(by Steve Hopkins)
In many major events of recent years, China dominates from start to finish, and the hopes of many other players (and nations) are dashed in the process. In some ways the Paris Olympics was no different – China held the top two seeds in both Singles events (where they were allowed two entries), and the top seed in Mixed Doubles event and both Team events. And, China largely performed as expected, sweeping all five Gold Medals, and also securing Silver in Women’s Singles. Six of seven results, ended in China’s favor.
That seventh result, however, made a real difference. In the Round of 32, Sweden’s Truls Moregard pulled off the upset of the tournament. His 4-2 win over World No. 1 Wang Chuqin claimed every table tennis headline of that week. Moregard ran out his tournament in amazing fashion, with winds over Kao Cheng-Jui and Omar Assar and Hugo Calderano before falling to Fan Zhendong in the Final.
The reverberations of that match (and the subsequent run), will be felt for some time. For table tennis fans, the final four players represented four different countries and 3 different continents. In fact, the final eight players represented eight different countries and 4 different continents. There was real excitement through to the Final – and had Harimoto been able to close out his 2-0 or 3-2 leads over Fan, China would not have medaled at all.
Of those four final countries, China ultimately won (keeping their streak alive), Sweden gave their fans a historical run to Silver – perhaps reigniting the one of the dominant table tennis powers of the past, Brazil missed out on a medal but outperformed expectations, and host country France managed a Bronze – their first medal since 1992. The same excitement was not present in Women’s Singles – where the top two Chinese players blanked the 3 and 4 seeds in the Semifinals 4-0 before preceding to the all-China Final. But there was a buzz in the Men’s Teams event when China faced France (who won the Bronze in Singles) in the Semis, and then Sweden (who won Silver in Singles) in the Final. In both cases, China managed 3-0 wins and the result was not in question – but the results in the Singles event increased interest and coverage of the events.
Then the rankings came out, and there were major changes. While Chuqin stayed easily in first place, Fan Zhendong made a big jump to regain second. This reshuffling places Fan, the Olympic Champion, as the second seed in any major tournaments – a stronger position that fourth (which is where he was in the Rankings when he arrived in Paris). Hugo Calderano only managed a fourth place finish – but he not holds World No. 3. Liang Jingkun is fourth, and Felix Lebrun is fifth. Ma Long is 6 and Lin Yun-Ju is No. 7. Before Paris, four Chinese players held the top four spots, and after Paris, Brazil, France, and Taipei are all interspersed with the top Chinese.
The seed that led to all of these things was the Moregard upset. That one change to the norm reshuffled medal contention, and the Rankings, and may have inspired players across the World.
What a difference a game makes.
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