timo boll

Born in Erbach im Odenwald, Hessen, Timo Boll is a German professional table tennis player. As of June 2019, he is ranked 6th in the ITTF world rankings, and 2nd in the German Table Tennis National league. Boll started playing at four years old, joining TSV Höchst and playing at association level at six years old. TTV Gönnern (de) hired him in 1995 and he was put in position 5, but only lost one match during the entire season, contributing to the rise of the team in the Table Tennis National League. Boll celebrated his first international finish at the student European Championships in Den Haag 1995, where he won three gold medals. After a second-place finish in his first Junior European Championship in 1996, he won the singles title at that championships for the following two years, as well as in the doubles and with the team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Boll won Silver in the men’s team event and at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics he won Bronze in the men’s team event. With countless matches behind him, it’s no surprise that some of his notable achievements include 1998 German Table Tennis Player of the Year; 2006, 2008 and 2010 Sportsman of the Year in Hessen; and 2017 ITTF Male Table Tennis Star. Boll ranks among the best German table tennis players of all time, having ranked #1 in 2003, 2011 and 2018.