On the first day of the play at the table tennis tournament at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium three European pairings reached the quarterfinal stage of the Mixed Doubles Event.
Ovidiu IONESCU and Bernadette SZOCS of Romania overcame Slovakia’s combination of Lubomir PISTEJ and Barbora BALAZOVA 4:1 (11:8 11:8 12:14 11:4 11:9).
โI am very happy and proud about our match today! We played very well. We had a very hard preparations before the Olympics and before this match we prepared together a lot of tactics against PISTEJ and BALAZOVA. So it worked very good and we are satisfied about our victory โ said SZOCS.
In the next match they will meet top seeds XU Xin and LIU Shiwen Chinese parings who overcame Canada’s WANG Zen and ZHANG Mo 4:1 (9:11 11:8 11:7 11:8 11:6).
โTomorrow we have nothing to lose we have to play our best and donโt give up. Everything itโs possible and I believe in our Mixed double. Nothing canโt stop us for our dream come true. At the Olympics everything could happen โ added SZOCS.
Ovidiu IONESCU won both his matches today in mixed doubles and it singles.
โIn mixed we were very good prepared mentally and tactically and we are happy we won. Tomorrow we will face the ultimate challenge to beat the Chinese players at the Olympics. I do believe everything is possible โ said IONESCU.
Emmanuel LEBESSON and YUAN Jia Nan of France overcame Australia’s HU Heming and Melissa TAPPER in straight games (11:5 11:9 11:1 11:0). In the quarter โ finals they will meet Hong Kong’s WONG Chun Ting and DOO Hoi Kem. Hong Kong pairings overcame Adam SZUDI and Szandra PERGEL today (11:6 11:5 11:3 11:9).
Patrick FRANZISKA and Petrissa SOLJA of Germany beat Cuba’s Jorge CAMPOS and Daniela FONSECA (11:5 11:7 11:8 11:7).
“We were the clear favorites but we took our adversaries very seriously and we are satisfied with our solid performance ” said SOLJA.
For Patrick FRANZISKA it was the first Olympic game of his career. โIt was ‘weird-great’ to run in here today. I waited so long for it fevered and trained. I looked at the Tokyo 2020 lettering and thought: ‘Wow now we are here. We made it.’ It was a very special moment maybe even one of the most special. โ
His partner SOLJA also spoke of a historic moment after all the mixed doubles are Olympic for the first time in Tokyo.
Tomorrow the two will play against the local heroes Mima ITO and Jun MIZUTANI. They beat Sofia POLCANOVA and Stefan FEGERL of Austria 4:1 (11:5 8:11 11:9 11:4 11:4).
โThe Japanese want to get gold here. They are favorites we have to keep the game tight because that’s where they feel the pressure as a home nation ” said national coach ROSSKOPF.
For Patrick the Japanese are by far the best double after the Chinese an increase in performance is an absolute must:” Tomorrow we have to go to the max be even better in the service-return game. Maybe Mima ITO will have a little flashback from her defeat against us at the 2019 World Cup in Budapest. “
In the quarterfinals she lost to the German duo at the side of Masataka MORIZONO in a spectacular game with 2-4 sets and missed the World Cup medal. โI do believe that she suffered this defeat in Budapest and the one against me in the 2016 Olympic semifinals in Rio. But by now she will be mature enough to have ticked off these defeats. That’s a pretty strong mixed double ” said Petrissa SOLJA.”
