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Liebherr 2017 World Table Tennis Championships

Tournament News

Tristan Flore atones for colleague’s defeat

02 Jun 2017

Success against the odds for France, the same for Hungary and Romania; alongside Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto, Tristan Flore, Tamas Lakatos and Ovidiu Ionescu were the players to cause upsets of note as play commenced in the second round of the Men’s Singles event at the Liebherr 2013 World Championships in Düsseldorf on the afternoon of Thursday 1st June.

Both excelled expectations to reserve third round places.

Tristan Flore who caused a major surprise by beating Chen Chien-An (Photo: Ireneusz Sosik)

by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Editor

Tristan Flore overcame Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chien-An, the no.25 seed, in a full distance seven games duel; in six games Tamas Lakatos accounted the host nation’s Bastian Steger, the no.21 seed. Meanwhile, straight games Ovidiu Ionescu beat Emmanuel Lebesson, like Tristan Flore from France.

The wins added to the success achieved by 13 year old Tomokazu Harimoto in opposition to his colleague, Jun Mizutani, the no.6 seed.

“It was a great match for me. It was the first time playing in this hall and the tiered seating was full. In the end I was just hoping to put the ball on the table and see what will happens. He is a really good player and I caught him at a bad moment, with him coming back from injury.  I am happy to win but can’t be too happy with two net points at the end. I was very lucky. I’m not the fastest player and need to have a good backhand. I prefer to play backhand side and this type of ball I enjoy, so it’s usual.” Tamas Lakatos

Disappointment for Germany; for France it was mixed fortunes, Tristan Flore balanced the books.

“When he was leading two-nil, I was just thinking about what happened to my friend, Emmauel Lebesson, he was down two-nil and lost four-nil.  After reducing the match deficit to two-one, my opponent started playing well and I was having problem with his service but I restored parity at two-two. In the fifth game, I made many mistakes; when I was down three-two, I just made up my mind to fight. I was not seeded for this tournament and I did not set any target for myself as I just want to play each match and progress.” Tristan Flore

Meanwhile, for the leading names in early second round action it was success for China’s Ma Long and Germany’s Timo Boll.

Ma Long overcame a spirited Anton Källberg in six games; Timo Boll rather more comfortably accounted for Poland’s Jakub Dyjas, he prevailed in four straight games.

Success for Germany but there was a disappointment; Patrick Franziska was beaten by Korea’s Jang Woojin. Patrick Franziska commenced matters as the no.38 seed; Jang Woojin, the no.32 seed.

Team Event: 2017 Ibero-American Championships

Photos: Rémy Gros, Ireneusz Stosik

Tomokazu Harimoto Ovidiu Ionescu Tristan Flore Tamas Lakatos

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