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Lower than 24 hours after celebrating his gold medal win within the desk tennis combined doubles, China’s Wang Chuqin suffered a shock exit within the singles occasion to Sweden’s Truls Moregard on Wednesday.
For the 22-year-old Moregard it was his second-ever victory over a Chinese language participant in worldwide competitors.
An ecstatic Moregard celebrated by shouting to the gang, dancing on the ground, and drawing power from spectators chanting his identify on a thrilling day at Paris 2024.
“I’ve virtually by no means taken a set in opposition to Wang, so it’s loopy to win right here. I feel how I performed within the tactical sport was actually intelligent, and I didn’t really feel that he had his finest day at the start,” mentioned Moregard.
The Swede gained the primary two video games in opposition to world primary Wang, who then fought again to even the rating. Within the important fifth sport, Wang narrowed the hole from 4-8 to 8-8 however finally misplaced 9/11.
Wang Chuqin was overjoyed after securing his first Olympic gold medal alongside teammate Solar Yingsha on Tuesday.
However his elation quickly turned to disbelief, anger and frustration when he found that his paddle – essential for his singles and staff occasions – had been broken by excited photographers dashing to seize the second.
Visibly upset, Wang tried to ask for an evidence. His coach tried to hug him in an effort to console him and ask him to remain calm. Wang quickly regained his composure regardless of the setback.
“They didn’t do it on objective. Because it already occurred, there may be nothing a lot I can do about it. I’ll attempt to play effectively with my backup paddle,” Wang mentioned, nonetheless visibly affected by the incident. “Perhaps that is destiny.”
Wang, who needed to change to a backup paddle, conceded that whereas it briefly affected his feelings, it was not the rationale for his loss.
“I feel the principle cause was my very own poor efficiency, which gave Moregard extra alternatives. I made numerous errors, which progressively put me in a disadvantageous place,” mentioned Wang, who will proceed his Paris journey within the staff occasion for China.
The burden of attaining China’s ambition for a gold medal sweep in desk tennis now falls on Fan Zhendong, the one participant left to defend China’s title within the males’s singles occasion. Fan superior to the following spherical after defeating Hong Kong’s Wong Chun Ting with a 4-1 victory.
Solar Yingsha, who gained her first Olympic gold medal a day earlier, additionally loved a simple victory over 61-year-old Ni Xialian, a former Chinese language world champion now representing Luxembourg.
In different notable performances, U.S. male participant Kanak Jha achieved a private finest by advancing to the spherical of 16 after defeating Greece’s Panagiotis Gionis 4-2. Frenchwoman Yuan Jia Nan additionally made it to the spherical of 16, coming from behind to safe a 4-1 victory in opposition to Canada’s Zhang Mo.
