Truls Möregårdh will not soon forget his long Wednesday in the Olympic table tennis arena in Paris. First, an early upset against Chinese world number one Wang Chuqin, ten hours later a new victory against Taiwanese Kao Cheng-Jui.
Now Möregårdh has a medal scent, but humility is great before the quarterfinal against veteran and Sweden-familiar Omar Assar. The 33-year-old Egyptian, with a past in, among other things, Halmstads BTK, knocked out Mattias Falck in the Olympic Games three years ago and has also two wins against Möregårdh, including last year's World Championship.
It's going to be a nervous match, but I hope I find a solution. If you've lost twice before, it means you have a tough opponent, says Möregårdh.
Flew in after the upset
The Swede had strong support from the stands when the quarterfinal spot was secured. Mom Lena and dad Calle were on site since earlier, girlfriend Leah and brother and coach Malte flew in hastily to Paris as soon as the world number one was knocked out in the morning.
And national team captain Jörgen Persson hopes that Truls Möregårdh can surf further on the wave of success. Even if Assar – 22nd on the world ranking where Möregårdh is 26th – is not a dream opponent.
Truls is playing so well and has created a huge self-confidence after these two good wins. He's in good shape, it's just about trusting his game, says the former top player.
Möregårdh, mentally drained after two tough Olympic matches in one day, aimed at the same time to gather strength before the late evening match (start 21.00) against Assar.
I'll try to sleep as long as I can and then walk around and be restless and wait for the fun.
"Varies very much"
Assar arranged his quarterfinal spot via 4–2 in sets against Kazakh Kirill Gerassimenko.
He (Assar) varies very much. He looks pretty bad sometimes and then five balls in a row he can be fierce. It's going to go up and down in the match, says Möregårdh.
Sweden's last Olympic medal in table tennis was taken by Jan-Ove Waldner 24 years ago, a silver in the men's singles in Sydney.
Truls Möregårdh, Sweden-Omar Assar, Egypt.
Hugo Calderano, Brazil-Jang Woo-Jin, South Korea.
Felix Lebrun, France-Lin Yun-Ju, Taiwan.
Harimoto Tomokazu, Japan-Fan Zhendong, China.
