Photo: Scheiber

The reigning Austrian champion in table tennis for disabled class 7 Christian Scheiber defended his title and could win the title three times in a row.

On Saturday, June 13 2015, the table tennis Austrian National Championships for disabled persons took place in Linz. Christian Scheiber started in three competitions (KO-system for classes 6-10, group competition for classes 7-8 and doubles).

Starting with the KO-system Christian first won in the round of 16. But unfortunately in the quarter finals he met the later champion of this class Robert Huber to whom he lost in the last game with 9-11.

Because of some short-term cancellations the classes 7 and 8 were played in one group. Scheiber started with a straight and invulnerable 3-0 success againnst Christian Moser from Lower Austria. In the second match he needed five games to finally beat his opponent Rimoun Guirguis. The last match was between Scheiber and Johann Fenninger. They know each other very well and played also at the Salzburg Open in the final match. This time – like in Salzburg – Scheiber started very good and won the first game. Loosing the next (second) game he found himself recovering after some valuable advices from his coach Fabian Becker (coach at Werner Schlager Academy). In the end Scheiber won the game withh 3-1 games and could defend his National Champion’s title the third time in a row.

„I very, very happy that I could defend my title. I don’t know what to say“, commented Scheiber after the match, „After the last group match I was overwhelmed by my feelings and shed some tears for joy. I want to say thank you to my parents, my coach, the Burgenland club for disabled persons and my friends who supported me today!“.

After the classes 7-8 competition the tournament continued with the doubles competition where Scheiber could reach the second place together with his partner Michael Posch. After a hard and close fight they lost in the final with a 2-3 defeat in games.

After the competitions the award ceremony was the last highlight of the day. After the ceremony Scheiber and his friends went back to Marz where a big party together with his friends started.

„I want to say thank you to Florian Müllner who supported me and my fans with his bus that we could drive all together to Linz. In the following week I will just test some new rubbers and blades before I start the summer break for 2 or 3 weeks“, Scheiber summed up the day and gave a little outlook for the following weeks.