With 16 registered doubles pairings, the competition began with a knockout round of 16, with the eight winners competing for the Doubles A title and the losers competing for the Doubles B title. In thrilling duels in the respective semifinals and finals, Maximilian Schmid/Daniel Rosenbaum ultimately prevailed against Bernadette Loritz/Katharina Peter to claim the title of Club Doubles B champions. In the A doubles final, the winners were Jeremias Kobold/Luca Mammitzsch, who defeated Gabriel Kobold/Leonhard Wagner to secure the title of Club Doubles A champions.
The eagerly awaited individual competitions then began, initially played in four groups of four in a “round robin” format. The group winners and runners-up then advanced to the Youth A finals, while the third- and fourth-place finishers competed for the Youth B club championship. After the group stage, the competition continued in a knockout format with quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. The B final was Katharina Peter against Stefan Wucher. From the beginning, Stefan Wucher was able to score points with his fast serves and after two relatively clear sets he was leading 2-0. The third set was very evenly matched and hard-fought. At 10:9 Katharina Peter even had set point and was on the verge of turning the game around. However, her ball control on this day tipped the scales and after fending off set point Stefan Wucher was able to win this set and the match. Stefan Wucher won the Club B Championship ahead of Katharina Peter, with Maximilian Schmid coming third in the small final against Bernadette Loritz. Simon Scholer, Noa Jakljevic and Agshin Jafarov followed in the other places.
Since the German Table Tennis Federation (DTB) decided to open the tournament to both men and women in November of last year, our girls initially competed alongside the boys. At the end of the two performance categories A/B, the girls’ A and B club champions were determined. Bernadette Loritz took third place, Katharina Peter became club champion B, and Sayme Amet won the A club champion with a clear victory.
The long tournament day culminated in the Youth A final, in which Sebastian Wucher and Luca Mammitzsch faced each other. The headline for this pairing was very clear from the start – attack versus defense – which style of play would prevail? Sebastian’s powerful forehand or Luca’s secure backhand. In a nervous first set on both sides, Sebastian retained the upper hand. In the second set, Luca became increasingly confident, countering the topspins with aggressive blocks and immediately equalizing the set. The following two sets were consistently evenly contested. The match became a thriller with long, exciting rallies, and sets 3 and 4 each ended 11:9. This meant the sets were tied at 2:2, and the decisive fifth set followed. At first, everything looked like a clear victory for Sebastian Wucher, who quickly led 5:1 by halftime. With his well-placed serves, he paced the game, repeatedly using his offensive forehand to great effect and forcing his opponent to make mistakes. But Luca remained unfazed and pulled back to 7:8. A slight slide error from Luca and a strong forehand point from Sebastian led to match point. It was a match in which both players deserved to win, but in the end, Sebastian Wucher’s powerful play at the table was decisive, and after another strong forehand, he won the deciding set 11:7. Undefeated on the day, he was able to defend his title from the previous year and once again become club champion. In the small final for third place, Jeremias Kobold prevailed against Sebastian Peter. The other placings in performance class A: 5th Gabriel Kobold, 6th Sayme Amet, 7th Leonhard Wagner and 8th Daniel Rosenbaum.
After an exciting day of competition, everyone finally gathered at the Reichsadler for the awards ceremony. Department head Roland Arnold congratulated all participants on their outstanding performances with certificates, as well as trophies for the boys’, girls’, and doubles’ club champions. Although some were still struggling with their tournament performance, there were only happy faces at the end.
