When the table tennis star was recently in Beijing for a collaboration with a company, he sent a question to Fan Zhendong about a dinner. The Chinese who beat Möregårdh in the Olympic Games final in Paris a year ago.
It was on the anniversary of the entire Olympic Games final, it felt very powerful that we suddenly sat there and ate. Being able to talk to him about the entire match and tournament. We sat there for several hours and talked, says the Swedish world seventh.
"Much to talk about"
The 28-year-old Fan Zhendong also defeated Möregårdh in the World Championship final in 2021 and has two consecutive World Championship gold medals in singles. He also has an Olympic Games silver (2021) on his merit list, as well as numerous team gold medals with China in both the World Championship and the Olympic Games. He was, for example, part of the Chinese team that beat Sweden in the Olympic Games final in Paris.
Even if we don't really know each other that well, we had a lot to talk about. There was no shortage of topics. I didn't really know what he was doing these days. He is a bit outside the table tennis world right now.
Last winter, the news came that Fan is boycotting play on the world tour due to the penalty rules that existed for withdrawals from tournaments. Now the rules have been modified somewhat, but the former world number one is absent.
This summer, however, he has played in the Chinese league and made a clean sweep for his team. Fan has, for example, beaten the world number one Lin Shidong twice.
He's not bad. He still maintains a pretty high level even if he may have trained a little less, says Truls Möregårdh.
Become teammates
Now, the two Olympic Games finalists will also become teammates. Fan Zhendong has signed to play in the Champions League with the German Saarbrücken.
It was very fun and shocking that he became clear.
Möregårdh and his Saarbrücken won the Champions League in the spring.
This week, the Swedish star plays the major tournament WTT Grand Smash on home soil in Malmö.
