Sweden was the underdog against the heavy favorites the Tokyo 2020 Women’s Teams bronze medalists Hong Kong. Then the Swedish women’s team pulled off a historic upset in the Round of 16 at the Olympic Games.
“It’s gigantic. Completely insane!” said Linda BERGSTRÖM for Sport Bladet.
The match seemed never-ending. It was only after nearly four hours of a nail-biting match (around midnight) that it became clear that Sweden had eliminated Hong Kong with a 3–2 victory.
Stina KÄLLBERG sustained an injury during her decisive game against DOO Hoi Kem – but still managed to rise and win her singles match.
The key victory organizer was Linda BERGSTRÖM. Sweden’s highest-ranked player showed no mercy and won her two matches against ZHU Chengzhu and LEE Ho Ching with very convincing and controlled performances.
Afterwards the crowd who know France-based professional BERGSTRÖM from before stood up and chanted “Linda! Linda! Linda!”.
“We love playing together. Me Stina Filippa Bergand and Matilda (HANSSON) who is a reserve. We want to do this together and just being at an Olympics is so huge for our women’s national team. We’ve believed we could win and now we are ” said BERGSTRÖM. “This is gigantic. There are no words for it: completely insane.”
The victory came against a Hong Kong team that took bronze at both the World Championships this spring and the Tokyo Olympics 2021. Sweden on the other hand had never before reached the team event at the Olympics and was the second lowest-ranked nation in the entire tournament.
“We’ve never done anything bigger as a team. I’ve been around for 13 years and during my time we have a European Championships bronze in 2013. But now that we’re in the top eight at an Olympics? It’s hard to explain what it means. We are about a thousand female players in Sweden and achieving this is so huge for us ” explained BERGSTRÖM.
National coach Tobias BERGMAN was deeply impressed by his players.
“Absolutely enormous. It’s the first time we have a team that has qualified for the Olympics and now we are in the top eight in the world. I don’t know all of Swedish table tennis history but in my eyes this is the biggest thing that’s happened in Swedish women’s table tennis in modern times.”
At 15:00 on Tuesday Sweden will face South Korea in the quarterfinals.
“We’re going to do the same thing as against Hong Kong. Go in with our fighting spirit do it together and put pressure on South Korea ” concluded Filippa BERGAND.
Women’s Teams Event
France falls: It’s a round of 16 exit for the hosts in the Women’s Teams as Thailand defeats France 3-2. A showdown between Jinnipa SAWETTABUT and Charlotte LUTZ decided the result as SAWETTABUT needed three team match points to close things out in the decider (11-8 10-12 11-8 5-11 13-11). Thailand now faces 2nd seeds Japan in the quarterfinal.
Men’s Event Highlights
In the Men’s event Paris 2024 is Timo BOLL’S final event before retiring from international table tennis and it’s off to a flying start. Germany scored a 3-0 win over Canada with BOLL contributing both a doubles and singles win to the total. Next Germany will face off with Sweden.
Team France is through to the Men’s Teams quarterfinal moving past Slovenia 3-0. Alexis LEBRUN closed out the match with a 3-1 (11-8 6-11 11-4 11-5) win over Deni KOZUL. Previously Felix LEBRUN narrowly held back Darko Jorgic 11-9 in the fifth to move France in front 2-0.
Next up for the hosts is a showdown with Brazil.
Brazil‘s Performance
Brazil in the Men’s Teams beat Portugal 3-1. Vitor ISHIY sealed the deal with a dramatic 3-2 (14-12 8-11 8-11 11-9 14-12) win over Joao GERALDO.
