Truls Möregårdh’s shock shocked the entire ping-pong world.
But Jörgen Persson was calm himself.
Now he explains the behavior that surprised many.
– Then I don’t want to celebrate, he says to Expressen.
When the draw came, many had already given up beforehand. Truls Möregårdh was Sweden’s great hope in the Olympic table tennis, but the fact that he was drawn to face Wang Chuqin himself, superior world number one, already in the second round, was a killer blow.
The shock win
At least for everyone but Truls. Before the match, it was barely playable on the odds pages that Wang would win. He has almost twice as many points as the second in the world ranking, and in eight previous meetings against Truls Möregårdh, the Chinese had won all eight. But the Swede was responsible for the match of his life – and one of the biggest Swedish Olympic shockers of all time.
Möregårdh won the first two sets of the match, and played at his best after Chuqin went up to 2-2 in the set. In the end, it was 4-2 in the set, advancement for Truls, and when the match ball sat, Truls threw the racket and looked close to tears. He said himself that he didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or scream – but for his coach, also the icon, Jörgen Persson, it looked as calm as possible. On social media, many have reacted to the fact that the national team captain just stood and applauded, and barely offered a smile.
The icon’s answer
But to Expressen, he explained that it simply had to do with Truls Möregårdh only winning one match, and not the tournament.
– I am a coach and know that we have another match in the evening. It’s one game and then there’s one more tonight. Then I don’t want to celebrate. He hasn’t won. He has won that match, says Persson to the evening newspaper.
However, Jörgen Persson promises that, if it goes well, he will celebrate if there is a medal.
– If it’s gold, silver or bronze… then I’ll be cheering. Even if there is a win tomorrow (Thursday).. Then it will be a medal match. But I knew he had another game today. Then I don’t want to celebrate too much, and he managed the celebration so well. That’s enough. Then I keep a little calmer, says Jörgen Persson.
After the sensational win against the world number one, Truls Möregårdh also advanced to the quarter-finals after a win on Wednesday evening. The quarter-final will be played against Assar Omar on Thursday at 21, in a match in which Truls is the favourite.
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