Sweden defeated Germany in straight matches to secure their place in the semifinal of the Men’s Teams event at the Olympic Games. Sweden will now face Japan for a spot in the final.
The fiercely contested rematch of the 2023 European Championship final was observed by Swedish King Carl GUSTAF and Queen Silvia among many other distinguished guests in the audience.
“I don’t know what we should do differently!” said Kristian KARLSSON at the end.
Sweden secured a 1-0 lead in doubles. Anton KÄLLBERG and Kristian KARLSSON beat Timo BOLL and European champion Dang QIU in three contested sets. With scores of 12-10 11-8 11-8 the German combination started promisingly but always trailed from the middle of the game. KARLSSON’S placements especially repeatedly posed problems for the Germans in the many spectacular rallies. Fittingly it was also KARLSSON who ended the game with a powerful parallel forehand.
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV delivered a world-class performance and ensured Germany could hope for an equalizer until the last rally in the second game of the evening. OVTCHAROV seemed on the verge of victory in a high-class match against Olympic silver medalist Truls MÖREGÅRDH in the fifth and deciding set leading 5-1 and 6-2 but had to let the Swede pass him at 7-7 after a series of high-quality points. In the showdown of the top players it was a return error by OVTCHAROV at 9-10 that sealed the bitter 0-2 deficit for the German team. However OVTCHAROV had briefly seen victory in the fourth set equalizing from a 2-5 deficit to 8-8 before MÖREGÅRDH managed to secure the game equalizer.
In the last match a few minutes before the standing ovations from his fans a last forehand by BOLL missed its target by only a few centimeters sealing the narrow 7-11 9-11 11-7 and 8-11 defeat of the 43-year-old star against his Düsseldorf clubmate Anton KÄLLBERG. The third chapter of the classic Germany vs. Sweden match simultaneously shattered the German men’s dream of a fifth consecutive semifinal entry.
Timo BOLL reflected on his last thoughts from the match: “At 7-9 I briefly thought it could be coming to an end. I still fought and bit and didn’t give up without a fight. Even the thought didn’t allow me to turn the match around. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough anymore.”
Quarterfinal: Germany – Sweden 0-3
BOLL/QIU – KÄLLBERG/KARLSSON 0:3 (-10 -8 -8)
Dimitrij OVTCHAROV – Truls MÖREGARDH 2:3 (-9 8 7 -8 -9)
Timo BOLL – Anton KÄLLBERG 1:3 (-7 -9 7 -8)
