The best table tennis players in the world are now gathering in Hong Kong as the World Tour finals take place.
The Swedish hope and world number four Truls Möregårdh was pitted against Anders Lind in the round of 16 – and the 23-year-old defeated the noticeably frustrated Dane with the scores 14–12, 11–7, 11–5, 8–11, 11–8.
Neither of us played at our highest level, perhaps, but I managed to win the decisive set and I'm happy with that, Möregårdh in SVT's broadcast.
Ahead of the big competition, Möregårdh has prepared together with Lind.
"We know each other very well, almost too well. Instead of being a good table tennis match with lots of creative balls as it usually is, it turned out to be a pretty closed game," says the Swede.
The top 16 in the world rankings are allowed to participate in the men's singles - and only 14th-ranked Slovenian Darko Jorgic is not in place.
Möregårdh has had a strong season ahead of the year's last competition on the world tour and has, among other things, won the grand smash competition in Malmö and most recently the competition on the tour in Montpellier.
Lin Yun-Ju of Taiwan awaits in the quarterfinals. The winner of the tournament takes home $80,000 (equivalent to approximately 750,000 Swedish kronor) and a final loss brings $44,000. Just for participating in the competition, the players in the women's and men's singles receive $14,000.
