The Blues had a blast from Germany in the quarter-finals while their male counterparts suffered less against Portugal.
The French women’s and men’s table tennis teams both qualified on Thursday for the semi-finals of the World Team Championships played in South Korea, in Busan. A great first in the history of the hexagonal “ping”. During the previous edition in October 2022, in Chengdu (China), the Blues stopped in the quarter-final.
The first in action were the men. Opposed to Portugal’s Marcos Freitas who was a regular member of the world Top 10 but who fell today to 19th place, the Blues shook a little at the start, before starting ride convincingly. Dominated by Freitas in four sets (14-12, 12-14, 9-11, 6-11), Alexis Lebrun lost an intense standoff during which he was very far from first. ©riter. But through experience, the Portuguese managed to make the difference in key moments.
Félix Lebrun, a leader who takes responsibility
Behind, the Blues had little time to doubt since Félix Lebrun was going to outclass Tiago Apolonia head and shoulders (11-6, 11-8, 11-9) to put the counters tied. Hesitating during two sets as in the round of 16, Simon Gauzy then managed to calm down to get the better of Joao Geraldo (11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7) and give the advantage to his own. And during the shock of the day, Félix Lebrun, as often in diesel mode in the first set which he clearly conceded (5-11), found the right fuel to produce a real demonstration by force against Marcos Freitas, clearly beaten in the next three sets (11-5, 11-6, 11-8). The Blues will face the winner of the confrontation between Germany and China in the semi-final on Saturday.
In the women’s category, the French women achieved the performance of taking out Germany, the third world nation, with a score of 3 victories to 2. 19th in the world and winner of the last European Top 16, Jianan Yuan was respect logic during the first match, in pain however, by defeating Xiaona Shan (34th in the world) in five sets (11-6, 11-9, 12-14, 7-11, 11-6). In the process, Prithika Pavade did not go far from a small feat against Nina Mittelham, 17th in the world. But the German number 1 managed to save the furniture in five sets (7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 12-10, 7-11).
Then entered the track Charlotte Lutz, the one who would tip the scales in the direction of the Bleues by almost calmly dominating the experienced Sabine Winter (11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 12-10) . There was then only one victory left to get to get into the final square. Facing Nina Mittelham on a big day, Jianan Yuan had to lose in four sets (8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 7-11) but during the final game, Prithika Pavade was not than a mouthful of Xiaona Shan, in a day without her (11-5, 11-9, 11-2). The Blues will play their semi-final on Friday against the Chinese, for what amounts to an impossible mission. But to have been invited to the final square is already a formidable performance five months before the Paris 2024 Games.
2024-02-22 16:42:49
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