Host nations Felix Lebrun reaches the Semis!
Felix Lebrun: Photo by ITTFWorld
The first day of a new month saw some huge matchups in the men's and women's quarter finals at the Paris Olympics. The morning session started with reigning champion Chen Meng who took on Sofia Polcanova, the last remaining challenger from Europe. Cheng Meng was ruthless in her 4-0 victory, even taking one set 11-0 to make it through to the final 4. The next of the women's matches proved to be a classic, Shin Yubin took a commanding 3-0 lead over Miu Hirano, but Hirano fought back valiantly to level the match at 3-3. The deciding set went the distance as well with Shin Yubin finally coming out on top 15-13. Sun Yingsha then took on Cheng I-Ching and again the Chinese woman was able to get through in 4 straight games to take her semi final place. The last women's match of the day involved the relatively unknown Pyong Song Gyong from North Korea face off against Japan's Hina Hayata. Hiyata took a 3-1 lead by Pyong was never going down without a fight and managed to win the next 2 sets and level the match. Hayata ran away with an early lead in the final set and wouldn't let her grip of the game go to get over the line and take up the final spot in the women's semi finals.
The women's semi final line-up looks like this:
Shin Yubin Vs Cheng Meng (10am Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
Sun Yingsha Vs Hina Hayata (1.30pm Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
The men's side also had some fantastic ties, first off Hugo Calderano came up against Jang Woojin, it looked down paper like it could be a very tight game, however Calderano came out all guns blazing and his backhand in particular was just too hot to handle for Woojin. Hugo came out with a 4-0 win and looked in total control throughout the match. Then the home favorite took to the stage, France's young superstar Felix Lebrun had the whole stadium behind him in an incredible atmosphere. Lin Yun Ju was far from an easy opponent however, the match went back and forth with players exchanging one set each throughout the match, but it was Felix who came out on top in the deciding game giving the home crowd what they wanted and a Frenchman through to the semi final! Another absolute monster match up followed this with two heavyweights taking each other on, Fan Zhendong against Harimoto. It was another titanic battle which went down to the wire. Fantastic Zhendong had to really find his best level to make it past an inspired Harimoto, taking the last 2 sets to get himself a semi final place with a 4-3 win. The final match of the day saw two players who probably didn't expect to be facing each other in the quarter finals with world number 1 Wang Chuqin on their side of the draw. Truls Moregard who took out Wang Chuqin the round before came up against Omar Assar who made the quarter finals at the Tokyo Olympics as well. It was an even start to the match with some key deuce sets going through way of Truls who then took charge. His emotions were clear to see and he dropped to the floor in delight when he wrapped up a 4-1 win to make the final 4 of the Paris games.
The men's semi final line-up:
Felix Lebrun Vs Fan Zhendong (11am Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
Truls Moregard Vs Hugo Calderano (2.30pm Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
There will no doubt be an incredible atmosphere in the area for the final stages and some huge games to decide the medals!
Here's TableTennisDaily discussing Olympic predictions and more in the new TableTennisDaily Cast below:
Felix Lebrun: Photo by ITTFWorld
The first day of a new month saw some huge matchups in the men's and women's quarter finals at the Paris Olympics. The morning session started with reigning champion Chen Meng who took on Sofia Polcanova, the last remaining challenger from Europe. Cheng Meng was ruthless in her 4-0 victory, even taking one set 11-0 to make it through to the final 4. The next of the women's matches proved to be a classic, Shin Yubin took a commanding 3-0 lead over Miu Hirano, but Hirano fought back valiantly to level the match at 3-3. The deciding set went the distance as well with Shin Yubin finally coming out on top 15-13. Sun Yingsha then took on Cheng I-Ching and again the Chinese woman was able to get through in 4 straight games to take her semi final place. The last women's match of the day involved the relatively unknown Pyong Song Gyong from North Korea face off against Japan's Hina Hayata. Hiyata took a 3-1 lead by Pyong was never going down without a fight and managed to win the next 2 sets and level the match. Hayata ran away with an early lead in the final set and wouldn't let her grip of the game go to get over the line and take up the final spot in the women's semi finals.
The women's semi final line-up looks like this:
Shin Yubin Vs Cheng Meng (10am Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
Sun Yingsha Vs Hina Hayata (1.30pm Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
The men's side also had some fantastic ties, first off Hugo Calderano came up against Jang Woojin, it looked down paper like it could be a very tight game, however Calderano came out all guns blazing and his backhand in particular was just too hot to handle for Woojin. Hugo came out with a 4-0 win and looked in total control throughout the match. Then the home favorite took to the stage, France's young superstar Felix Lebrun had the whole stadium behind him in an incredible atmosphere. Lin Yun Ju was far from an easy opponent however, the match went back and forth with players exchanging one set each throughout the match, but it was Felix who came out on top in the deciding game giving the home crowd what they wanted and a Frenchman through to the semi final! Another absolute monster match up followed this with two heavyweights taking each other on, Fan Zhendong against Harimoto. It was another titanic battle which went down to the wire. Fantastic Zhendong had to really find his best level to make it past an inspired Harimoto, taking the last 2 sets to get himself a semi final place with a 4-3 win. The final match of the day saw two players who probably didn't expect to be facing each other in the quarter finals with world number 1 Wang Chuqin on their side of the draw. Truls Moregard who took out Wang Chuqin the round before came up against Omar Assar who made the quarter finals at the Tokyo Olympics as well. It was an even start to the match with some key deuce sets going through way of Truls who then took charge. His emotions were clear to see and he dropped to the floor in delight when he wrapped up a 4-1 win to make the final 4 of the Paris games.
The men's semi final line-up:
Felix Lebrun Vs Fan Zhendong (11am Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
Truls Moregard Vs Hugo Calderano (2.30pm Local Time France - 2nd Aug)
There will no doubt be an incredible atmosphere in the area for the final stages and some huge games to decide the medals!
Here's TableTennisDaily discussing Olympic predictions and more in the new TableTennisDaily Cast below:
Last edited:
