German table tennis icon Boll loses final in last action of career

German table tennis star Timo Boll has ended his illustrious career with a defeat.

His club, Borussia Dusseldorf, lost the table tennis Bundesliga play-off final 3-2 to TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen on Sunday.

In his singles match, the 44-year-old Boll was narrowly defeated by Brazil's World Championship runner-up Hugo Calderano in five sets.

In the decisive fifth match of the final, Boll and his team-mate Anton Källberg lost 3-0 in doubles against Ochsenhausen's Simon Gauzy and Shunsuke Togami.

These were the final matches of Boll's nearly 30-year professional career, during which he was ranked world number one four times and won 20 European Championship titles in singles, doubles and team events. He also picked up two team silvers and two team bronze at Olympic Games.

However, he missed out on securing his 15th championship title with Dusseldorf in his farewell.

The Bundesliga final, held at the Süwag Energie Arena in Frankfurt, was entirely dedicated to Boll's farewell. Among the 5,000 spectators were numerous prominent figures, including basketball icon Dirk Nowitzki, former German health minister Karl Lauterbach and Olympic fencing champion Britta Heidemann.