Europe Smash Sweden August 14-24 2025

[docbroke]

Truls did it!!

 

[Peter93]

 

[pongguy69]

TRULS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BlopChock]

I love this sport.

Thanks to both players and the fans for such a memorable experience.

 

[S2000]

THREE TIMES NET WIN LSD

WHAT A FINAL SET. Truls has raised himself one level since olympics.

 

[M51]

BRAVO TRULS!

Also, Wang Hao needs to go.

 

[golden_son]

Truls is going to win this 4-0 and lose 4-1 to LSD tomorrow. Truls's style seems to bother the rest of the world but not China. Home court crowd could be factor but it feels like Lin is good at ignoring the noise.

Never been happier to be wrong. What a match by Truls! Lin Shidong has ice in his veins but Truls showed some real resilience.

 

[TensorBackhand]

No doubt about Lin's tenacity, but this kid hasn't trusted his forehand enough, so many chances he could have gone for an over the table loop but instead play touches and let Truls get the initiative

Too much crab style, too reactive. LSD is similar to Harimoto that he relies too much on his rally to win.

Needs more Ali and Usyk, more technical and creative.

 

[NextLevel]

One of the worst world championship silver medallists of time and a guy with a game the Chinese team has solved just won a grand smash. Well done.

 

[mamedium]

Lin looks like he’s number 5 not 1

 

[Zezima]

What a game that was. Lin shidong looping mid distance especially with his bh was so nice to watch as if he is playing a drill.

Key point was that lin stopped flicking and just generally short game not good enough. Truls could attack just too many

 

[NextLevel]

OMG, THIS LAST POINT. Fitting way to win!!!

Amazing way to end the match.

 

[d3nium]

To be fair, Truls has looked inspired the entire tournament.

Home advantage always counts!

 

[OvrChkn]

That whole match and event was magic. The beauty of table tennis at full force.

 

[rpb23]

One of the main reasons LSD has risen so fast in the last 7, 8 months, is as a very young player, he has a very mature game, makes fewer unforced errors. The maturity coupled with his deadly backhand and decent forehand let him power through most his opponents as seasoned veterans just couldn't explore typical weakness associated with inexperienced young players.

However, this early maturation carries some cost, that's the pursuit of steadiness at the expense of aggression typically associated with young players when needed.

Case in point, in the 6th game at 9:9, LSD served short and Truls pushed to his forehand, not long but also not short, for an aggressive young player, a forehand loop would be a choice even with some risk. LSD just pushed back to the middle, even the push was low and short, Truls immediately looped and scored the crucial point.

In the deciding game, at 9:9, the exact the same thing happened again.

 

[plunder]

what's truls new world ranking yes

 

[zeio]

No doubt about Lin's tenacity, but this kid hasn't trusted his forehand enough, so many chances he could have gone for an over the table loop but instead play touches and let Truls get the initiative

That's an issue of training philosophy. Like the Henan province head coach Wang Chao pointed out in a Stiga VTT video from 2023, the new generation of CNT players is behind on serve-n-attack and tends to play safe.

This final also shows Gauzy did very well but came up short.

 

[rpb23]

Truls was in tears which underscores the point that taking trophy from Chinese even they are relatively quite weak at this time is so difficult.
If it were the LSD who at the top, he probably acted as business as usual.
Players outside of China need win many more trophies to make it a part of normal scene.

 

[Metaxa]

A final for the history books, even now!

 

[rpb23]

perfectly said. Ovtcharov probably was the weakest #1 (2018) as far as I can remember, but that's mainly due to rule change and technicality that he was even ranked #1 at the time. He was not the best player in the world at that time. Other players who were as strong or stronger at that exact time

Clearly Stronger
* Ma Long
* FZD
* Xu Xin

Similar Strength
* Timo Boll
* Jun Mizutani
* Tomokazu Harimoto (I think he already beat Ovtcharov in that year)
* Lin Gaoyuan
* Hugo Calderano


Compare to LSD today

Clearly Stronger
* None

Similar Strength
* WCQ

I'll say WCQ is moderately stronger than LSD.
FZD, if he plays now, is clearly stronger. He beat LSD twice in Chinese super league is the evidence.
Tomo, Felix and Hugo would not be the underdog(maybe up hands) facing LSD.
LSD has been hot for over half years, his mystic power as relatively unknown player is mostly gone and weakness is exposed, which is why his winning rate has noticeably dropped a notch in recent months.