MADRID, 18 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish Galia Dvorak, María Xiao and Álvaro Robles, the last two debutants in the Olympic Games, seek this summer in Tokyo to take a step forward for Spain in table tennis, a sport historically dominated by Chinese players, who aspire to prolong his reign in the Metropolitan Gymnasium of the Japanese capital.
Since table tennis joined the Olympic program in Seoul 1988, the People’s Republic of China has won 28 of the 32 gold medals at stake. Only one European, the Swedish Jan-Ove Waldner in Barcelona’92, has managed to proclaim himself champion in the midst of Asian dominance.
The gold medal is almost a utopia for any non-Chinese player, and the medals will be very expensive in a competition that will include mixed doubles for the first time. With the lowest expectations but without giving up anything, the three Spanish representatives will make their appearance in the individual modality.
The only one who has already received the Olympic baptism is Galia Dvorak, who just a month ago was proclaimed champion of Spain for the seventh time in Antequera (Malaga) and who sealed her ticket to Tokyo by ranking. Heir to the passion of her parents, professional table tennis players in the former Soviet Union, the 33-year-old paddler from Mataró will face what will be her fourth experience at the Games.
He made his debut in Beijing 2008, where he finished ninth by teams, and repeated in London 2012 and Rio 2016, in this last appointment for the first time in the individual competition, although he fell in the first round. Now, the French Grand Quevilly player hopes to get through that opening match.
Along with her will be in the women’s competition María Xiao, who won her ticket for the appointment in the European Pre-Olympic in Portugal. Thus, the 27-year-old UCAM Cartagena player will fulfill a dream that her parents, also professionals in this sport, could not fulfill, who emigrated from China, where table tennis is almost a religion, to Madeira, where María grew up. , to be able to play.
The Barcelona woman, three times champion of Spain in singles and three in doubles, wants to demonstrate her progression in a tournament in which Álvaro Robles will also participate, with whom in March 2020 she achieved the greatest success of Spanish table tennis in the doubles category mixed with a silver at the Oman International Open.
The 30-year-old from Huelva left for Germany at just 21 to earn a living from his sport and is now a member of the Bundesliga’s TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt. Current number 63 in the world rankings, he got into this summer’s big event at the Guimaraes Pre-Olympic after saving up to five match points against Russian Vladimir Sidorenko, and for the first time he will be in a Games.
In his record, which includes three individual Spanish champion titles -the last of which was won last June-, the one that so far is the great achievement of Spanish table tennis stands out: the world runner-up in 2019 in the doubles category with the Romanian Ovidiu Ionescu.
Without pressure but with confidence, the three Spanish paddlers will seek to overcome the first rounds to give continuity to the upward path of the shovel sport in our country.
FILE.
– VENUE: Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
–DATES: From July 24 to August 6.
– SPANISH PARTICIPATION: Álvaro Robles, María Xiao and Galia Dvorak.
