We are used to see Niederosterreich in Menโs European Champions League, the 2008 champions, but one more Austrian team will compete in the best clubโs competition of Old Continent in the coming season. SPG Walter Wels, which comes from the small city in U,
We are used to see Niederosterreich in Menโs European Champions League, the 2008 champions, but one more Austrian team will compete in the best clubโs competition of Old Continent in the coming season. SPG Walter Wels, which comes from the small city in Upper Austria, Wels (approximately 60.000 inhabitants), has big table tennis tradition. As the clubโs sport director Rudolf BRรUML emphasizes โ thanks to โAustrian Openโ, which took place in Wels several times, the city is already known within the international table tennis community.
The SPG Walter Wels sports club was founded 25 years ago, from the former clubs UNION Wels and ASKร Wels. The founders were Gerhard DEMELBAUER, Walter WELLINGER, Hans BRรUML, Raimund GUMPETSBERGER and Rudolf BRรUML. The clubโs best all-time achievements are four times runner-up in the Austrian national league and the quarterfinals in the ETTU-Cup.
โOur club takes part in national leagues with eight different teams of male players as well as with three teams of trainees. This makes a total of around 70 players in our club. The training sessions are being held by four professional trainers. Our top team is being coached by the very experienced trainer Edvard VECKO from Sloveniaโ, says Rudolf BRรUML.
Walter Wels is placed in 2013/14 MECL Group C, beside newly promoted German champion Werder Bremen and French Hennebont GV. They will start their first MECL season at Bremen (September 6-9th) which is considered as one of favourites for the title. We asked Rudolf BRAUML why Walter Wels decided to play Menโs European Champions League and what the club expects from it?
โWe always proceeded in small steps to gain experience, and this yearโs small step was the participation in the MECL. We mostly expect to gain some international experienceโ.
– How will looks like Walter Wels` line-up in 2013/14 season?
โOur new number one, ZHAN Jian from Singapore, will play with our two young players Zsolt PETE from Serbia and Dominique PLATTNER from Austria, as well as our experienced player Lehel DEMETER from Hungary, which was able to win the Austrian ranking list in the national league four timesโ.
– What is the clubโs goal in upcoming season?
โOur goal is to win at least one match, and then be able to reach the semi-finals in the ETTU-Cup. In the national league weโd like to get one step closer to national record breaker SVS Niederรถsterreichโ.
The most important achievements in the clubโs history are:
1999 Rise to the 2nd highest national league with three trainees
2005 Biggest success in the clubโs history with the rise to the highest national league
2007 Third place of our top team and reaching the play-offs
2009 Runner-up in the national championships, 5th place in the second highest league for our second team
2010 Runner-up in the national championships, reaching the quarterfinals of the ETTU-Cup
2011 Runner-up in the national championships for the 3rd time
