Jorg Rosskopf, German table tennis player

Jorg Rosskopf was born in Dieburg, Germany, on May 25, 1969. Currently, he is placed thirty-ninth in the men’s world table tennis rankings. He won the World Championships doubles title with Steffen Fetzner in 1989. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, he won a silver medal in the doubles event. In 1993, he was crowned with the European Championships singles title in Stuttgart. In the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, Jorg Rosskopf won a bronze medal in the singles stream, after he lost to Liu Guoliang in the semifinals by 1 game to 3. He was the winner of the World Cup singles in 1998 in Shantou. In the same year, in Eindhoven, he won the European Championships doubles title. Jorg Rosskopf played left-handed with a classic grip. Jorg Rosskopf had extreme power as his trademark during his glorious table tennis career. In the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Jorg Rosskopf bid farewell to his Olympic table tennis career after exiting in the third round, when he lost to Wang Hao of China by 1 game to 4. The final scores were 5-11, 10-12, 5-11, 13-11, and 6-11 for Jorg Rosskopf.

In the 1998 World Cup Men’s singles event in Shantou, China, Jorg Rosskopf was world number 14 at that time. He was playing the finals against world number 9 Kim Taek Soo of South Korea. Rosskopf played with his usual power and defeated Kim Taek Soo by 3 games to 2, to win the singles title.

In spite of his age, Jorg Rosskopf proved that he still had a lot of fire in him in the recent Liebherr Qatar Open in February 2007 in Doha. Rosskopf and his doubles partner Christian Suss reached the men’s doubles finals. They faced Cho Eon Rae and Lee Jung Woo of South Korea in the finals. Earlier in January, in the ITTF Pro Tour, the Korean pair had beaten the Germans in the quarterfinals. In the Doha finals, the Koreans took the early advantage to lead 7-5 but the Germans equalized at 7-all. After several exciting rallies, the Koreans had a narrow win at 11-9, with the Germans saving 2 match points. Then the power game of Rosskopf came to the fore and the Germans sped to a lead of 7-2 in the second game. The Koreans equalized this time but the Germans went on to win the second game 11-7.

In the third game, in spite of the Germans taking an early lead of 7-3, the Korean leveled at 8-all and then won the next 3 points to take the game at 11-8. The fourth game saw the Germans surge to a 6-0 lead. This time, Rosskopf and Suss did not make any mistake and won the game 11-5. The fifth game saw the Koreans make a comeback with a 7-4 lead, which they extended to 10-5 and finally took the game at 11-5 on their third game point. The sixth game again belonged to the Germans, jumping to a lead of 5-0. The Germans went ahead to 10-5 this time and won the game.

Now, both the pairs had won 3 games each and the seventh game became crucial. The Koreans starting using their topspin attack to better purpose, leading 5-3 and then 7-3. The Germans narrowed down the lead to 7-5 but the Koreans moved ahead 9-5. They played with confidence and won the next 2 points to take the game and the first ever ITTF Pro Tour Men’s Doubles title for them. However, all the table tennis fans, who were present during the exciting finals, admitted that Jorg Rosskopf still had the power and fire at the ripe age of 38. That was a great tribute to a great table tennis player from Germany.