Men’s Teams Event at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games
Seeded at position no. two Germany started their journey in the Men’s Teams Event at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games with the victory over Chinese Taipei no. nine seed whilst Austria prevailed against Portugal. Those two teams will meet each other in the match for the semi final. Japan beat Poland and they will meet Hong Kong China.
In three singles encounters Germany’s Timo BOLL Dimitrij OVTCHAROV and Bastian STEGER recorded victories. Taipei’s pairings CHIANG Hung-Chieh and CHEN Chien-An gained only one point in doubles match against Bastian STEGER and Timo BOLL.
“It’s hard just playing in the team event it’s a strange feeling; you practise but it’s not the same as a match. Here there is so much noise from the crowd the start the wave and you really have to push yourself hard to concentrate. I am not complaining the atmosphere here has been great” stated STEGER. “Today against Chuang Chih-Yuan I think he was a little down after losing to Quadri Aruna in the Men’s Singles. I won the first game I think he became nervous and I was able to play my game.”
European champions from Russia 2015 Austria beat Old Continents champions from 2014 Portugal to upset the order of merit. Austria is seeded at position no. 10 whilst Portugal is ranked at the position no. six. Roberta GARDOS set his team in the winning mode after 3:2 victory over Tiago APOLONIA. Marcos FREITAS fought back for 1:1 after victory over Stefan FEGERL. He also needed full five games. In another full distance clash in doubles Daniel HABESOHN and Robert GARDOS put Austria in lead once again.
“We made a lot of mistakes in the doubles we did not play with confidence; throughout the match we had to focus really hard to serve short. We were lucky today Tiago and João they are a good pair in the fifth game we led 10-8 they recovered then at 11-10 Danny played a great return of serve to win the match.” said Robert GARDOS
Stefan FEGERL beat João MONTEIRO the concluding match to seal victory.
“It was nearly the same today as last year in Ekaterinburg; against João I was under less pressure than him we had won the doubles we were ahead. I felt I could win the rallies I felt confident with top spin to top spin from both backhand and forehand. It was a 50:50 match against Portugal today we had the luck” explained Stefan Fegerl.
In full distance thriller Japan prevailed over Poland to reach the Men’s Team Quarterfinals. Jakub DYJAS and pairings Daniel GORAK and WANG Zengyi scored for Poland. Jun MIZUTANI won both singles for Japan and Maharu YOSHIMURA added one point.
Maharu YOSHIMURA:“I was nervous before the match but I quickly found a rhythm to my play and I became more and more confident as the match progress; WANG Zengyi has a different style of play to most players but I was able to adapt. It did not cause me great problems.”
