For Timo Ball, that wasn’t enough for more than a second individual bronze medal at the World Cup. Hard hit by a painful abdominal muscle injury, the 40-year-old lost on Sunday night (local time) in Houston to 19-year-old Swede Trols Morigaard 3:4 (11:8, 11:8, 6:11, 8:11, 12:10, 8:11, 5:11) and meanwhile missed a concrete entry into the final.
“It hurts, but in the end I have to admit it and say: It couldn’t be more than that,” Paul said after the semi-finals in the US. “I am happy that I was able to win another medal at the World Cup. At around 41, you can’t expect that anymore.“
The record European champions from Borussia Dusseldorf have been suffering from abdominal complaints since the start of this week’s World Cup. At first they didn’t affect him much in this tournament. Ahead of the quarter-finals against 19-year-old American Kanak Ja on Saturday, the pains are immense.
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“The adrenaline has also helped me get through the pain a little bit,” he said of the duel with Morigard. “When you are in the semi-finals of the World Cup you just have to go ahead with it, give it your all and then see where the body parts are. “
Against Möregardh, Paul entered the match well despite the pain and went 2-0 up. After the tie, he also got the 3:2 set. If you notice that “the opponent is getting nervous, you want to catch him somehow and close the bag. It hurts when you don’t and you notice that the opponent is finding good solutions,” Paul reported.
Third place is not played separately, with the losers of the semi-finals each receiving a bronze medal. So far, Paul has only managed to do so at the World Cup in Rotterdam ten years ago. He has also been number one in the world rankings four times, winning eight European Championship titles and already six World Cup medals with the German national team.
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