Bayernpokal - TSV Mindelheim Tischtennis

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The first team wins the Schwaben Cup

In the preliminary round, round of 16 and quarter-finals, the 4 participants in the final round were initially played out in the knockout system since October 2024. Up until the “Final Four”, our team virtually plowed through the cup competition. With three 4:0 victories and only 6 sets lost, they left no doubt about their status as favorites. The final round then took place on February 1 in Mindelheim with the qualified teams from Großaitingen, Untermeitingen, Lagerlechfeld and Mindelheim.

After the draw for the semi-finals, Großaitingen was the first opponent for the hosts in the final round, but they lost 4-0 with no chance. In the second semi-final things were much tighter. After close games, the Untermeitingen team ultimately prevailed against Lagerlechfeld. So the final was TSV Mindelheim against SV Untermeitingen. Here too, the class of our team was evident from the start. First, Thomas Handloser, Chousein Amet and Christian Peter ensured clear conditions with clear victories in the individuals. The final score of 4-0 was left to the Handloser/Amet double to end the one-sided final. This final victory also means an invitation to the finals at district level on February 23rd in Biessenhofen. By the way, the tournament continues at the association and state level up to the federal level. Who knows, maybe we will soon have a German champion in our own ranks.

From left to right: regular players Thomas Handloser, Chousein Amet, Marc Justra, Christian Peter and substitutes Wolf-Dieter Pechhold and Simon Hacker, who successfully helped out.

The first team wins the District Cup

After the first team of the Mindelheim table tennis department had already won the district cup at the district level just four weeks ago – incidentally with five 4-0 victories up to the final – they were now challenged at the district level in Biessenhofen.

In a four-team final round, they began with a 4-0 win against TSV Pfronten II, dropping just one set. Their second match against TV Boos VI ended with the same result. After their last opponent, TV Kempten II, had surprisingly lost to TSV Pfronten II, they could even afford a narrow defeat against Kempten. Nevertheless, captain Christian Peter’s team approached their final match with their usual focus. After Thomas Handloser’s comfortable 3-0 win, Marc Justra was already leading 2-0 against youth player Nico Engelhardt when the Bavarian U15 talent suddenly turned things around and handed the Mindelheim cup team their only defeat.

After winning the doubles match, Mindelheim’s top player Thomas Handloser also had to face the young talent. After two comfortable 11:4 sets, everything seemed to be in the bag, but Nico Engelhardt repeatedly ended the topspin rallies in sets 3 and 4 with his powerful backhand, leveling the score at 2:2. The 5th set was also tied at 6:6, until Thomas Handloser, with two direct service points and all his routine, closed out the set 11:6. Still undefeated, the South Bavarian Cup finals now follow at the end of March

The first team wins the association cup

On the way to the German Championship – The first TT team from Mindelheim takes the next hurdle

After winning the district and regional championships, the final round of the Southern Bavarian Championships in Erolzheim was now upon us. The opponents in the “Final Four” were TSV Dachau, TSV Hohenpeissenberg, and TTC Friedberg. The draw resulted in the Friedberg team as their first opponent, who they defeated comfortably 4-1. In the parallel match, Hohenpeissenberg prevailed against Dachau, winning 4-3.

Things got more exciting in the second round. After falling behind 2-1, the Handloser/Justra doubles team and Thomas Handloser managed to turn the game around in their second singles match to take a 3-2 lead. After the next singles match, the score was tied at 3-3, and Choussein Amet’s final singles match proved decisive. Despite leading 2-0 in sets, he was unable to win the match. Mindelheim suffered their first defeat in the entire cup competition, losing 4-3 to Dachau. At the same time, Hohenpeissenberg beat Friedberg 4-2, meaning the final matches, Dachau-Friedberg and Mindelheim-Hohenpeissenberg, were proper finals.

Apart from Friedberg, the three other teams still had it in their own hands to win the South Bavarian Cup. However, after Dachau unexpectedly found themselves 1:3 down against Friedberg, it was clear that the winner of the Mindelheim-Hohenpeissenberg match would lift the cup. After another dominant performance from Thomas Handloser (3:0 against Bertl), Marc Justra was unlucky against Dunajski and lost 1:3. What followed was not for the faint of heart. Chousein Amet was once again leading 2:0 in sets, but had to concede a 2:2 draw against top player Daniel Vögl of Hohenpeissenberg. The fifth set had to decide the match, and finally, with the score at 9:9, a dubious “stop ball” prevented Amet from taking a 10:9 lead. But he didn’t let this throw him off his focus, showing nerves of steel and winning 11:9. This gave him a temporary 2:1 lead, and the doubles match followed. And the thriller continued… again after leading 2-0 in sets, Hohenpeissenberg equalized at 2-2, and the fifth set had to decide this match as well. Here, too, the scores were tied at 9-9 before Mindelheim won the match 11-9 and extended their lead to 3-1. Thomas Handloser then scored the decisive fourth point in the singles match, securing the tournament victory. At the same time, Chousein Amet also comfortably won his second singles match 3-0, but it was not counted.

Click here for the results and the table …

The award ceremony and impressions of the final round…

Note: You can watch the films on your PC/Mac in top quality. Click on the YouTube logo at the bottom right to open the movie in a new window on YouTube in high resolution.

Unfortunately, sometimes the decisive balls and most exciting moments are missing from the film. According to “Murphy´s Law” sometimes the battery ran out at the crucial moment, the memory card was full at the end or, as in the last game against Vohburg, two games took place at the same time … or the cameraman simply forgot to start again after the time-out due to all the excitement

The Adventure „Bayernpokal“

After victories at county, district and association level, our 1st team now headed to the final round at state level in Wunsiedel in Upper Franconia, not far from the Czech border. The tournament for the Bavarian Cup was hosted by SV Holenbrunn.

Their opponents were the best qualified teams from Bavaria from SV Geroldshausen, SV Hahnbach II and the third team from TV 1911 Vohburg. The tournament was also the qualification for participation in the German Championships in May and, in addition to the winner, the runner-up could also still hope to take part in the “Germans”. Once again, the tournament was played in a group of four in the “everyone against everyone” mode up to the fourth point (best of seven). A small group of fans was there to support the team loudly. Simon Hacker came along as a replacement for regular player Christian Peter, who unfortunately fell ill.

The Road to Wunsiedel/Holenbrunn … A short trailer on how our team got to the Bavarian Cup.

Our successful cup team was of course supported by tacticians, psychologists, time-out specialists, other coaches and fans at the Bavarian Cup in Wunsiedel …

And then it was time for the opening match: SV Geroldshausen - TSV Mindelheim

These games are only available in summarized excerpts … All videos are on YouTube, start/click on the videos and then on the YouTube logo at the bottom of the bar.

Their first opponent was SV Geroldshausen, who were supposed to be their weakest opponent. However, the match got off to the worst possible start as Chousein Amet was unable to break through his opponent’s defense time and time again in the first singles match. After a gripping 5-set match, he lost out and the team from Mindelheim initially trailed 1:0. However, Thomas Handloser’s unchallenged victory and Marc Justra’s hard-fought 3:1 win against “oldie” Krämer meant that they went into the doubles with a lead.

After spectacular rallies until the set was tied at 2:2, the fifth set had to be decided and in the end Handloser/Amet had the upper hand with 11:9, Mindelheim led 3:1. In the last single Thomas Handloser showed all his class against the defensive strategist of Geroldshausen, turning a 1:2 into a 3:2 and thus making the final score 4:1 perfect.

Here are a few excerpts from the respective matches …

Heorhii Korniienko – Chousein Amet

Igor Prakht – Thomas Handloser

Norbert Krämer – Marc Justra

Korniienko/Prakht – Handloser/Amet

Heorhii Korniienko – Thomas Handloser

A successful start that gives courage for the next match against the big favorite SV Hahnbach II …

Game 2: TSV Mindelheim - SV Hahnbach II

Next came the strongest opponent and clear favorite, the “2nd team” from Hahnbach, who had used a “trick” to place a top Hungarian player in position 1 in their ranking list. According to TTR points (points system for classifying playing strength), this player had around the average number of points of a good Oberliga player, which is 5 classes above the district class that was actually played. Needless to say, he didn’t play a single game in his team’s district class A that season.

Unimpressed by these strengths, the team from Mindelheim started the match in a focused manner and took the lead with a commanding 3:0 from Thomas Handloser. As expected, the visitors’ top player equalized to make it 1:1. Chousein Amet then played a hard-fought match, but also lost in three tight sets. The following doubles match then developed into a spectacle. After Mindelheim led 1:0 and again 2:1, the match went into the decisive 5th set. After a dramatic match and outstanding rallies, Mindelheim won 12:10 and the score was 2:2.

Now it came to the top duel between the best players of both teams. Despite a concentrated performance, Thomas Handloser was unable to withstand the powerful attacking play of the Hungarian top player Dohnal, and after 3 consecutive “potatoes” (edge balls and net rollers) in the 2nd set, luck was not on our side on this day either. Mindelheim were now 2:3 behind and it was Chousein Amet’s turn to level the score again. But luck was not on his side that day either. After 3 missed set points, he unfortunately lost the first set 11:13. The next two went clearly to him with 11:5 and 11:4, which meant the 2:1 set lead. In retrospect, the three unconverted set points were all the more annoying, because after losing the fourth set, it went into the deciding set and the often-cited lack of luck turned into bad luck when his opponent had an edge ball at 10:8 and ultimately won the set and the match, which meant the overall score was 2:4.

Thomas Handloser – Wolfgang Höfer

Simon Hacker – Gabor Andras Dohnal

Chousein Amet – Simon Bauer

Handloser/Amet – Dohnal/Bauer

Thomas Handloser – Gabor Andras Dohnal

Chousein Amet – Wolfgang Höfer

Game 3: TSV Mindelheim - TV 1911 Vohburg III

After Vohburg narrowly beat Geroldshausen 4:3 in the parallel match, Vohburg and Mindelheim, each with one win and one loss, met in the final for second place and it was to be a thriller in the truest sense of the word.

Marc Justra opened strongly against his opponent’s number 1, but had to concede defeat after five sets. However, Handloser and Amet ensured a 2:1 lead before the doubles with clear 3:0 victories.

After outstanding performances from both doubles teams, Vohburg twice taking the lead in sets and then equalizing, a 5th set had to be decided again. The level of the match was top-class right up to the end, but unfortunately luck was on Vohburg’s side again in the end as they narrowly won the 5th set to level the score at 2:2.

By this time, all the matches in the women’s and men’s district leagues and the association leagues had already finished and the hall was almost empty. The tournament was actually scheduled to end at 4 p.m., but the last decisive singles matches began at 6.30 p.m. While Thomas Handloser scored another 3:1 win for Mindelheim, Marc Justra lost his single in the 5th set despite a great fight, the score was 3:3.

The last match had to be decisive, Chousein Amet started brilliantly and quickly took a 2:0 lead, but the Vohburg player came back and turned the match around in five sets. The decision against Mindelheim was razor-thin and, just to mention the lack of luck, all four games lost ended in the 5th set – final score: 3:4, despite winning more sets and balls.

With an outstanding team performance over long stretches, Mindelheim narrowly missed out on qualifying for the German Championships, but the team’s play and fighting spirit were completely convincing – a strong exclamation mark at Bavarian level.