“She could almost be my grandma” – German player is 20 years old, her opponent is 63

There will be a spectacular duel between generations at the European Table Tennis Championships in Slovenia this Friday. Then the German junior world champion Annett Kaufmann (20) will meet the 63-year-old former European champion Ni Xia Lian in the round of 16 of the individual competition. The Chinese native has been playing for Luxembourg since 1991.

"There's a difference in age of over 40 years. She could be my mom - and almost my grandma," said Kaufmann about her next opponent. And added with a laugh: "I've never played against them in my life. But let's see. I'll try to play over seven sets so that I might have an advantage and be in better condition."

Before Kaufmann was even born in 2006, Ni Her goal is to take part in the Olympic Games for the seventh time in Los Angeles in 2028.

Ni Xia Lian qualified for the game against Kaufmann with a 4-3 win against Margarita Pesotska from Ukraine. “You could already see: she held on really well until the seventh set,” said the German champion. Kaufmann himself won in the second round in 4:2 sets against Xiaoxin Yang from Monaco.