Tuesday the 30th of July saw the first medals up for grabs in Paris, with the gold medal and bronze medal matches in the mixed doubles both contested. First was the bronze medal match between South Korean pair of Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin who took on Wong Chun Ting and Doo Hoi Kem from Hong kong. On paper it looked like it would be a closely fought battle but it turned into a one sided affair with Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin taking the bronze in a fairly routine 4-0 scoreline (11-5, 11-7, 11-7, 14-12) with only the final set proving tight.
Then onto the biggest prize of the day, the mixed doubles gold. The top Seeds Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha from China took on the surprise package and relatively unknown North Korean pair of Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong who had an exciting run to the final beating Harimoto and Hayata from Japan, then the Swedish pair and Hong Kong in the semi-final. The pushed the Chinese pair in the final to, but in the end the Chinese pair overpowered them and proved to be too stable taking the Gold with a 4-2 victory.
There was also mens and womens round of 32 matches in the morning session with some exciting match ups. Firstly in the women's matches Swede Linda Bergstrom had the tough challenge of taking on the reigning Olympic champion Cheng Meng. Bergstrom put up a fight though and got off to an incredible start taking the first set but Cheng Meng was soon level and went on to take the next 3 sets to make it a 4-1 win. Next up Bernadette Szocs took on Margaryta Pesotska, Szocs the favorite took the win and progressed with a 4-1 win, however the scoreline was perhaps harsh on Pesotska who lost the middle 2 sets both 14-12, so the story could have been much different. Next onto the stage was Yu Fu from Portugal playing Natalia Bajor from Poland. Bajor came through an absolute marathon 7 sets in her first match pulling off a big win against Sawettabut from Thailand. Again this morning she managed to come out on the right side of a 7 set battle, again from behind, trailing 3-2 she won the last 2 sets giving her a huge 4-3 win. The final women's match of the morning was between Pyon Song Gyong of North Korea and Nina Mittelham of Germany, the match swung back and forth with Pyon finally taking it 4-3. Mittelham though was struggling with a back injury and was visibly in pain and upset at the end of the match, which is always tough to see, so we wish her a speedy recovery!
In the men's last 32 first up was Dima Ovtcharov against Victor Ishiy of Brazil, so far Dimitrij has looked very sharp and he overcame Ishiy 4-1 in a match where he mostly looked comfortable and in control. Next on Deni Kozul was up against Shunsuke Togami, it was a back and forth first 3 sets with Kozul giving himself a surprise 2-1 lead, however Togami found another gear to win 3 sets in a row and come out with a 4-2 win. Next up Lin Yun-Ju faced off against Andrej Gacina, Lin came out with a straight sets win, however in the middle 2 sets Gacina lost out 11-9 in both, so he will feel those were the chances he needed to take. Following this one of the big guns 4th seed Hugo Calderano came up against the feisty Spaniard Alvaro Robles. Robles put up a valiant effort and in the first part of the match even looked to be in control against Hugo, but the 2nd set proved key where Robles was ahead but Hugo stole the set 13-11 and that gave him the momentum to build into the game. It remained tight where the match stood at a 2-2 scoreline but in the 5th and 6th set Hugo found his A game and won 11-3 and 11-5 to get through to the last 16 in a 4-2 win.
The singles matches will now continue with the remaining mens and womens last 32 games followed by the start of the last 16 matches. The stakes and the drama will only get higher from here on and we are looking forward to some more awesome table tennis from Paris!
Catch our latest TTDCast where we does our Olympic predictions and more:
Then onto the biggest prize of the day, the mixed doubles gold. The top Seeds Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha from China took on the surprise package and relatively unknown North Korean pair of Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong who had an exciting run to the final beating Harimoto and Hayata from Japan, then the Swedish pair and Hong Kong in the semi-final. The pushed the Chinese pair in the final to, but in the end the Chinese pair overpowered them and proved to be too stable taking the Gold with a 4-2 victory.
There was also mens and womens round of 32 matches in the morning session with some exciting match ups. Firstly in the women's matches Swede Linda Bergstrom had the tough challenge of taking on the reigning Olympic champion Cheng Meng. Bergstrom put up a fight though and got off to an incredible start taking the first set but Cheng Meng was soon level and went on to take the next 3 sets to make it a 4-1 win. Next up Bernadette Szocs took on Margaryta Pesotska, Szocs the favorite took the win and progressed with a 4-1 win, however the scoreline was perhaps harsh on Pesotska who lost the middle 2 sets both 14-12, so the story could have been much different. Next onto the stage was Yu Fu from Portugal playing Natalia Bajor from Poland. Bajor came through an absolute marathon 7 sets in her first match pulling off a big win against Sawettabut from Thailand. Again this morning she managed to come out on the right side of a 7 set battle, again from behind, trailing 3-2 she won the last 2 sets giving her a huge 4-3 win. The final women's match of the morning was between Pyon Song Gyong of North Korea and Nina Mittelham of Germany, the match swung back and forth with Pyon finally taking it 4-3. Mittelham though was struggling with a back injury and was visibly in pain and upset at the end of the match, which is always tough to see, so we wish her a speedy recovery!
In the men's last 32 first up was Dima Ovtcharov against Victor Ishiy of Brazil, so far Dimitrij has looked very sharp and he overcame Ishiy 4-1 in a match where he mostly looked comfortable and in control. Next on Deni Kozul was up against Shunsuke Togami, it was a back and forth first 3 sets with Kozul giving himself a surprise 2-1 lead, however Togami found another gear to win 3 sets in a row and come out with a 4-2 win. Next up Lin Yun-Ju faced off against Andrej Gacina, Lin came out with a straight sets win, however in the middle 2 sets Gacina lost out 11-9 in both, so he will feel those were the chances he needed to take. Following this one of the big guns 4th seed Hugo Calderano came up against the feisty Spaniard Alvaro Robles. Robles put up a valiant effort and in the first part of the match even looked to be in control against Hugo, but the 2nd set proved key where Robles was ahead but Hugo stole the set 13-11 and that gave him the momentum to build into the game. It remained tight where the match stood at a 2-2 scoreline but in the 5th and 6th set Hugo found his A game and won 11-3 and 11-5 to get through to the last 16 in a 4-2 win.
The singles matches will now continue with the remaining mens and womens last 32 games followed by the start of the last 16 matches. The stakes and the drama will only get higher from here on and we are looking forward to some more awesome table tennis from Paris!
Catch our latest TTDCast where we does our Olympic predictions and more:
