Dimitrij Ovtcharov: "This Is One Of The Happiest Moments In My Life" (Photos)

Last year Dimitrij Ovtcharov celebrated for reaching the tenth place in the world ranking list after defeating Wang Hao at the World Team Cup. Now the German player is in the twelfth spot but he celebrated for reaching semifinals of the Olympic singles event. German fans were shocked after Timo Boll's defeat against Adrian Crisan but Ovtcharov gave them a new hope as he overcame Michael Maze in a thrilling match. After his victory, the European Top-12 champion talked to the German press.

Ovtcharov's just after his victory: "This is one of the happiest moments of my life. The start was good but I lost control for a while and I knew that it turned hard. Now I'm happy because I will have a day to rest, that is very good."

The German player also talked about his next match where he will face Zhang Jike possibly: "I go optimistically to that match. I have already beaten Zhang Jike two years ago (in semifinals at the 2009 Danish Open by 4:2) and was close to beat him at the World Cup last year. If I give my 120%, I can win." Besides, Ovtcharov commented: "Vladi told me that Liu Guoliang was white and his hand was trembling as Vladi congratulated him after the match (against Zhang Jike where Samsonov almost defeated him) ."

Jorg Rosskopf talked about Ovtcharov's possible opponent: "Surely, Zhang Jike will improve but Dimi (Ovtcharov) is who can beat the Chinese players. I hope that Ovtcharov can win one of his matches at least."

Photos retrieved from tischtennis.de, ard.de, spiegel.de. bz-berlin.de, london2012.com and handelsblastt.de

Photo and info. source: tischtennis.de