TTC Neu-Ulm: Only Champions League play prohibited in future
The ambitious table tennis project of TTC Neu-Ulm and its top player Dimitrij Ovtcharov will probably be history after this season.
The Bundestag of the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) decided by a large majority in Frankfurt am Main that from next season onwards, no German teams will be allowed to enter the Champions League if they have previously been withdrawn from the Bundesliga or another national league.
But that is exactly what the Neu-Ulm team is still doing this season: they are competing in the most important European club competition with the former world number one Ovtcharov, the Swede Truls Möregardh and the Taiwanese Lin Yun-Ju, although they had already declared their withdrawal from the Bundesliga in February following a dispute with the TTBL league association and the German champions Borussia Düsseldorf. The German cup winners also did not register a new team for the 2nd Bundesliga or the regional league.
The new regulation is intended to prevent "German table tennis clubs from withdrawing from playing at national level in order to concentrate resources solely on participating in international competitions," said DTTB Vice President Heike Ahlert. "This would inevitably divert resources that would otherwise also be used for table tennis in Germany and thus lead to a lower overall attractiveness of the highest German leagues."
Due to its sporting success and attractive team, TTC Neu-Ulm had received a Champions League wildcard from the European association several times in the past. The ETTU did not object to the club's withdrawal from the Bundesliga. However, according to the statutes, every German European Cup participant must also be registered by the DTTB. And so far there has been no passage in the DTTB's rules that regulates a case like that of the Ovtcharov team.
Source: www.dpa.com
