. During the European-Championship 2003, Vladimir Samsonov led the Belorussian team to the final victory against the German. He was too strong for Timo Boll. After his elimination in the singles world championship in the second round, he lost the rank of the world's number one table tennis player.
Injury and comeback
Back problems hampered Boll during the first half of 2004. These problems handicapped his preparation for the
2004 Summer Olympics, in which he retired in the quarterfinal against
Jan-Ove Waldner. After a period marked by public criticism, Timo Boll registered tournament victories in Poland, Austria and Germany. He also reached the semifinal of the
Pro Tour in Peking, where he was edged out 3-4 in games by
Ma Lin. Early in the 2005 season, Boll's back problems struck again; nevertheless, he won the silver medal in doubles with
Christian Süß at the World Championship. After correcting a referee's wrong decision in favour of his opponent in the singles round of sixteen (in which he was defeated), he received the Fair Play Award from the
ITTF. The year ended well as he won the
Champions League with
TTV RE-BAU Gönnern, and the
world cup tournament in
Liège in Belgium, in which he defeated all three Chinese first-class players. In 2007, he won the European Championship in singles, doubles, and in the team competition.
Draft to Borussia Düsseldorf
In December 2006, Timo Boll signed a 3 year contract with
Borussia Dusseldorf. Apart from the financial weakness of his old team and various other considerations, Timo Boll moved for the good training possibilities, in view of the upcoming Olympic Games 2008 and because of the possibility to be able to train there with his doubles partner
Christian Süß.
During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he participated again with the German national team. After victories over Croatia, Canada, Singapore and Japan in preliminary rounds and the semi-final, the team lost 0–3 against the host Chinese team. As the first-seeded player in 2008, Boll defended his three European Champion titles from the year before.
Technique
Timo Boll is a left-handed player whose best weapon is his forehand topspin drive but is also noted for his extremely quick backhand loop. His blade is the "Timo Boll Blade Series ALC" with Tenergy 05 rubbers on both sides. His present double partner is
Christian Süß.
Contract
On the 1st of July, 2007, his three-year contract began with Borussia Dusseldorf.
Private
Timo Boll was married on 31 December 2002.
Awards
1997 Table Tennis Junior Player of the Year
1998 German Table Tennis player of the Year
2005 Bambi Sport
2005 German Sportsmen of the Year 3rd position
2006 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen
2007 Fair-Play-Award of Minister (Secretary) of the Interior
Home Secretary
2007 German Sportsmen of the Year 2nd position
2008 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen
2010 Sportsmen of the Year in Hessen
2010 German Sportsmen of the Year 2nd position
Titles
World Cup 2002 and 2005
Single European Champion 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2010
Team European Champion 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010
Europe Top-12 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2010
European Super Cup 2007, 2008 and 2009
ITTF Pro Tour (18) and Grand Finals (1): Brasil 2001, Austria 2002, Japan 2003, Poland, Germany and Austria 2004, Japan, Sweden and Grand Finals 2005, China, Germany and Poland 2006, Austria, Germany and Poland 2008, Qatar, Germany, and Poland 2009, Japan 2010.
Double: European Championship 2002 (together with Zoltan Fejer-Konnerth), 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 (together with Christian Süß), Japan Open 2005, Pro Tour Grand Final 2005, 2009 (together with Christian Süß)
Double: 2nd position World Championship 2005, 3rd position European Championship 2005 together with Christian Süß
Team: 2nd position Olympic Games 2008; 2nd position European Championship 2000, 2002, 2003, 2nd position World Championship 2004, 2010; 3rd position World Championship 2006.
German Championship: 9-times Single-Winner (1998, 2001–2007,2009), 3-times Double-Winner (1999 together with Lars Hielscher, 2005 and 2007 together with Christian Süß
Champions League: Winner 2005 and 2006 with TTV RE-BAU Gönnern
3rd position Qatar and Kuwait Open Single 2007
3rd position World Championship Single 2003, 2006
As the first German number one of the world table tennis rankings (January 2003)
References
External links
official web page of Timo Boll
ITTF-profil of Timo Boll
world ranking
portrait of Timo Boll
videos of Timo Boll
Category:1981 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Erbach im Odenwald
Category:German table tennis players
Category:Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Category:Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Category:Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Category:Olympic table tennis players of Germany
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![The Balcony in the Great Hall, Faneuil Hall, Boston MA The Though Faneuil is a French name, it is pronounced ['fæn.əl] or ['fænˌ.jəl] rather than [fa.nøj]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110614130647im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/31/25/dc45a01bc570e421975c5973c73b_grande.jpg "The Balcony in the Great Hall, Faneuil Hall, Boston MA The Though Faneuil is a French name, it is pronounced ['fæn.əl] or ['fænˌ.jəl] rather than [fa.nøj]")
![The Balcony in the Great Hall, Faneuil Hall, Boston MA The Though Faneuil is a French name, it is pronounced ['fæn.əl] or ['fænˌ.jəl] rather than [fa.nøj]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110614130647im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/31/25/dc45a01bc570e421975c5973c73b_thumb.jpg "The Balcony in the Great Hall, Faneuil Hall, Boston MA The Though Faneuil is a French name, it is pronounced ['fæn.əl] or ['fænˌ.jəl] rather than [fa.nøj]")
