The race to determine the line-up for Stage 2 at ITTF Mixed Team World Cup Chengdu 2024 presented by CHINA TELECOM is going right down to the wire, especially in Group 4 as France gave its qualifying hopes a much-needed boost under the lights on Monday evening.
Losing out to Hong Kong, China by the narrowest of margins on the opening day, France went into Day 2’s match against Sweden with great determination to change their fortunes around, and couldn’t have asked for a better start to Monday’s showdown, landing a 3-0 win in the Mixed Doubles.
Linda Bergstrom would undo France’s promising start, responding with a straight games win over Audrey Zarif (12-10, 11-7, 11-1), but that result was nullified soon after thanks to Thibault Poret, who quickly put France back in the driving seat with a stellar outing against Anders Eriksson (11-7, 11-6, 11-6).
With the finish line in sight, Audrey Zarif and Camille Lutz were handed the task of completing the job for France, and they lived up to those hopes and expectations, joining forces to see off Christina Kallberg and Linda Bergstrom (11-8, 11-9), promoting France above Sweden in the group standings.
“Yesterday was our first match, so of course it was difficult. I think today we learnt some lessons about what we didn’t do well yesterday, and we managed to do much better today. So, I’m very happy that we managed to win the match. I think tonight we will just try to recover and enjoy it a bit, because I think it’s a great victory today. Of course, tomorrow morning we will focus on winning our last match.” Camille Lutz
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Elsewhere, Egypt produced an inspired performance on Monday evening, lighting up Sichuan Gymnasium in a closely contested showdown with Japan.
The highlight of Egypt’s evening came from Mohamed Azzam, who added three games to his team’s tally with an eye-catching win over Ryuusei Kawakami (11-6, 11-9, 11-5). Japan would eventually go on to close out the match by an 8-4 scoreline, but Egypt’s display of bravery would earn huge admiration from the Chengdu crowd.
“Japan is a really strong team. We tried to do our best and focus on every point. We didn’t have a lot of pressure on ourselves, we just tried to give everything. In my singles, I did my best.” Mohamed Azzam
Responding to an opening day defeat in perfect fashion, Germany is officially up and running in Group 2 after completing an 8-3 win over Poland, while Hong Kong, China outclassed Canada 8-2 in Group 4.
