The step was too high. For its first world final since 1997, the French team played its luck bravely but logically ended up losing on Sunday to China (3-0), which won its eleventh title in a row. Brothers Félix and Alexis Lebrun, Simon Gauzy, Jules Rolland and Lilian Bardet nevertheless won the third world silver medal in the history of French table tennis.
While China fielded the top three table tennis players in the world, the Blues were condemned to achieve three feats. Highly anticipated, Félix Lebrun (17 years old) was the one on whom French hopes rested. But the 6th world player could not do anything in the first match against the world number 2 Wang Chuqin (11-4, 11-8, 11-3).
Alexis Lebrun had a match point
Just after, his brother Alexis (20 years old) had a mountain in front of him, the world number 1 Fan Zhendong. The Frenchman won their only confrontation, in April 2023, and it was with this confidence that he won the first set (11-9). Fan Zhendong picked up immediately (11-4), before Lebrun answered him (11-8). Unbreathable, the fourth set saw the Frenchman have a match point. But Fan Zhendong didn’t give up, reversing the situation (12-10) and then heading towards victory in a final one-sided round (11-7).
Opposed to the legend Ma Long (3rd in the world), 35 years old and double reigning Olympic champion, Simon Gauzy found himself with his back to the wall, forced to win to keep the French team alive in this final. The 29-year-old table tennis player, 30th in the world, started with an almost perfect set (11-7), before gradually seeing Ma Long take the upper hand (2-11, 4-11, 6-11).
2024-02-25 13:04:32
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