Since 2010, everything is different in the European Women's Table Tennis: SVS STRÖCK, partner club of the Werner Schlager Academy, entered the stage and stirred up first Austria and, subsequently, Europe.

Win of the cross-border Super League 2010/2011
Austrian Champion 2010/2011
Finalist in the European Champions League 2011/2012
Austrian Champion 2011/2012

2012/2013 the team with the two Japanese Yuki Nonaka and Aya Umemura, with the multiple Romanian European Champion Daniela Dodean and the Austrian team players Li Qiangbing and Nicole Galitschitsch planned the big blow: gaining the title in the Champions League and defending the title in the Austrian championships were the great goal before this season.

And SVS STRÖCK also started confidently, almost untouchable in the new season.

Four games, four wins, group victory in the Champions’ League group stage and with it reaching the semifinals of the European Champions League.

Also in the Austrian Championships SVS STRÖCK remained the only team in the autumn round without loss of points and leads the league table during the winter break before Linz Froschberg .

And then the "Horror-January":

First Daniela Dodean had a supposedly "minor" knee surgery, while it turned out that the right knee was already battered by a ligament-fracture and severely affected. The "perfect plan" to schedule the surgery in early December so that Dodean would start training again beginning of January and gets fit as soon as possible, turned into the number one horror scenario. Dodean will still have to pause a few weeks or even months - how long will be decided by the medical team, the sports management with the coaches Mathias Habesohn and Aya Umemura and by Dodean herself.

No sooner the club management could cope with the loss of Dodean and made appropriate plans, the next "bomb" burst.

Li Qiangbing is pregnant.

That alone would have been no real problem in the months of February and March (i.e. until the end of the CL-season), Li Qiangbing wanted to give everything to the club up to her baby break.

But, again the fate directed:

In another medical inspection it was found now that in the case of Li Qiangbing it is a high risk pregnancy and she is not allowed to do any sport.

So, the club simply has to check off the big goals of the season 2012/2013. From the perspective of the club, it is definitely no option, to “persuade” Dodean or Li Qiangbing to play. The health on the one side or the life of a growing child on the other side is much too valuable to even begin to think of taking such a risk.

As the regulator of the ETTU stipulates, however, that, first, only one Asian woman (player coach Umemura or Nonaka) may play, on the other hand may compete in the semi-finals and finals only players who were also in the first round at least used twice, Austria's reigning champion SVS STRÖCK is forced to compete in the semi-finals of the Champions League against Linz (February 2 in Linz on February 8 at the WSA in Schwechat) with only two players and to give up the match of the number-3 player.

A severe blow to the highly ambitious team and an unpleasant (albeit short) stopover of SVS STRÖCK on the steady path to the top. On the way towards Europe’s throne.

"We are sorry for our sponsors, our supporters, the media, and - to be honest-  for our opponents, but we have to bow ourselves to the regulator and to recognize that you can’t foresee such a series of events no matter how perfect your planning and even then cannot respond, "said club manager Martin Sörös, but adds:

"No question, our chance to make the really big goals this season is thus now at 5 percent, but even at this mini-chance the team will fight with a lion's heart. Yuki Nonaka is a dangerous defensive player who can definitely beat all the top players in Europe and our second (eligible) player Nicole Galitschitsch continually improved in recent months, wherefore she is good for a surprise or two. But, as I said, we're talking about 5 percent. . . "