Referee left the game

Toilet break! But nothing went wrong during the thriller

A rumbling in the stomach, perhaps a feeling of discomfort, but in any case an urgent human need. Now of all times: Shit . . . ! After all, the person in question was the referee of a table tennis Bundesliga match that was on the brink of collapse . . .  

In the men's Bundesliga table tennis match between title contenders SPG Linz and Stockerau, the score was 1:1 in games, 1:1 in sets and 9:9 when Johann Hametner suddenly found himself struggling more than the players of the two top clubs at the table. Which is why, in the middle of this ping-pong thriller, the referee left his seat and the hall in Linz's Lissfeld Sports Park in a hurry.

Without comment!

The reaction of the two players: incredulous amazement. Stockerau coach Tarek al-Samhoury stood up, waved his hands and shouted a helpless-sounding "Günther" in the direction of Linz boss Renner.

"I've never seen anything like it"

But even he couldn't do anything! Wels official Gerhard Demelbauer, who was spying in the stands, said: "I've been around for a long time, but I've never seen anything like this!" But the most important thing was that nothing went wrong in the end. Not for the referee, who returned minutes later, and not for Linz either - they won 4:2.