In the German Championship, the dark horse showed off its power. The No. 6 seed was upset and the No. 5 seed lost in the first round.

The table tennis WTT championship in Frankfurt, Germany is in full swing. The collective absence of the national table tennis team in this competition is mainly because the quadrennial National Games will kick off on November 7. The national table tennis players will return to their respective provincial teams to prepare for the National Games. During this period, the national table tennis players will not participate in international events.

Many experts from foreign associations participated, among which Japan and South Korea sent their main players to participate. There were 8 players from Japan and South Korea participating in the singles, 4 players each in the men's and women's singles.

The top ten seeds in the men's singles have a strong lineup, including the top seed Hugo of Brazil, the second seed Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan, the third seed Moregard of Sweden, and the fourth seed Félix Le of France. Brun, No. 5 seed Duda of Germany, No. 6 seed Dako of Slovenia, No. 7 seed Lin Yunru of Chinese Taipei, No. 8 seed Qiu Dang of Germany, No. 9 seed Alex Le Brun of France and No. 10 seed Ahn Jae-hyun of South Korea.

In the men's singles 1/16 finals, Darko Jochik faced off against Kanak Jha, a dark horse in recent events.

25-year-old Kanak Jha is currently ranked 24th in the world and is a new generation leader in the American table tennis world. Its technical characteristics are right-hand horizontal shooting, speed-based offensive play near the table, fast backhand connection, flexible line changes near the table, good at speed suppression and sudden attacks, but the stability of the mid-to-distant table is relatively insufficient. In his career, he won the men's singles bronze medal at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, the men's singles championship at the 2024 WTT Dusseldorf Regional Tournament, and the men's singles championship at the 2025 Pan American Championships.

Dako is ranked 10th in the world and is the sixth seed in this tournament. His recent state has been fluctuating greatly. He suffered consecutive first-round losses in the Macau Championship, China Grand Slam and London Star Challenge. It was not until last week's Montpellier Championship that his state improved and he entered the men's singles quarterfinals. Darko's technical and tactical system is centered on backhand twisting and pulling, and other techniques are mostly used to create backhand offensive opportunities.

After the game started, Kanak took full advantage of his speed near the table in the first game and completely suppressed his opponent's performance. The quality of Daktronics' boards failed to improve, and they were at a disadvantage in the stalemate. Kanak took the overall lead, taking the lead 11-6. Unlike Darko, who relies too much on his backhand, Canak's technique is more balanced, and his forehand has the ability to actively attack sideways.

In the second game, Darko's state improved and the score was stalemate. However, at the end of the game, Kanak made another effort and won another game 11-8.

The third game was one-sided. After the two sides tied at 1, Kanak scored 10 points in a row and finally won easily 11-3. The total score was 3-0, sweeping the sixth seed to advance.

In another match, German player Duda played at home against Japanese player Hayasuke Togami.

Duda is currently ranked 8th in the world and is the fifth seed in this tournament. However, he has been in a sluggish state recently. He suffered a first-round defeat in both the China Grand Slam and the Montpellier Championship. Hayasuke Togami is ranked 20th in the world. He is the main member of the Japanese men's singles. He is known for his fierce fighting and backhand skills. He is good at high-speed confrontation and sudden speed increase to disrupt the opponent's rhythm. He has strong psychological quality and often breaks out in headwind situations. During his career, he won the Japanese National Championship and defeated the top ten players in the world many times. After withdrawing from two races recently due to injury, he returned to compete in good condition.

After the game started, Hayasuke Togami quickly took the initiative. He continuously penetrated Duda's defense with quick attacks near the stage, fully controlling the rhythm of the game, and easily won 11-4. Duda's condition recovered in the second game, and the two sides launched a fierce confrontation, with the score rising alternately. In handling the key points at the end of the game, Togami Hayabusa became more decisive and won another game 11-9.

Duda adjusted his tactics in the third game to strengthen control of the first three boards and achieved good results. However, Togami Hayasuke reversed the situation after falling behind 6-7 and secured the victory 11-9, eliminating the fifth seed with a total score of 3-0.

Both the two major seeds suffered a first-round elimination.