The opposition was the most difficult possible, the outcome the easiest imaginable. Without having to play a single ball, Truls Möregårdh is now ready for the final in Hong Kong after Wang Chuqin first stepped into the ping pong field to warm up, then immediately disappeared from there again. Instead, Möregårdh was awarded the victory on walkover.
"It's sad, a strange scenario. He's a world star and I've been preparing for this," the Swedish star tells SVT.
Got back problems
According to Radiosporten, the reason for the sudden cancellation was some kind of unexpected back problem for the Chinese.
That's the information we've received. You can also see from the approach that he's very stiff and walks very strangely. It's some kind of back injury, says Radiosporten's expert commentator Ulf "Tickan" Carlsson to TT.
First a player, then a national team captain and now an expert commentator, “Tickan” Carlsson has been a part of and followed world table tennis for several decades. He describes the scenes in Hong Kong that morning as “very unusual”.
"Especially this far into the tournament. It can happen in the early rounds, but this far into the tournament and big matches... it's very rare," he says of the sudden cancellation.
An anticlimax
For the audience in Hong Kong, it was all a gigantic anticlimax. Wang Chuqin is the absolute biggest star in table tennis and the match was intended as a reprise of the players' classic Olympic match in Paris, where the Swede caused a huge sensation and won.
Now instead, Möregårdh will face Tomokazu Harimoto, Japan, who in turn knocked out Lin Shidong, China, which means that the final will be played completely without Chinese interference.
Normally, before a final, both have the same conditions, I think this could be an advantage for Truls, especially since Harimoto had to play a very tough match, says "Tickan" Carlsson.
For Möregårdh, a victory in the WTT final would mean a perfect end to the season where, in addition to the European Championship bronze, he has also won two competitions on the World Tour this year, in Malmö and in Montpellier.
The winner will also receive the equivalent of SEK 750,000 in prize money.
