Hosts and second seeds Germany booked their place in the men's final at the world team table tennis championships with a 3-1 win over Japan in Saturday's semi-final. In front of a 10,000 crowd at Dortmund's Westfalenhallen, Dimitrij Ovtcharov gave the Germans the lead with victory over Japan's Jun Mizutani as he dominated in a 11-7, 15-13, 13-11 win.
Germany's top player, Timo Boll recorded another straight games win to beat Koki Niwain 11-5, 11-7, 11-9. The Japanese hit back thanks to Seiya Kishikawa's four-game win over Patrick Baum for a 11-9, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11 victory, but Boll stepped in to beat Mizutani 11-6, 11-8, 13-11 to put the Germans in the final.
In Sunday's final, the Germans will face either defending champions China or South Korea, who meet in Saturday's other semi-final. In the women's competition, defending champions Singapore will face China in Sunday's final in a repeat of the 2010 tournament finale. Singapore reached the final after a dramatic 3-2 semi-final win over South Korea on Saturday.
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