Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Table Tennis – Men’s Team Semi-Final – South Paris Arena 4, Paris, France – August 7, 2024. Anton Kallberg of Sweden reacts during his semi-final against Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan.
Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto reacts alongside his teammates, Japan’s Shunsuke Togami, Japan’s Hiroto Shinozuka and their coach after their semi-final against the Swedish team.
Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto reacts during his semi-final against Sweden’s Anton Kallberg.
10:25 JST, August 8, 2024
PARIS (Reuters) – Sweden came from two games behind on Wednesday to beat fourth-seeded Japan in the men’s table tennis team semi-finals at the Paris Olympics to win a medal.
Japan opened with a 3-1 victory in the doubles, before Tomokazu Harimoto scored a valuable point by beating Truls Moregard, the singles silver medalist.
Sweden did not give up, however. In two 3-1 games Kristian Karlsson defeated Shunsuke Togami and Moregard won against Hiroto Shinozuka, putting the pressure on teammate Anton Kallberg, who faced the higher-ranked Harimoto in the fifth game.
Harimoto won the first two games by scores of 11-5, leaving Japan just one game away from the final, but then Kallberg made an unexpected and strong comeback, playing aggressively and taking the next two games to draw level with Harimoto.
In the deciding game, Kallberg took advantage of some unforced errors from Harimoto during intense backhand rallies. At 9-9, Kallberg won and took the fifth game 11-9, while the 21-year-old Harimoto collapsed to his knees.
“We all gave absolutely everything and I don’t know if we just ran out of fuel. But we definitely did our best and, apart from the result, I think we played in the same way as we have for a number of years,” Harimoto said.
Earlier in the day, French teenager Felix Lebrun defeated Brazilian Hugo Calderano for the second time in four days, taking a crucial point that saw France beat Brazil and advance to the other semi-final, where they will face China.
Just like in their bronze medal singles match, the 17-year-old Lebrun used short serves en route to victory in the first two games: 11-6, 11-7.
Calderano, the first Latin American player to reach the singles semi-finals, fought back in the third game, making the most of his advantage in long rallies, but lost the fourth game, allowing Lebrun to win 3-1.
Lebrun’s older brother Alexis then defeated Brazilian Vitor Ishiy by the same score.
France hopes the home support will help them advance to face the sport’s best team in Thursday’s semi-final.
“Every time we play against China, it’s normally in their country or in Asia, so every time there are a lot of fans for them, but this time it will be a little bit different,” said Felix Lebrun.
“I think it’s a great boost and it’s also not easy for them to hear a big noise in the crowd every time they lose a point. Maybe it can be a little bit different,” he added.
Both the Chinese men’s and women’s teams reached the semi-finals with 3-0 victories on Wednesday.
The women’s team easily defeated Taiwan, while the men’s team knocked out fifth-seeded South Korea earlier in the day.
Despite some resistance in the second and third singles matches, Chinese world number one Wang Chuqin defeated Korean Jang Woojin 3-1, while Chinese world number two Fan Zhendong defeated Lim Jonghoon by the same score.
The German women’s team continues its Olympic journey after the successful men’s team, led by Timo Boll, was eliminated by Sweden on Tuesday.
18-year-old Annett Kaufmann scored two valuable points for Germany in a 3-1 win over India, securing a place in the semi-finals where they will face Japan.
Kaufmann, who was making her first Olympic appearance, defeated higher-ranked Indian players Manika Batra and Akula Sreeja, continuing her transformation from reserve to Germany’s best singles player after two of the team’s players were injured.
“It wasn’t really easy for us to get back into the game mentally and fight, even though we don’t have the two best players on our team. But that makes me even more proud of us that we managed to win,” Kaufmann said.
