PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Truls Möregårdh and Anton Källberg are both through to the table tennis EC’s singles tournament.
Källberg by winning the Swedish fight against Kristian Karlsson, 4–1 in the set.
– You’d rather hit someone else than a good friend, says Källberg to SVT.
Only two Swedes remain when the men’s singles at the European Championships in Linz enter the round of 16 on Saturday.
Anton Källberg booked his place after victory against national team colleague Kristian Karlsson on Friday. Karlsson tightened his grip on the match and went up to three set points in the first set, but then lost. Källberg fought back and finally won the set 14–12.
Källberg further
The second set went quickly, 11–7, before Christian Karlsson won the third 11–8. In the fourth, Karlsson again had several set points to equalize the match, but once again Källberg turned to win the set.
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Karlsson could not answer that. Anton Källberg won the fifth set with 11–7 and the match with 4–1 in sets.
– I think he is the toughest opponent in Europe for me. I haven’t beaten him in a decade. I lost the first set and it was important mentally. He probably felt that too, says Karlsson to SVT.
Möregårdh with
In the round of 16, Källberg faces challenging opposition in the form of the fifth-seeded Slovenian Darko Jorgic. Until then, the focus will be on one thing: rest.
– I feel quite ready, I have very little energy left in my body. It was very tough, both mentally and physically. I’m happy that I succeeded, but I’m very tired, says Källberg.
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Other seeded Truls Möregårdh is also further. The Olympic silver medalist from last summer had some concerns with the young Romanian Eduard Ionescu but eventually won 4–0 in sets (13–11, 11–7, 12–10, 11–4).
Falck no chance
Möregårdh’s next task will be the Frenchman Thibault Poretwho somewhat unexpectedly defeated the Englishman Liam Pitchford.
– I feel very well. I think most things fit and when it’s even, I dare to do these unexpected things that you have to have self-confidence for. If I can keep this up, it will be very good, says Möregårdh.
However, there will only be a maximum of one Swedish medal in the singles tournament. Anton Källberg and Truls Möregårdh face each other in a possible quarter-final.
For Matthias Falck ended as expected against the first seed Felix Lebrun. The 18-year-old Frenchman played brilliantly and made it to the round of 16 via 4–0 in sets (11–9, 11–4, 11–6, 11–8).
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