We will recall for a very long time the fantastic and spectacular table tennis moments of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games! The atmosphere in the Arena was surely electric with the participation of around 230.000 spectators who gathered to support their favorite players.
Fist the single competitions took place with the participation of the two French local heroes Alexis and Félix Lebrun, but also TIBHAR stars Darko Jorgic, Alvaro robles, Bernadette Szocs, Eduard Ionescu and Milosz Redzimski.
It was very quickly obvious that the participation of the French players would be the highlight of these games: laughter, laola waves and loud cheers created an atmosphere that has perhaps never been seen before in table tennis.
The support of the public helped the French players to realize a great performance. The older brother Alexis reached the 8th finals, where he was defeated by a Hugo Calderano who realized an almost error-free match. Félix, number 5 of the world ranking positions, greatly supported by the public, was able to play his way into the semi-finals, defeating on his way the German star player Ovtcharov and the Taiwanese number 1 Lin Yun-Ju, before being defeated in the semi-finals by the Chinese and later Olympic gold winner, Fan Zhendong, who was obviously too strong for Félix.
The penholder player Lebrun played the “small” finals against Calderano and thanks to the public secured in a non-appealing match of 4:0 the bronze medal, the first Olympic medal for the French Table Tennis Federation after 24 years.
Again, the French were the center of attention of the following team competition. After two clear wins against Slovenia and Brazil, the team reached the semi-finals, where they were defeated by the favorites from China.
For the 3rd place of the competition the Lebrun brothers met against the favorites from Japan. The match started in a spectacular manner, thanks to the great performing Alexis Lebrun and Simon Gauzy, as they defeated the Japanese pair Hiroto Shinozuka and Shunsuke Togami in 4 sets (11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6). In a nerve-racking fight, Félix Lebrun won the second match against Tomokazu Harimoto thanks to the fifth set (12-10), after being dominated by the Japanese 6-10. This win brought France in a comfortable pole position of 2:0.
However, the Japanese countered as Shunsuke Togami defeated Alexis Lebrun with 3:1 (11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7) and hence reduced the gap. In the following match, Harimoto deployed his full potential and defeated Simon Gauzy in 3 frank sets (11-4, 11-9, 11-5), the game was equilibrated again with 2:2.
The decisive point fell in the last set between Félix Lebrun and Hiroto Shinozuka. In a breathtaking match Lebrun secured the victory with 3:1 (11-7, 11-7, 12-14, 13-11). The Arena exploded of joy as the medal heroes were duly celebrated by the public.Disregarding the win of medals, another TIBHAR player made headlines – the 18 years old Annett Kaufmann. The German talented female player was in Paris for replacement, but due an injury she was called for a spot in the competition too. Thanks to the great performance of the sympathetic left-handler, the women team reached the semi-finals. Kaufmann’s impressive victories over established adversaries like Lily Zhang (USA), Manika Batra (india) and the world ranking 8 from Japan, Miwas Harimoto, made her become one of the stars of this competition, even though her successes were at the end not sufficient to win an Olympic medal. Annett Kaufmann is not only a great player but surely promised for a great future in the future. Her path in table tennis is still long and we will be following it with very much interest.
News on the Start of the Olympic Games Paris 2024