TTC OE Bad Homburg secured their place in the German Table Tennis Cup quarterfinals after a nail-biting 3-2 win over second-division side TTC Lampertheim on Friday night. The newly promoted Bundesliga team faced stiff competition but ultimately managed to edge past their opponents, bringing them one step closer to a spot in the Liebherr Cup Final Four.
Bad Homburg didn’t have it easy, as they were pushed to the limit by the determined lower-league team. Despite the challenge, the Taunus-based club came through in the end, punching their ticket to the next round with a performance that showed their grit and composure under pressure. With the quarterfinals in sight, Bad Homburg can now dream of competing in the prestigious Final Four. Their next test comes swiftly, with a Bundesliga matchup against TSV Bad Königshofen on Saturday, September 21.
The turning point for Bad Homburg came when Kristian Karlsson stepped up to deliver a vital win. With his team down 1-2, the Swedish star held his nerve and triumphed 3-1 against Navid Shams (11:4, 5:11, 11:9, 11:2), forcing the match into a decisive doubles showdown. There, the pair of Yuma Tsuboi and Benno Oehme proved too strong for Martin Buch Andersen and Alvaro Gainza, securing a 3-0 victory (12:10, 11:3, 11:7) and sealing Bad Homburg’s place in the next round.
Earlier in the evening, Karlsson had also contributed to Bad Homburg’s first win, overcoming Gainza in four sets (11:3, 7:11, 11:4, 11:8). The home side had initially taken the lead when Shams narrowly defeated Oehme in a five-set thriller (6:11, 12:10, 11:8, 11:13, 11:9). Lampertheim extended their advantage when Andersen beat Tsuboi 3-1 (11:7, 12:10, 5:11, 11:4), but Bad Homburg’s resilience brought them back into the game.
The final spot in the quarterfinals will be decided on Saturday, September 21, when TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell faces reigning champions Borussia Düsseldorf, with the match broadcast live on Dyn. Teams like TSV Bad Königshofen, SV Werder Bremen, ASC Grünwettersbach, 1. FC Saarbrücken TT, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, and 1. FC Köln have already advanced to the quarterfinals, with the Liebherr Cup Final Four slated for January 2025.
Source: Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL)