A fourth round men’s singles exit at the 2021 ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston for Kristian Karlsson, even earlier for colleague Mattias Falck, he departed in round two; both may well have hoped for better outcomes.

Disappointment but then elation; they combined to win the men’s doubles and thus became the only Swedes to secure the title since Peter Karlsson and Thomas von Scheele emerged victorious now over 30 years ago!

Moreover, it was a very similar situation.

Read in the first edition of the ITTF Magazine how in 1991 in Chiba the Swedes defied the odds…