Austrian national table tennis team

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The Austrian national table tennis team is the selection team of the ÖTTV , which represents Austria at table tennis world championships , table tennis European championships and at the Olympics . Winning the World Cup in 1936 is considered the greatest success . In addition, Werner Schlager succeeded in 2003 as the last European to win the individual world championship. In 2015, the men's team sensationally won gold at the EM by beating the favored team from Germany in the final.

By 2015, ÖTTV won a total of 35 medals at European championships, including seven gold, ten silver and 18 bronze medals.

Successes (selection)

World championships

  • 1-time world champion ( 1936 )

European championships

Olympic games

  • 4th place once ( 2008 )

European Games

history

World ranking positions of the best Austrian table tennis players from 2001

Austria was already successful at the first three World Championships from 1926 to 1929 and came second behind Hungary. Another silver and three bronze medals followed between 1932 and 1935 , before the first and so far only World Cup gold medal could be won in 1936 . The team won silver again in 1938 , but top player Richard Bergmann emigrated to the United Kingdom after the annexation of Austria , and Austria no longer took part in the last World Cup before the Second World War.

At the first two world championships after the war, the good performance from the pre-war period was initially followed up and bronze was won twice, but this was followed by gradual decline in performance. In 1949 and 1950 Austria was in seventh place, but after that it was not placed in the top eight for 50 years. The European Championships , which have been taking place since 1958, have not been successful for the time being, and fifth place in 1962 remained the best performance for a long time.

It was not until the beginning of the 21st century that Austria, which at that time had a top 10 player in Werner Schlager , was able to reach the top international again. At the 2001 World Cup , the team came in fifth - the best placement since 1948 - and in 2002 they won their first European Championship medal with bronze. At the following World Championships, Austria always reached the main round, but did not get beyond the quarter-finals. In 2005 they won silver at the European Championships, and in December 2006 the team with Werner Schlager and Chen Weixing had two top 10 players for one month, while Robert Gardos repeatedly made it into the top 50. At the first Olympic team competition in 2008 Austria came fourth, at the European Championships in 2008 , 2009 and 2011 the team won bronze again.

Further successes were achieved in 2015 - now with Stefan Fegerl and Daniel Habesohn instead of Werner Schlager and Chen Weixing - when Austria won bronze at the first European Games and gold for the first time at the European Championship in the same year. In the years that followed, the team never made it past the quarter-finals in any tournament, and in 2020 even failed to qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time after surprisingly failing to Serbia without the sick Habesohn.

occupation

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ orf.at - All ÖTTV EM medals . Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  2. ^ Goodbye Olympia. oettv.at, January 23, 2020, accessed on January 24, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Men's squad. oettv.at, accessed on May 20, 2017 .