You should be able to let go of unnecessary things, which is why a certain person Seok Ha-jung’s table tennis shirt one day got it. Supposedly discarded, and somehow disposed of, in any case Helmut Weil never found him again. There aren’t many memories associated with this piece of cloth, but it’s a fun little one, although Sock didn’t wear this TSV Schwabhausen shirt with her name specifically on the back. Strictly speaking, an online auction was such a rarity.

“It should be a kind of life insurance for us,” recalls the head of the Pfeil division in Schwabhausen, in 2010, right after promotion to the first Bundesliga. “But then we didn’t need them.” Seok’s life insurance policy wasn’t bad, after all, South Korea ranked 12th in the world rankings that season. Then she remained without a move, leaving behind a new shirt and the same anecdote that Vail now remembers: how he was sitting in the stands at the German Open in Dortmund, right behind an Asian woman unknown to him who turned out to be revealed by Seok Ha Jung when she got up, and took off. Her training jacket was gone – and Arrow wouldn’t be able to tell him anyway, by the way, hi first of all, he was her new club president because he didn’t speak a word of English Sook and an elephant who didn’t speak Korean.

Anyway, last Sunday a black and blue Schwabhausen shirt appeared at Heinrich-Loder-Halle. “Y. LIU” is written in white letters on the back. Best of all: the unknown player was already there and she was holding a racket in her hand.

Against Will, Liu points out that she’s not wrong in first place

“I didn’t expect them to work either,” TSV coach Alexander Yahmed later said, but of course he didn’t defend himself against that either. Liu Yangzi has been in the club rankings from the Dachau region since the start of the season, even in first place, which could mean something because Sabine Winter has always been around, one of the most consistent Bundesliga players in years. Shortly before the end of the transition period, Vail announced this change, and coach Yahmed stressed that it is on the safe side as no one knows if the new one will be used. Almost the same word as it was at the time with South Korean Seok. But 19-year-old Leo, no longer a ghost, was standing at the table in person, smiling, looking a bit nervous – and won twice en route to a 6-2 win over ESV Weil.

Perhaps the opponents did not expect that this teenager would be used so soon, and even less certain that he would appear against them among all people. The possibility was not very high for a Chinese woman living in Australia, who is in fact only marginally closer to Schwabhausen than Weil am Rhein. “We are fortunate that she is now playing some tournaments in Europe because she needs points for Australia,” Yahmed said. Lius Weltranglistenposition um die 400 sagt in ihrem Fall wenig aus, weil sie noch nicht viel international gespielt hat, aber dass sie nicht ganz zu Unrecht an Position eins steht, vor Winter, der aktuellen Nummerali 117 Wemmer kon und e 36 Look. “My expectations were high, and they did not disappoint,” Yahya said. It saw plenty of overview and ‘good touch’ – and there was absolutely no recognizable weakness. “It strengthens our team very much.”

Anyway, there was still unfinished business with the guests – not least for Sabine Winter, who was in great shape.

A lot happened with the appearance of Leo. The 19-year-old wasn’t just an opponent at her premiere – even if she had no idea it was. Against Will, Schwabenhausen was unexpectedly eliminated completely in the quarter-finals in the spring, and despite Yahmed’s warnings, his favorite didn’t have much resistance. Winter, until then unbeaten in the league, lost three times to Bulgarian Polina Trifonova. So there was one unfinished business. Vail also sensed how seriously the team was taking this matter. The head of the department invited the political guests of honor to honor Winter, who has long overcome minor dips in form and has since become the German doubles champion and, above all, the European champion with the team. But then the players asked to postpone the award from the start of the match until the end of the first half, so as not to be disturbed by the preparation. Not only because of the old calculations – “it was a four-point match,” coach Yahmed confirmed. You want to go back to the playoffs.

In singles and doubles, the coach then used six players instead of four in order to please everyone, thus not necessarily presenting the strongest formation, but he was strong enough – especially since Winter also scored two very convincing three-set victories against Trifonova and Isabella Lupoliscu. “It has become a completely different form again,” Yahmed explained. In the European Championship final against Romania, he defeated the 29-year-old Elisabetta Samara, the 2015 European Singles Champion, three weeks ago.

With Liu Yangzi, the team now has very different options, but the uncertainty remains: when the indigenous Chinese, who played international tournaments for Portugal for a while before moving to Australia, are in Europe in the future and how it will coincide with Schwabhausen fixtures, it is still difficult Club planning. “I hope you play more than once,” Yahya says ambiguously. After all, she has already opened her shirt. She also speaks fluent English.