‘Farewell, Comrade Boll’: China fans hail retiring German table tennis ace
Timo Boll won legions of fans across mainland China for challenging the country’s dominance over past 20 years
Chinese table tennis fans have bid a heartfelt farewell to the retiring Timo Boll, Germany’s former world No 1 known fondly as “Uncle Boll” by millions in the Asian country.
The 44-year-old played his last professional match on Sunday in Frankfurt as his domestic team lost the Bundesliga final in Frankfurt.
It made headlines in China and on the X-like Weibo platform a related hashtag had more than four million views as of noon Tuesday.
Writing in Chinese and German on Weibo, four-time Olympic medallist Boll thanked fans for their “thunderous support”.
“Thank you to the Chinese fans for your deep affection that crossed national borders,” he wrote to his nearly 800,000 followers.
“From Ma Lin to Fan Zhendong, every clash with a great opponent has been one of my most cherished honours,” Boll added, referring to two Chinese table tennis giants and Olympic champions.
