The Swedish royal couple arrived in Paris a day too late to catch the men's singles final on Sunday. But on Tuesday, the king and queen took their seats in the OS table tennis arena and got to see Truls Möregårdh continue his brilliant form.
They also got to see a Swedish men's team reach the OS semifinals for the first time.
We've been waiting for this, but we're not finished, says national team captain Jörgen Persson.
It's "super big" to knock out Germany, say both he and the Swedish players.
We've had so much trouble with them before. So it was extra nice to beat them at the OS. They've been clearly the best after China if you look at the World Championship and OS, says Persson.
It's probably not happened many times that they've been knocked out with 3–0 in a quarterfinal. Extremely well done, says Kristian Karlsson.
The doubles set the tone
Dimitrij Ovtcharov had Truls Möregårdh in trouble, it should be said. But the newly crowned silver medalist from Hovmantorp is hard to shake off at the moment. Despite Ovtcharov having 2–1 in sets, and 7–7 in the fourth, it was a Swedish victory. Truls Möregårdh won the last two sets, 11–8, 11–9.
This meant 2–0 in matches for Sweden.
Möregårdh's form seems to have rubbed off on his teammates.
For it was Anton Källberg and Kristian Karlsson who set the tone in the quarterfinal against Germany. Veteran Timo Boll and Qiu Dang are two class players, but the Swedish doubles pair played brilliantly, won in three straight sets, and gave Sweden a heavy 1–0 lead.
I feel super calm when I go into these team matches, says Truls Möregårdh.
Because I know how damn good we are. They (Karlsson and Källberg) are magical in doubles and I'm playing as well as I can in singles.
Japan next
After Möregårdh's victory, Källberg got the chance to decide in his singles match against 43-year-old Timo Boll. The German may have plenty of OS and World Championship medals, but he probably has his best years as a singles player behind him.
Källberg didn't miss that chance. The 26-year-old won with 3–1 in sets and sent Sweden to the medal matches.
Now Japan awaits in the semifinals on Wednesday at 20.00. At the OS 2021, it was Japan that knocked out Sweden in the quarterfinals.
Lasse Mannheimer/TT
Facts: This is how the OS table tennis continues
TT
Quarterfinals, Tuesday: Japan–Taiwan 3–1, Sweden–Germany 3–0. Wednesday: China–South Korea (10.00), Brazil–France (15.00).
Semifinals, Wednesday: Sweden–Japan (20.00). Thursday: China/South Korea–Brazil/France (10.00).
The final (15.00) and the bronze match (10.00) will be played on Friday.
