Fan Zhendong is Olympic champion
What a last day of the table tennis individual competitions at the Olympic Games in Paris. Fan Zhendong is Olympic champion for the first time - he defeated Sweden's Truls Möregardh in a high-class final. In the bronze match, the French fans actually carried their hero Felix Lebrun to bronze.
China wins the gold medal in the men's singles as well. Fan Zhendong crowns his career with his first singles title at the Olympic Games at the age of 27. He took revenge on Truls Möregardh for the Swede's victory over his compatriot Wang Chuqin. The final score was 4:1 sets - but it looked like a close duel at the beginning. Möregard, who had the chance to win his first gold medal since Jan-Ove Waldner in 1992, took the first set straight away and also led 9:8 in the second. However, as in the quarter-final against Tomokazu Harimoto, Fan always played his best table tennis in the decisive situations and won all the following sets. In the end, he was celebrated by the South Paris Arena 4, which was of course firmly in Chinese hands.
"He put a lot of pressure on me today. His style of play often means that I can't get into my own rhythm. Playing against an opponent like him in an Olympic final is something that's quite scary to be honest. I lost the first set and then fell behind in the second and third sets. If I hadn't managed a few key points well, the result might have been different," said Fan Zhendong at the press conference afterwards.
Lebrun makes the fairy tale come true
He has done it! 17-year-old Felix Lebrun confidently wins bronze against Hugo Calderano. The Brazilian only missed a set point in the second set, otherwise he never really got into the match against the crowd favorite from Montpellier and ultimately lost without winning a set. An incredible performance from the Frenchman, who more than earned bronze with victories against Anton Källberg, Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Lin Jun-Yu and Hugo Calderano and is the first French medal winner since Jean-Phillippe Gatien in Barcelona in 1992. "It's the first time I've cried tears of joy. I don't normally show much emotion, but it's been a dream of mine since I was a child," said Felix Lebrun after the game. "I was very nervous after losing to Fan Zhendong, but we prepared well for today. It's a moment I'll remember all my life and for me it's incredible that I can go down in the history of French table tennis."
Men´s singles
Bronze medal match on Sunday
Felix Lebrun FRA - Hugo Calderano BRA 4:0 (6,10,7,6)
Match for gold on Sunday
Fan Zhendong CHN - Truls Möregardh SWE 4:1 (-7,9,9,8,7)
Source: DTTB
Feature pictures: (Photos: BeLa Sportfoto)