PHOTO: Bildbyrån
After the national table tennis team won European Championship gold, they received great praise from Jan-Ove Waldner.
The tributes have not escaped victory organizer Truls Möregårdh.
– It’s fun that he said that in many interviews, he says to Sportbibeln.
The national table tennis team did this week what Swedish table tennis has not managed to do in 21 years. Namely to win EC gold. Sweden was pitted against Germany in the final in Malmö, and the decision came through Truls Möregårdh21. He beat twice that age Timo Ball and secured the gold on home soil.
JO Waldner’s Tributes
As Möregårdh was and is a great talent, it has naturally become the case that he is compared a lot to the table tennis icon Jan-Ove Waldner, which reaped great success during the 80s and 90s. But it is nothing that is annoying for the 21-year-old, he says.
– It’s really not difficult. There is of course a pressure to do well very often, because it was very rarely that they did poorly. But I’ve always tried to just see it as going my own way. It’s fun if I’m compared to the best, but I do everything at my own pace and have my own goals that I want to achieve. So I’m going my own way, says Möregårdh to Sportbibeln.
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JO Waldner was part of the team that took Sweden’s last European Championship gold, and the table tennis icon has not been shy about showering praises on Möregårdh and the rest of the team after the triumph.
– I get goosebumps, this is absolutely fantastic. I am proud to be Swedish, he told Expressen.
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Möregårdh’s answer
Waldner’s tributes have not gone unnoticed by Möregårdh, who really appreciates the table tennis legend’s words.
– It’s really fun. He says very good things and I agree with a lot of what he says. We should be very happy about our achievements and that we are a really good national team, says the 21-year-old and continues:
– You are very spoiled with how it was before with JO (Waldner) and Jorgen (Person) and what incredible athletes they were. But we are doing very well and we very much deserve to win and it is fun that he said in many interviews. It feels great that he comes out and says that.
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Had contact
It has not only been in the media, Möregårdh says that they also have contact privately. There, however, there has not been much talk of tributes here and there.
– We have talked about the matches, how it was to play and how fun it was that we won and stuff like that.
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Next up for Truls is another tournament at home. This time it is Stockholm and Ängby International that apply.
– I am very much looking forward to that.
The tournament is played between 2–7 October.
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