In a semi-final thriller against Japan, Germany's table tennis men secured silver at the Olympic Games and are as successful as they have been since 2008. 13 years after reaching the finals in Beijing, Dimitrij Ovtcharov's team returned to the final on Wednesday with a 3-2 win against the hosts. After Patrick Franziska surprisingly narrowly missed the decision, Dimitrij Ovtcharov provided the third point in the last match. In order to gild the success, the selection placed in second place on Friday (12.30 p.m. CEST in the FAZ-Liveticker for Olympia, on ARD and on Eurosport) needs a sensation against long-term winner China around individual Olympic champion Ma Long.

In addition to this safe precious metal and bronze in singles for Ovtcharov, there is also a third medal for German table tennis at these summer games in the Japanese capital.

On Thursday (4.00 a.m. CEST in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ZDF and on Eurosport) the women want to add bronze against Hong Kong.

The Olympic third in the individual, Ovtcharov, has already set a new record with his sixth Olympic medal.

Ma Long could become Olympic champion for the fifth time, but nobody has as many medals as Ovtcharov.

Like Timo Boll, he already celebrated silver in 2008 and bronze in 20112 and 2016 with the team.

Pure numbers do not reflect the tension of this semi-final. The third in the league, Franziska, almost became the match winner. Together with Boll, he had initially taken the lead in doubles against the mixed Olympic champion Jun Mizutani and Koki Niwa in the fifth set. Ovtcharov then decided against the world number four Tomokazu Harimoto only the first section for himself. Because the 40-year-old Boll turned his individual after a set deficit against Mizutani, the Germans were leading 2-1 when Franziska stepped back to the table tennis table.

Against the super talent Harimoto, he submitted the first two sentences.

In the fourth round he was only three points short of the coup, and in the fifth even just two.

But Harimoto saved himself again.

As with the 3-2 in the quarter-finals against Taiwan, Ovtcharov was the key to this even trickier task against the three seeded hosts.

With the 3-0 win against Koki Niwa, the world number seven led his team into the final.

The German men also returned the favor for the semi-final defeat against the Asians five years ago in Rio.

On the way to silver in 2008, they had also defeated the Japanese in the semifinals.

Germany's table tennis women do not have such a series of medals as the men.

But they too can win a medal at the Olympic Games for the second time in a row after the surprise silver in 2016. As expected, the team of national coach Jie Schöpp had no chance in their semifinals against the overpowering Chinese. In the bronze medal game, the selection made at three pays off a little confidently. "A medal would be incredible," said Han Ying, describing how she saw the pictures of other medalists in the Olympic Village. “We were all jealous. We then talked about how we really want to win one, ”said the 38-year-old.