Sabine Winter faces disc injury concerns ahead of European Championships

German table tennis players are facing a series of spinal injuries ahead of major competitions. As the 2026 European Championships begin in Slovenia, top European player Sabine Winter enters the tournament while managing ongoing issues from a disc problem that has hindered her progress since July.

This follows recent setbacks for other prominent German players, including Nina Mittelham, who had to withdraw from the 2024 Olympics due to a disc injury, and Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who missed the 2025 World Championships following a cervical disc herniation that required surgery.

While the frequency of these injuries has raised questions regarding the physical demands of the sport, German national team doctor Thomas Garn stated that these cases appear to be outliers rather than a direct consequence of table tennis movements. He noted that there is no inherent reason within the sport that makes professional players inevitably prone to disc herniations.