The national team captain Tobias Bergman recently resigned with immediate effect, and the big star Truls Möregårdh is in a conflict with the table tennis association about, among other things, who should coach him during matches.
This did not prevent Möregårdh or national team colleague Anton Källberg from winning in the first round of the World Tour tournament in Chongqing, China.
Dad Coached
With his dad as coach on site, world number seven Möregårdh won 3–1 in sets against Danish player Jonathan Groth and is clear for the quarterfinals. There, world number nine Dang Qiu, Germany, awaits.
Anton Källberg was down 1–2 in sets against 19-year-old Chinese player Chen Yuanyu. Then the Swede took two straight sets for a 3–2 win.
It got quite tough. I had big problems returning his serve and didn't get much out of my own serve either, says Källberg to SVT.
Källberg, who is ranked 15th in the world, will now face world number four Tomokazu Harimoto, Japan, in the next round.
We've met quite a few times and have a good grasp of each other. We usually have pretty tight matches. That's what I'm expecting in this match too, says Källberg.
Met in the Olympic Games
It was Harimoto who Källberg beat (3–2) in the fifth and decisive match in the semifinals of the Olympic Games in Paris last summer when Sweden ultimately took silver in the team event after a final loss to China.
The WTT Champions in Chongqing is one of the larger tournaments on the World Tour. The winner takes home 600,000 kronor – a final loss is worth 300,000 kronor.
Källberg and Möregårdh are the only Swedish players who have qualified for the tournament.
