The recently concluded ITTF World Table Tennis Championships ended on a positive note for UTT’s highly ranked European athletes, with medals won in the singles and doubles events (Men).
RP-SG Challengers’ Mattias Falck won the silver medal in the Men’s Singles category, a dream run for him at the World Championship, and the first time since 1997 that a Swedish player made it to the finals. He was bettered by World No. 5 and Asian Championship finalist Ma Long, who won the final 4-1.
En route to the final, Mattias beat An Jaehyun (KOR) in the semi-finals, and Team Challengers’ Simon Gauzy in the quarter-finals.
Simon, too, had a memorable outing at the tournament, ousting World No. 2 Xu Xin in the round of 32 knockout match which was regarded as a major upset. These results would be a well-earned shot in the arm for both athletes chasing a top 10 world ranking spot.
In the Men’s doubles category, Alvaro Robles carved a name for himself into the history books, becoming the first Spaniard to win a medal at the World Championships as he won the silver, partnering Romanian Ionescu Ovidiu. In other instances of a UTT face-off in the knock-out stages, Alvaro and Ionescu made it to the semis by beating Maharashtra United’s Joao Monteiro and Team Challengers’ Tiago Apolonia in the semis, and the Swedish Duo of Mattias Falck and Maharashtra United’s Kristian Karlsson in the quarter-finals. The Portuguese duo brought home the bronze medal, though, rounding up UTT’s medal-winning presence at the Championships.