Very much is on the line Monday, 21 May for the Austria women's table tennis champion SVS STRÖCK.  Very much, indeed.

 

At 19:30 the second and decisive final tie in the European Champions League will occur at the Werner Schlager Academy (Multiversum in Schwechat.)  Their opponents, star-studded TTC Berlin Eastside, won the first leg by razor-thin margins (matches 3-2: (game's ratio 9:8, 158:158 points).)

 

SVS STRÖCK must win to realize the dream of being champion of Europe's premier league.  This opportunity – as everyone agrees – is alive and exciting.

 

It is not a normal table tennis evening: There will be a huge show in the finals.  Among the features are a raffle for a 1,000 Euro savings account in Raiffeisen, a serve contest, a playing challenge against the champions, and the possibility of winning 100 Euro vouchers for the WSA Pro Shop.

 

An appearance of the ORF-show “The Big Chance” famous performers the Magic Acrobatics is also on the plate.

 

In the Middle of all this: some of the best table tennis players in Europe and the World.   SVS STRÖCK will field the great Romainian Daniela Dodean, Li Qiangbing, both who have qualified for the Olympic Games in London, and Fan Ying.

 

And Fan Ying – a member of the Chinese National Team – the best defensive player in the world – has for this year been in the dress of  SVS STRÖCK.  In watching her play, we now know she is: Fan Ying – the Incomprehensible.

 

For  SVS STRÖCK, she has played 18 matches and won 18 matches!  Even more spectacular: her games won to loss ratio is 54:2!  The only two sets lost were in the semi-final against Linzerian Iveta Vacenovska.  And even these two game losses have a story to tell (without reducing the really great performance of Vacenovska.)

 

Fan Ying's travel time – from a hard training camp with the Chinese national team – was 24 hours just before the contest in Schwechat.  She flew from Guangzhous to Hong Kong, sat there for 12 hours at the airport, then flew to Munich and then Vienna.  She stepped off the plane with a bad flu, an injured elbow, and a knee injury.

 

This Monday against Berlin, she will be healthy.  She will have a good sleep and be highly motivated to play her best in the matches.

 

Fan Yin of China is the only player who has never lost against a non-Chinese . . .

 

After a year at SVS STRÖCK, we know why.

 

Fan Ying came to us and became a real team player, and a real friend.  She lives with the team and shows – by Chinese standards – unexpected emotions and true spirit.

 

On Monday, she wants to lead SVS STRÖCK to the European throne.  That was their mission; that is their mission still . . .