First time after 2010 Germany secured the medal in the Women’s Team at the 2022 ITTF World team Championships Finals in Chengdu. In the quarterfinal they beat Hong Kong in five grueling matches.
Germany managed to recover after being two games to null in reverse. HAN Ying and Nina MITTELHAM lost their opening matches before SHAN Xiaona changed the course of the match. In the fourth encounter HAN Ying overcame ZHU Chengzhu 3-0.
“We are through to the semifinal and we are so amazed and happy. I was a little bit angry about the result in Tokyo Olympic Games so when I saw the draw in group 16 I know I got the second chance to beat the team. It really helps me to have a chance to play against team Hong Kong again. But in the first game I was too nervous. The first match is the hardest match for me and I need time to play loosely so I lost the first duel in this championships. In my second match today I tried to remember how I can play well and it worked ” said HAN Ying.
SHAN Xiaona overcame LEE Ho Ching 3-1: “I went into the box at 0-2 and I believed the whole team and trusted myself that I could win the match. I stood with a little bit pressure but I did well. This is my first World Championships maybe also it would be the last one. Thus I just wanted to give everything I could and I did it.”
In the decisive match Nina MITTELHAM succeeded against SOO Wai Yam Minnie.
“The first match was not my match. I did not find my rhythm so I made many easy mistakes and ZHU Chengzhu played well. In the second match I just tried to play my games and didn’t give further chances to play what she wanted to play and it worked better. I changed my serve a little bit that I was playing better in the rallies. I didn’t take so many risks and I was just waiting for my chances then I tried to use it. At the end I won and I’m happy.”
Portugal created upset by beating Slovenia 3-0 in the Men’s Team Round of 16. It is the third time after 2014 and 2016 that the team reaches the quarterfinal. The hero of the match was Joao GERALDO currently ranked at the position no. 84. In five games he beat World’s no. 8 Darko JORGIC. In previous six days JORGIC did not lose any game against anyone but China.
“Today I think it was a great match for us and the three players with high level of table tennis. In the group stage we defeated the team of Brazil which is a really good result. Now we are fully focused on next match with Japanese team “said GERALDO. “I played with Darko before it was a really close match although I lost that one but I knew I could have the possibility to win. Today I had a really good moment after I lost the second game. It was disappointing for me. But somehow I found myself. I’m really happy that I won. I showed a good level and I’m happy with my overall performance in the tournament. So I will try to keep up for tomorrow.”
JORGIC said:”I came back from 1-0 in my match with GERALDO. I changed tactics a little bit but I knew from the beginning that he is a really aggressive and amazing player since we played many times before a few months ago. At that time I was also coming back from 0-2 against him. I knew it would be a tough match from the beginning but he started to play really well in the end. I was too passive on some shots but I need to congratulate them. They gave an amazing performance. This is our history for Slovenia already and this was our key to being the second place in the group to reach this round of 16. We are happy and I think everybody from Slovenia is happy.”
Joao MONTEIRO beat Peter HRIBAR 3-0: “Japan is one of the best teams in the world. So we know that the match against them will be very hard but we are going to play well. We will keep fighting as we did until now and try to win to against team Japan and to get the medal in the championships.”
Sweden defeated Belgium 3-0 in straight matches. Only at the beginning Sweden was under pressure. Truls MOREGARD was forced to go full distance against Martin ALLEGRO.
“It was a very tough match. I’ve never played with him before. I didn’t know so much about serving and receiving about how I would play and how he would play. He was playing really well especially in the serve ” said Truls.
Mattias FALCK needed one game less to beat Cedric NUYTINCK: “It was really fun playing in knockout stage. Here we are aiming for the medals. It was a little bit more fun to play these matches. I’m looking forward to playing in the next round.”
Anton KALLBERG overcame Adrien RASSENFOSSE in straight games: “Personally I think today was my best match so it’s getting better and better. I think if we want to play with team China in the next stage we have to step up again to the very high level that we had never have.”
Next in line is China.
“We will prepare this as we prepare against every team. We’ll look at what their strengths are and we will try to find some weaknesses. We’ll do our absolute best and keep up a good fight ” added Kristian KARLSSON.
Germany also progressed to the quarterfinal. They overcame Croatia in straight matches. In the opening match Benedikt DUDA beat Andrej GACINA.
“I think that playing with GACINA is always a tough match. He was playing very well. And I know if I can take the break against him and win this point for the team it would be much easier again for us. I had some lucky points and I was playing very well today.”
QIU Dang secured further gap with victory over Filip ZELJKO: “We are happy that we could win 3-0 but we also prepared for a hard battle. We know that Croatia is a very strong team; especially all the players are very good. They haven’t lost a match yet here. So we have prepared for a big fight. But at the end we were also happy to win comfortably 3-0 so that we can prepare well for tomorrow.”
In the last duel Kay STUMPER prevailed against Tomislav PUCAR.
In the quarterfinal Portugal will play against Japan France against Germany and Sweden against China.
