PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Many and long journeys.
Truls Möregårdh is critical of the table tennis schedule.
– It will wear on us in a bad way, says the Olympic hero.
Truls Möregårdh loading up for the EC in Linz, Austria, this week. This after a season which has been absolutely brilliant in terms of sport – but which has also been tough.
– The trips as a table tennis player are always tiring. There is a lot of traveling and especially this year there has been an incredible amount of traveling to Asia that we have had to deal with in a way that we are not quite used to, says the 22-year-old.
Earlier in October, he was in China to play the WTT Grand Smash in Beijing. He then traveled home to Sweden for games in the Table Tennis League before he has now gone to Austria for the EC.
– It has been too much. A much too tough schedule, he says.
“You fall apart”
Möregårdh says he loves playing in Asia. But he wishes the schedule next season looks different.
– It is no problem for me to go to Asia. That’s where we want to play ping-pong and that’s where the hype is at its greatest. Above all in China, where we have been a lot.
– But there must not be too many trips back and forth. It will wear on us in a bad way. Hopefully, more solutions can be found, such as an Asia tour so that you can stay there for a month, perhaps, so that you don’t have to travel back home all the time.
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He believes it would have been a more favorable arrangement.
– It takes a toll on the body, it breaks down and hurts. But also psychologically that you think ping-pong is hard, and it certainly shouldn’t be.
Chasing medals
Despite all the travel. Möregårdh feels that he is in good shape and is very satisfied with the tournament in Beijing, which ended in the quarter-finals. Above all, he is satisfied with his evenness.
– That is what you strive for. To find the development in the game so that you get better and get a more stable game. Now I’m not going to jinx anything here, but it was fun that it felt that way and hopefully it feels the same in the future.
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Now the European Championship awaits. The first national team competition since the summer’s smash hit during the Olympics in Paris.
– I want to win a medal for Sweden. I always aim for that.
European Table Tennis Championships:
Played October 15-20 in Linz, Austria. Decided in the classes women’s singles, men’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Sweden’s squad:
Ladies: Linda Bergström, Stina Källberg, Filippa Bergand, Matilda Hansson, Alma Rööse.
Gentlemen: Truls Möregårdh, Anton Källberg, Mattias Falck, Kristian Karlsson, Simon Berglund.
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