This Saturday, the women’s table tennis team won the bronze medal in the team tournament of the European Games in Krakow 2023, beating France (3-0) in the third place qualifier.
“It means a lot. I had already won gold in singles and just missed it in teams. This time we did it. We were top seed so it was possible,” 44-year-old Yu told reporters.
Fu Yu (30th in the world ranking) and Matilde Pinto (340th) defeated Camille Lutz (91st) and Prithika Pavade (68th) in doubles 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-7 and 11-4) , while Jieni Shao (44th) defeated Nan Yuan (20th) in the ‘black’ (6-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7 and 11-7) and Fu Yu closed the match against Pavade by 3- 1 (11-8, 7-11, 11-7 and 11-9).
The game began to be won with an unprecedented team, as Fu Yu and Matilde Pinto “never” trained together, let alone played, but in the end things went well, with the game of both matching, between the most experienced and the most young, 17 years old.
“We were more rested because if we lost it would be more difficult,” he explained.
Matilde Pinto, on the other hand emphasized the “great luck” to reach third place, but also to be “on this team, with Fu, Jieni and Inês”.
In the second game, it was Jieni Shao who pointed the way to victory, as he lost the first two sets to a player closing the top 20 in the world and managed to recover, boosting the Portuguese hosts.
“Jieni lost 2-0 and finally won 3-2, it gave me more confidence,” admitted Fu Yu.
The 30th player in the world then came into action, confirming the credentials of a decades-long career at the top of the world rankings, as one of the top figures in the history of Portuguese table tennis. the stage.
“With this result we can now continue to follow in the top 16 in the world,” he stressed, already thinking about the Olympic qualification for Paris 2024.
In addition, the 44-year-old table tennis player had never played pairs with Inês Matos and also won, praising the two young women: “They are good girls and good players”.
Pinto, “good girl”, reinforced the “very good performance” in a “large amplitude match”, in which the difference was also made by “all in unison, playing better”, in addition to praising the “important role of Fu and da Jieni”, who played the individual matches throughout the tournament.
After the meeting between the French, eighth in the world ranking, and the Portuguese, eleventh, at the Hutnik Arena, the team led by Xie Juan, which also includes Inês Matos, won their fifth table tennis medal at the European Games. it to Fu Yu’s gold in Minsk2019 and the men’s teams in Baku2015, alongside Marcos Freitas’ silver, already in this tournament, and the men’s bronze in Minsk2019.
Portugal has 14 podiums in Kraków2023, having already won three gold, seven silver and four bronze.
The third edition of the European Games will run until Sunday in Krakow and Poland’s Malopolska region, with 30 sports on the program and 48 participating countries, including Portugal, with a delegation of more than 200 athletes.
Men’s team loses bronze to France
The men’s table tennis team finished fourth at the European Games this Saturday after losing 3-2 to France in the bronze medal game in Krakow.
In a double Luso-French duel in the battle for third place, and with the Portuguese women already celebrating the bronze (3-0), the national team, eighth in the world ranking, even managed to win, but left the seventh team to re-establish the same hierarchy, which is thus celebrated.
“Of course we are frustrated. The goal was to get on the podium. We started well and beat Romania in the quarter finals. All teams were very strong in the semi-finals. Germany, France and Sweden compete for the first place on the podium at the Olympic Games. We knew it was going to be very difficult. Yesterday we gave everything against Germany, but it didn’t go so well. Today we gave 100% again,” he told Lusa.
Portugal eventually won 2-1, after the triumphs of Marcos Freitas and Tiago against Apolónia in pairs and of the latter in the first singles match, but then lost the remaining individual games, conceding 3-2.
“I think we were very close to winning. I had chances to win the third set and win 2-1 [no quarto jogo], but I couldn’t take advantage of that in the final phase. This last game for João Geraldes didn’t go so well, but it was within his reach,” he analyzed.
With the bet of João Geraldo, 39th in the world ranking, for two singles matches, Marcos Freitas (62nd) and Tiago Apolónia (47th) had their first challenge in doubles, against Simon Gauzy (37th) and Alexis Lebrun (18th), which they won 3–0.
After two 0-3 starts, Freitas and Apolónia won, more consistently and calmly in the decisive moments, with a double 12-10, and in the third set they started 6-0 and finished 11-3, leaving Portugal came in favour.
Against the individual gold medalist, Félix Lebrun (31st), only 16 years old, but who defeated Freitas in the final, João Geraldo could not avoid the supremacy of his rival, translated in 11-6, 11-6 and 13-11, in this case, recovering from a 5-9 deficit.
Tiago Apolónia went 1-1 against Alexis Lebrun and triumphed with the partials of 11-8, 4-11, 11-9 and 13-11 to give Portugal a 2-1 win, with two more basehits to play.
The replay of the singles final brought together Marcos Freitas and Felix Lebrun, the prodigy who triumphed again, this time 3-1, with the partials of 11-8, 9-11, 13-11 recovering from the disadvantages of 3-6 and 11-10, and 11-7.
At 2-2, it was up to João Geraldo and Simon Gauzy to decide who took the bronze, with the Frenchman winning 11-8, 11-9 and 11-6.
Marcos Freitas emphasized the “effort, dedication and dedication” of the trio, considering that, despite everything, “fourth place is not bad”: “We wanted more, but it’s not bad. We managed to get some points to collect for the world rankings”.
The athlete from Madeira, 35 years old, congratulated France, who played very well, and highlighted their “young and very strong team”, in which the brothers Felix and Alexis Lebrun, 16 and 19 years old, also stand out. respectively bronze medals in the individual competition.
“For us, it’s about continuing to train and evolve so that we can do well in the next team competitions to qualify for the Olympics,” he said, referring to the February World Cup in Busan, South Korea, in which everything will be specifically. . .
Portugal has 14 podiums in Kraków2023, having already won three gold, seven silver and four bronze.
The third edition of the European Games runs until Sunday in Krakow and in the Polish region of Malopolska, with 30 sports on the program and 48 participating countries, including Portugal, with a delegation of more than 200 athletes.
Source: DN
