ACOG - News - IBM

(23 July 1996; Day 04)

Swedish Men's and Women's Table Tennis Duos Add Excitement to Preliminaries

On opening day of Olympic Games table tennis competition there were few surprises. Even so, the men's and women's doubles teams from Sweden added excitement to an otherwise predictable day.

The Swedish women's duo of Pernilla PETTERSSON and Asa SVENSSON fought their way to a 2:0 defeat of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea duo KIM Hyon and TU Jong-Sil. Down 19-13, the Swedes battled back to win the next eight points and a first-game victory. The second game provided an even greater challenge as the Swedes fell behind 7-14. The aggressive pair reached and smashed their way to a 21-19 win, which clinched the match for them.

"A problem was that we didn't know how well this team played," said Swedish women's coach Ulf Carlsson. "They'd been out of competition for three years. And the players that played against Sweden three years ago were not the players we had to play against today."

Carlsson said he was pleased with his team's performance. "Our team was in trouble," he said. "But our girls ran out that first game and rallied to win in the second. To come from behind like that -- I like that. This first match is very important. To play that well under pressure -- sometimes we've not done that before. That makes me quite pleased."

The matchup between Sweden's Jorgen PERSSON and Jan-Ove WALDNER and Chile's Augusto MORALES MARENGO and Juan SALAMANCA GONZALEZ entertained the crowd with its exciting, aggressive action and series of long, high volleys in the men's competition. At times, the action brought thunderous cheers from the stands. Sweden won the match 2:0.

"It was good to have the crowd behind us," said WALDNER (SWE), 1992 Olympic men's gold medalist and 1989 world men's singles champion. "We really had some exciting volleys. It's nice to have that support."

WALDNER (SWE) said he believes Sweden will do well in the doubles competition. "We played well today," he said. "It was a good start to the tournament. Tomorrow will be a more difficult match. I feel good about our chances for the gold, but it's a long tournament. We'll just have to keep playing well."

PETTERSSON-SVENSSON take on CHAI Po Wa and CHAN Tan Lui of Hong Kong Wednesday at 19:00. PERSSON-WALDNER meet the Japanese duo TASAKI Toshio and YUZAWA Ryo Wednesday at 20:20. At the same time, the Swedish pair Peter KARLSSON and Thomas von SCHLEE match up with Winfred ADDY (GHA) and Isaac OPOKU (GHA).

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Kim Chaudoin.


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