After the triumph over Olympic champion MA Long (China) at the $500 000 WTT Championships in Budapest against whom he had never won a game before Patrick FRANZISKA of Germany put a new milestone in his career. No.6 seed in the Men’s Singles Event at the forthcoming European Championships Munich 2022 (to be played from 13th to 21st August) busted his confidence before Continental gathering as well with additional wins over Darko JORGIC of Slovenia no. two seed and Robert GARDOS of Austria no 14.
“To arrive perhaps with the biggest victory of my career to the European Championships is – of course great. It certainly gives me even more self-confidence and shows me that I am on right track and doing thing in the right way at my training sessions. But the European Championships are a completely different tournament again where everything is reset to zero ” said FRANZISKA.
The competition will be fierce. Three places above Patrick at the seedings are booked for Dimitrij OVTCHAROV DANG Qui and Timo BOLL – his teammates. No. One seed is Swede Truls MOREGARDH.
“There are a lot of very strong players from the German national team and competitors from other European countries who all want to and can win the title. But it is nice to be among the contenders before this special European Championship in our own country. But I am keeping it the same at the European Championships in Germany as I do at all tournaments because that’s what I do well. I only look how to go further from game to game and from match to match. And in Munich of course I hope for the support of our great spectators.”
Had Coach Joerg ROSSKOPF gave further explanation.
“Budapest was a very important assessment for us on the way to the European Championships on home soil in Munich which are very precious for us. We got good feedback at the three tournaments which we now have to work on at our two training courses next week and the week after. Some of our players performed very well at the Mini World Championships in Hungary.”
Coach ROSSKOPF commented the results of Men’s team of Germany.
“Of course Patrick FRANZISKA’S victory over MA Long was outstanding but DANG Qiu also showed a very strong performance against LIN Gaoyuan. Patrick clearly defeated Liam PITCHFORD one of the best Europeans and showed that he is always a force to be reckoned with especially against European opponents. He will improve even more until the European Championships start. Dimitrij OVTCHAROV is working hard to get back to his old strength after his long injury and is on the right track. It won’t happen overnight he will improve week by week. A tournament like the European Championships where he can play his way into the match comes in handy. Benedikt DUDA is also in good form unfortunately his draw in Budapest were not the best. To sum up: We throw five hot irons into the fire and want to try to play for the title in all competitions at the home European Championships in Munich with the support of the public. It will be an exciting European Championships where we are the hunters and not the hunted for the first time in a long time because the top seeds this time are the World Championship runner-up MÖREGARDH and the Europe Top 16 winner JORGIC. But we also feel comfortable in the role of the chasers.”
