From a German perspective, table tennis was a secondary element of the Olympics. It was different at the Paralympics, where Sandra Mikolaschek won gold.
Sandra Mikolaschek celebrates winning gold in table tennis at the Summer Paralympics. Photo: Mika Volkmann/imago
Vienna Taz | German table tennis is in trouble. But where there is danger, there is also salvation, as the poet once wrote. Well, it doesn’t have to be so pathetic. But a lot has happened in Germany’s popular sport with a little white ball around the time of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics this summer. Timo Boll, long the best German player at the plate, has finally hung up his bat, at least internationally. And where Nina Mittelham has suffered injuries in the women’s division, 18-year-old Annett Kaufmann is ready to take her opponents off the table without fear.
However, from a German perspective, table tennis is more of a side event at the Olympic Games. Six weeks later, things are different at the Paralympics. First of all, the German athletes are winning a lot of medals. Then, after three final defeats by her colleagues, she went one step further and won gold. Sandra Mikolaschek won 3:1 (11:5, 11:3) in the WS4 final on Sunday against Serbian world number one Borislava Perić-Ranković (6:11, 11:8). Her gold medal was the fifth medal for German table tennis at the Paralympics and the tenth for the entire German team in Paris.
“I had to actively pressure myself not to rest on my laurels. I still wanted to win the game,” Mikolaschek said after the final. “I’ve had to learn a lot in recent years that courageous play is rewarded, not just passing the ball.” Nevertheless, she improved her shooting game, especially her careful distribution of the ball. Against Serbia, previously considered to be a fearsome and almost invincible opponent for Mikolaschek, she played confidently, courageously and almost flawlessly from the start. National team coach Volker Ziegler was impressed by the player’s outstanding performance, saying, “It was not just a table tennis day, it was a table tennis festival.”
The 27-year-old was born in Eisleben, Saxony-Anhalt. Her career has developed significantly at the German Table Tennis Center in Düsseldorf. Based in Borussia, she has already won the title of German team champion in wheelchair table tennis three times. In the world rankings, she is second behind Serbian Perić-Ranković. Sandra Mikolaschek’s disability is due to a narrowed carotid artery at birth. After a subsequent operation, the nerves in her spinal cord were fixed. She has been using a wheelchair since she was a child.
Table tennis is widely known as the most inclusive sport. The usual separation is only effective at the end. The only special rule when playing with or as a wheelchair user is that the ball must not leave the opponent’s half of the table when serving, because the range of motion with a wheelchair is of course somewhat limited.
