Truls Möregårdh, Kristian Karlsson, and Anton Källberg failed to defeat China in the team final, but they put a lot of pressure on the giant. All three matches went to the deciding set.
For legend J-O Waldner, it was no surprise that Sweden stood up so well against the Chinese.
It's the two best teams in the final. There's no one who can pressure China as much as Sweden did.
"Many new ones to come"
For the first time ever, Sweden took two medals in table tennis at the same championship. Now Waldner believes that Swedish table tennis is facing a bright future.
It looks good for Sweden ahead. Then we just need to get someone behind these guys. Both Falck and Karlsson are a bit older, so we need to get some new ones up. But with this success, and the interest in table tennis that will come, many new ones will come up.
Table Tennis Culture
That Sweden has good table tennis players is no news. For several generations, we have had several players in the world elite, who can challenge for the most prestigious medals.
According to Waldner, there is a long and rich table tennis culture behind the successes.
Everyone has played table tennis sometime in their life. When we grew up, there were players like Stellan Bengtsson and Kjell Johansson, and after us came a new wave again. And it's that kind of thing that builds on, he says and continues:
Now we'll have many good Olympic Games ahead. Truls and Källberg will be around for at least three more Olympic Games, and when they're done, our new gang that is 10-12 will bloom. So it looks really good. A success like this makes us stand strong in table tennis if we take care of it in the right way.
