Excitement and fun!
Peter Wolfrum winner in the singles – Gregor Jarzombski/Armin Siebengartner win the doubles.
Pfarrkirchen. Especially after a longer “wait”, caused by the holidays and renovation work in the gymnasium of the primary school, the season-opening tournament of the table tennis section of TuS 1860 proved to be a successful event – joy in the sport and close five-set matches, fun and excitement in equal measure.
For the by now traditional start of the TT season, section head Wilhelm Kolb this time welcomed 14 team players (see group photo below), who knew very well how to use the tournament, run by Reinhard Kroll, as a test of form. This was already evident in the doubles tournament. The results: Peter Wolfrum/Kristina Kurz – Johannes Apfel/Hannah Mayerhofer 3:0 sets; Christian Hölzlwimmer/Simon Wasmeier – Matthias Kolb/Albin Abdulahu 3:1 sets; Martin Schneider/Helmut Köstler – Albert Gschwandtner/Dr. Horst Benzing 3:1 sets; Gregor Jarzombski/Armin Siebengartner initially had a bye.
In the first semi-final, the doubles pairing of Jarzombski/Siebengartner somewhat surprisingly won clearly 3:0 against Wolfrum/Kurz. In the second semi-final, Schneider/Köstler also beat Hölzlwimmer/Wasmeier smoothly 3:0. Wolfrum/Kristina decided the match for third place against Hölzlwimmer/Wasmeier 3:1 in sets.
In the final, the tension kept rising: Jarzombski and Siebengartner started strongly, so that it already looked as though this encounter, too, might become a clear-cut affair. But Schneider and Köstler fought their way back point by point to level the sets. Only in the decisive and again “close” fifth set were Gregor Jarzombski and Armin Siebengartner finally able to clinch victory 3:2 in sets.
The singles were played in two groups of five and one group of four – in line with the TT ranking list, Peter Wolfrum, Armin Siebengartner and Gregor Jarzombski were seeded as “group heads”, the other players were drawn. In group 1, Wolfrum prevailed convincingly with 4:0 wins and 12:1 sets – thereby living up to his clear status as favourite – and Johannes Apfel (2nd) and Helmut Köstler (3rd) also qualified for the quarter-finals – Hannah Mayerhofer was a good fourth, beating Albert Gschwandtner, who unfortunately got no further than fifth place.
In group 2, Martin Schneider played extremely strongly, winning his four matches – so first place. Behind him it was close: only in the last match, which Armin Siebengartner narrowly won 3:2 in sets against Kristina Kurz, did Siebengartner (2nd) and Hölzlwimmer (3rd) secure the further quarter-final spots – behind them Kristina Kurz and Albin Abdulahu, who unfortunately never quite got going. Group 3 was won by Simon Wasmeier clearly 3:0 in matches ahead of Gregor Jarzombski – unfortunately Matthias Kolb and Horst Benzing had to drop out.
The quarter-finals were fought magnificently, with mostly close sets, and one or another match could also have gone differently – matches and results: Wolfrum – Köstler 3:1 sets, Siebengartner – Schneider 3:2, Wasmeier – Jarzombski 3:2, Apfel – Hölzlwimmer 3:2. The “losers” are thus joint fifth. The simultaneously held matches for the other places were won by Hannah Mayerhofer and Albin Abdulahu.
Peter Wolfrum decided the first semi-final in his favour 3:0 in sets against Simon Wasmeier, although the clear result is a little deceptive. Wasmeier started quite strongly, already leading 9:3 in the first set, but was then caught. The second set also remained close. Only in the third set was Wolfrum clearly superior. Johannes Apfel won semi-final two 3:1 against Armin Siebengartner. And so it came to the final between Wolfrum and Apfel – Wasmeier and Siebengartner were joint third (no play-off due to time constraints).
In the final, Peter Wolfrum won confidently 3:0 with all his class and experience – Johannes Apfel certainly did not play badly, but his experienced opponent gave him no room to develop his game. So the tournament had a more than deserving winner in Peter Wolfrum – as runner-up, Johannes Apfel can also be satisfied with his performance. “That was a really lovely tournament”, everyone agreed given the exciting and also fair matches.
Section head Wilhelm Kolb presented small gifts to the winners at the awards ceremony. During the tournament, catering for the participants was excellently taken care of – Manfred Schille had organised that, and Wigbert Bichlmeier ran the “TT bistro”. Section head Wilhelm Kolb warmly thanks all the helpers for their efforts. The board, the youth management and everyone involved keep their fingers crossed for a successful start for the teams beginning their season this week, and wish them much success in the 2013/14 season.
About the picture – the winners:
Beaming winners of the TT club tournament to kick off the 2012/13 season: in first place Peter Wolfrum (2nd from right) ahead of Johannes Apfel (right), as well as (from left) the joint third-placed Simon Wasmeier and Armin Siebengartner, who won the doubles competition with Gregor Jarzombski (bottom left in the picture). Photo: Kolb
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