France’s Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jia Nan are one step away from the medal at the Olympics. In the quarterfinal they were stretched to full distance but eventually prevailed in a hard-fought 4-3 (11-3 6-11 7-11 11-8 9-11 11-7 13-11) victory over WONG Chun Ting and DOO Hoi Kem from Hong Kong China. The seven-game thriller lasted over an hour with both sides delicately poised to advance to the semi-final as the advantage swung either way through the first six games.
“It was an amazing game and we got some lucky breaks. But we also fought hard for each point. It’s nice to have Jean-Philippe GATIEN Sports Director of Paris 2024 in the stands and watching us today. It shows that table tennis is important and we’ll now try to win at least a medal in the sport ” said LEBESSON.
Petrissa SOLJA and Patrick FRANZISKA experienced moments that every athlete would like to avoid; despite having seven match points against the Japanese duo Mima ITO and Jun MIZUTANI they lost their semi-finals.
There was great disappointment in the German team after the Mixed Doubles match. Understandably because the German pairings delivered a brilliant performance against the highly favored Japanese Mima ITO and Jun MIZUTANI.
A nervous start in game one was followed by two convincing runs by the Germans before the Japanese equalized again.
“We played great and also felt that we had them under control especially at the end. They were almost defeated but we did not took our chance ”analyzed Patrick FRANZISKA.
A close 11:9 brought the German pairings back into the lead 3:2 but the Japanese were able to equalize again. In game seven SOLJA and FRANZIKA already looked like the sure winner: 5:0 9:2 and 10:6 in the extension three more match points followed. In the end however it was Mima ITO who turned the second match point of the Japanese to 16:14 with a long service.
The men’s national coach Jörg ROSSKOKOPF was also disappointed: “That was a huge opportunity today. In the 7th game they had a great start and with the match balls we also had the opportunity to win the game. These weren’t impossible balls. They both played great against the Japanese but in the end ITO and MIZUTANI kept fighting.”
Petrissa SOLJA also struggled with the missed opportunities:“ You think about what you could have played differently in the end. In retrospect however you are always smarter. We may have reacted a little worse then I get annoyed by the mistakes I made. We led so high in the end that’s the saddest thing for me. ”
Even if they can certainly be proud of their performance the disappointment over such a bitter defeat at the Olympics is huge. “It was a long way to get here we prepared for this tournament and this moment and in the end we might miss the chance to win a medal. It really hurts that this long journey here in Tokyo comes to an end ”said SOLJA.
The Romanian duo of Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS lost to XU Xin and LIU Shiwen from China 4-0 in their 30-minute Mixed Doubles quarter-final encounter. The top-seeded Chinese took the early initiative winning the first game 11-6 in just six minutes. The second game ended even earlier as Xu and Liu enjoyed an 11-1 victory in five minutes. The Chinese pair won the third game comfortably 11-6 before sealing their passage into the semi-final with a 12-10 victory over the ninth seed Romanians in the fourth and final game.
“We take each match as they come but our form is getting better each day too. We were feeling quite nervous before the match but calmed down once we won our first game against the Romanians ” said XU.
Lin Yun Ju / Cheng I Ching TPE – Lee Sangsu / Jeon Jihee KOR 4: 2 (-7.4 -7.7.8.7)
Patrick Franziska / Petrissa Solja – Jun Mizutani / Mima Ito JPN 3: 4 (-8 5 3 -3 9 -8 -14)
Xu Xin / Liu Shiwen CHN – Ovidiu Ionescu / Bernadette Szocs ROU 4: 0 (6 1 6 10)
Emmanuel Lebesson / Yuan Jia Nan FRA – WONG Chun Ting and DOO Hoi Kem 4-3 (3 – 6 -7 8 -9 7 11)
