World No. 1 Rory McIlroy will swap his golf clubs next Tuesday for a ping pong bag ahead of defending his BMW Masters title in Shanghai.
To kick off an exciting tournament week at Lak Malern, table tennis star Timo Boll will take on McIlroy in an exhibition match.
Former World No. 1 and European Ryder Cup team mater, Martin Kaymer will also put aside his clubs to tackle Boll on the 18th green of the Jack Nicklaus-designed championship course.
Ping pong ace, Timo Boll set to tackle Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer in Shanghai.
Boll is already looking forward to the match: “Martin Kaymer and I have a lot in common: as kids we both wanted to become professional footballers and both grew up playing sport around Düsseldorf – Martin at Mettmann Golf Club, me at Borussia Düsseldorf.
“I enjoyed playing golf as a hobby, while he played a bit of table tennis on the side. However, we are still yet to meet. Now the BMW Masters has thrown us together in Shanghai. I am looking forward to our table tennis challenge and the nearest-to-the-pin competition. I am sure Martin Kaymer and Rory McIlroy will be able to give me a few tips. It will certainly be interesting to chat with them both about the similarities between our sports in terms of dynamics and accuracy.”
Kaymer is well loved by the Chinese for his extraordinary creativity and technique, and last week passed the 1,000,000 follower mark on the Chinese social media platform “Tencent”.
The 31-year old Boll will travel to Shanghai straight from the European Championships in Denmark (17th to 21st October), where he has the opportunity to add to his impressive record of 15 European Championship titles in singles, doubles and the team competition.
