(1 August 1996; Day 13)
The final day of table tennis competition featured the men's singles gold and bronze medal matches.
In the first match of the afternoon, Joerg ROSSKOPF (GER) challenged Petr KORBEL of the Czech Republic for the bronze medal. Playing at the top of his game through most of his match, ROSSKOPF won the bronze 3 games to 1.
"He is very happy inside. He knew there was a lot at stake," said Zlatko CORDAS, the German men's coach. "I think he played so well here tonight that he deserved to be in the finals. I was not scared that he wouldn't be confident today."
Though KORBEL is disappointed with his loss, he believes he had a good tournament.
"Right now I feel bad, bad, bad. I'm only disappointed that I'm fourth. But at the same time, I'm a lucky loser. I played really well. ROSSY (ROSSKOPF) was just a little luckier than me in the deciding moments," said KORBEL."ROSSY played a very good backhand. His shot placement was very good today. I tried to push short to his backhand, but it didn't work."
The men's singles gold medal game pitted Chinese teammates LIU Guoliang and WANG Tao in a battle for the medal. LIU, ranked 6th in the world, knocked off WANG, ranked 2nd.
"We're very good friends," said LIU. "WANG helped me a lot during training. No matter what, we are still friends. I think WANG should have won today, but I had the luck."
WANG said he had his sights set on the gold medal.
"So far I have two silver medals," he said. "I'm a little disappointed that I don't have a gold. However, I lost to my teammate and I've never lost to a foreigner."
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Kim Chaudoin.
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| The Mother Nature was kind to Olympic athletes and spectators. The average high temperature during the Games was 89 degrees with an average low of 72 degrees. Highest temperature registered (20 July) - 99 degrees. Lowest high temperature registered is 79 degrees (28 July). |