Truls Möregårdh had to settle for an Olympic silver.
Now Jörgen Persson admits his mistake in the final.
– I regret it today, says the national team captain to SVT.
The Summer Olympics in Paris became the big, big moment in Truls Möregårdhs career so far. The 22-year-old lined up achievements on a conveyor belt and wrote blue and yellow sports history when he reached all the way to the Olympic final in table tennis as the first Swede in 24 years.
Trul’s Olympic success
But the Olympic final on Sunday against the two-time reigning world champion Damn Zhendong became far too tough. Möregårdh needed to play the match of his life to break the Chinese superstar and started very impressively by winning the first set.
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But then Zhendong took over the match and with four straight sets won he won the final against a distressed Truls. But despite an Olympic silver, the Swedish success man is a winner in most eyes for his incredible success story in Paris.
Möregårdh has been praised by the vast majority after Sunday and the national team captain Jorgen Persson is deeply impressed by his mentee.
– It’s the two best who meet in the final, you can see that in the game. Truls really do it all. It’s not like he comes afterwards and feels that he had no chance and had nothing to give, says the coach and ping pong legend to SVT.
– Such balls that Fan had to make… It was incomparable. I sit by myself and think: “Did he get it in too?”.
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But a few days after the historic Olympic final, Persson is also remorseful. And now admits his big mistake in the Olympic final which could have been decisive for the outcome of the match.
– I was in the selection in the qualifier in the third (set), when he went from 3–7 to 8–7 and was beaten until 8–8. There I sat afterwards and thought that maybe I should have taken a timeout, the national team captain admits to the TV channel.
– There would have been time for that. I thought about it and regret it. But it’s always easy in hindsight.
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