TTC Ruggell achieves the hoped-for promotion – Liechtenstein
AFFOLTERN – As the runner-up in their group, the Ruggell table tennis club was entitled to participate in the relegation games for promotion to the 4th league. This was also realized with a clear 9:1 victory against TTC Affoltern at Albis IV.
The Losfee gave the Unterländer an opponent within striking distance with the TTC Affoltern am Albis IV, but had to put up with a long journey and could not count on the support of the home crowd. Both teams found their best in the Stigeli gymnasium in the Säuliamt. The classification points of the six individual players were identical, which promised an exciting game. All Affolterner players had high positive balance sheets in the regular season, the Unterland players were also warned.
In the first individual round, Simon Öhri was anything but confident, but gave the visiting team a clear 3-0 lead. At this point it was an important win, as Jan Marxer was 0:2 behind at the next table and his brother Marco also had to accept the set equalization a little later. The momentum seemed to topple the home team. With new self-confidence and tactics, Jan Marxer increasingly attacked from the front from the third set and took point by point. In the end he was able to prevail in the extension of the fifth set after several unused match points, and Marco Marxer also won his game in the fifth set. Thus, Ruggell started with a comfortable 3-0 lead.
The second individual round is also exciting. While Marco Marxer was also successful in his second game, Jan Marxer had to congratulate the opposing number one on the win. Team senior Simon Öhri made many mistakes at the beginning of the second game. In the fourth and fifth set he played much more aggressively than before and scored several points worth seeing with the backhand block. A clear 11:1 in the last set sealed another victory for the Ruggelians and the high 5:1 lead.
Also successful in doubles
The subsequent doubles of the four nominally best players, Simon Öhri and Marco Marxer on the side of Liechtenstein resp. Franz Schümatschek and Willi Wohlwend for the home team was therefore decisive. Wohlwend’s long pimple rubber had to be taken out of play. The veteran Öhri easily defused this disruptive factor, while one of his side Marco Marxer seemed slightly nervous. In the end, the Ruggellers prevailed in four sets despite minor weaknesses. With the 6:1 lead, the rise of TTC Ruggell was sealed at the same time.
In the meaningless last three individual games, the resistance was broken and all Ruggellers succeeded in three or four sets. With the high 9:1 victory, the young Liechtensteiners earned their ticket for the 4th league.
“It was just a great evening,” said team junior Jan Marxer after the 9-1 away win. Player coach Simon Öhri was also completely satisfied. “The goal of the season was actually to stay up in the league, since we only got promoted to the 5th division last year. After we went unbeaten throughout the second half of the season, it was clear to me that we had a chance of promotion. However, I definitely did not expect that we would prevail so clearly against the experienced Zurich team. We definitely deserved the victory beer.” For the Ruggellers it is the first time in the 45-year history of the club that they have been promoted twice in a row.