by Simon Daish

1. FC Saarbrücken crowned champions

The 2019-2020 German Bundesliga 1. Reached its conclusion on Sunday 14th June as 1. FC Saarbrücken beat TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen 3-1 to claim the title.

Patrick Franziska, Shang Kun and Darko Jorgic were the three players fielded for the newly crowned champions on what proved to be a truly historic day as Saarbrücken took home the title for the first time. Congratulations!

 

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Danke für die tolle Unterstützung während der gesamten Saison! Harter Fight gegen @ttfliebherrochsenhausen , die es auch verdient hätten. Passt auf euch auf und wir sehen uns in der neuen Saison 🙂 Thanks for the great support throughout the whole season! Tough fight against @ttfliebherrochsenhausen who would have also deserve it. Take care everybody and see you next season 💪 📸 @belasportfoto

A post shared by Patrick Franziska (@patrickfranziska) on Jun 15, 2020 at 3:58am PDT

#TableTennisUnited

Last week ITTF, in corporation with ITTF Foundation and World Table Tennis (WTT), unveiled the #TableTennisUnited campaign to support the athletes, coaches, umpires, national associations and field projects who are all in need of a helping hand in these difficult times.

The campaign is backed by the sport’s biggest stars, a number of whom took to social media during the week to promote #TableTennisUnited:

 

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Hi! I am Quadri Aruna and I stand for #TableTennisUnited to help one another during this challenging period! Stand in solidarity with us by making your contributions on TableTennisUnited.org to help athletes, coaches and other members of the #tabletennis family who are in need. Together we will overcome! I nominate @omarassar @iba94 @ahmedsaleh79 to be part of the campaign. #PassTheBallOn

A post shared by Quadri Aruna (@quadriaruna) on Jun 11, 2020 at 2:34am PDT

 

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#TableTennisUnited 🏓💙 Olympic champion Ding Ning 🇨🇳 invites you to join our fundraising campaign #TableTennisUnited to help members of the table tennis family during the #covid19 pandemic. #PassTheBallOn ➡️ tabletennisunited.org

A post shared by ITTF World (@ittfworld) on Jun 12, 2020 at 6:10am PDT

 

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Hi! I am Sharath Kamal and I stand for #TableTennisUnited to help one another during this challenging period! Stand in solidarity with us by making your contributions on TableTennisUnited.org to help athletes, coaches and other members of the #tabletennis family who are in need. Together we will overcome! I nominate @tiagoapolonia @quadriaruna and @britteerland to be part of the campaign. #PassTheBallOn

A post shared by Sharath Kamal (@sharathkamal) on Jun 11, 2020 at 2:03am PDT

Learn more about the #TableTennisUnited campaign here.

Back to it

More of the Pros have been able to return to the training over the past week with restrictions continuing to lift in certain countries.

Olufunke Oshonaike was delighted to make her return to the table and also showed off her magnificent singing skills:

 

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Yesss🎉🎊🎈!! It’s good to be back after 3 months lockdown break of covid-19💃🏽💃🏽🏓. The sound of the ball is so soothing to my ears 😁👍🏽. Watch it to the end and see how I geared myself up after a hard 2hrs training 🎼🎤😁🥰❤️. #dontgiveup #ittf #tabletennis #butterfly #butterflygermany #channelstv #legend #stoprape #blm #womeninsport #happyme #hamburg #naija …..

A post shared by Olufunke Oshonaike (@funkesweetoshonaike) on Jun 10, 2020 at 4:19am PDT

While Elizabeta Samara rejoiced at being able to hit the gym for the first time in three months:

 

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Back to the gym after 3 months! Happy me!! #mehappy #alwaysfit @fitgymconstanta

A post shared by @ eliza04samara on Jun 15, 2020 at 2:59am PDT

Melissa Tapper talks table tennis role models, her toughest opponent and more.

Last week the ITTF had the pleasure of speaking to Australian Paralympic star Melissa Tapper about all-things table tennis.

Touching on a number of subjects, Melissa revealed how she’s been persevering with her training despite the lockdown restrictions as well as her future aspirations and much more. Be sure to check out the full interview here.

Birthday celebrations

Rounding off this edition of Player Watch we have a number of birthdays to celebrate.

Wales’ Charlotte Carey celebrated her 24th on Thursday (we are loving the balloon dragon Charlotte!):

 

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✨24✨ Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday! I had a lovely day 💕

A post shared by Charlotte Carey 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@charlcareytt) on Jun 12, 2020 at 6:29am PDT

Elsewhere, up-and-coming Japanese star Miyu Nagasaki entered her adult years as she turned 18, while the ITTF also passes on its birthday congratulations to India’s Manika Batra (25) and Sweden’s Matilda Ekholm (38).