Men’s Singles
The big news came in the round of 32 as Truls Möregårdh (Sweden) upset Wang Chuqin (China) in four sets to two. Kirill Gerassimenko (Kazakhstan) also upset Dang Qiu (Germany) in the top quarter meaning there would be a surprise semi finalist. It was Moregardh who would make it. In the semi final he would come up against Hugo Calderano (Brazil). Felix Lebrun (France) would come through the third quarter but it would take two seven-set victories. Fan Zhendong (China) would need to come from behind against Tomokazu Harimoto (Japan) to make the semi finals. There he would beat an exhausted Lebrun in straight sets. Moregardh would come through four sets to two to make the gold medal match. In the bronze medal matchup Lebrun would win in straight sets before shedding tears of joy. Moregardh would take the first set but Zhendong would slowly break him down. He won four consecutive sets to nine, nine, eight and
🥇Fan Zhendong 🇨🇳
🥈Truls Moregardh 🇸🇪
🥉Felix Lebrun 🇫🇷
I assumed the Chinese players would go through their sections to meet in the final which led to me ruling out Moregardh despite mentioning his strength. I went for Yun-ju instead of Lebrun to come through that quarter and win bronze.
Men’s Team
The only slight upset in the first round came as Brazil beat Portugal 3-1. They would go out to France, losing 3-0, whilst China got the same win over South Korea. Sweden upset Germany 3-0 whilst Japan got a 3-1 win over Taiwan. China beat France 3-0 in the semi finals, with both of the singles game being won 3-1 in sets. Japan took a 2-0 lead against Sweden but Sweden won the three remaining games as Anton Kallberg beat Tomokazu Harimoto in from 2-0 down. In the bronze medal matchup, France halted a Japanese comeback to win 3-2. China would beat Sweden 3-0, with all matches going to five sets.
🥇China 🇨🇳
🥈Sweden 🇸🇪
🥉France 🇫🇷
I mentioned Germany could be beaten by Sweden but didn’t make the prediction. China were obvious favourites.
Women’s Singles
There was only two surprise names in the quarter finals. Adriana Diaz (Puerto Rico) was beaten from 3-0 up by Pyon Song Gyong (North Korea) and Sofia Polcanova (Australia) beat Bernadette Szocs (Romania) in straight sets. Neither Sun Yingsha (China) nor Chen Meng (China) would drop a set in the quarter final. Both Hina Hayata (Japan) and Shin Yu-bin (South Korea) came through in seven sets. In the semis, again it was the Chinese pair who won both games in straight sets. In the final, Meng would come from 1-0 down to take the following two sets. Yingsha would level it up only for Meng to take the final two sets and win Olympic gold. Hayata also came from 1-0 down to win bronze.
🥇Chen Meng 🇨🇳
🥈Sun Yingsha 🇨🇳
🥉Hina Hayata 🇯🇵
I got the final four participants correct. I thought Yingsha could win but instead Meng got the gold.
Women’s Team
There were a few shocks in the first round as Sweden, India and France beat Hong Kong, Romania and Thailand. The top three seeds all made the semi final whilst Germany beat France to join them. China beat South Korea 3-0 whilst Japan beat Germany 3-1. Korea would beat Germany to seal the bronze. In the gold medal matchup, China would win 3-0 dropping just three sets.
🥇China 🇨🇳
🥈Japan 🇯🇵
🥉South Korea 🇰🇷
The top two felt like relatively easy predictions. Instead of Romania causing upsets, they were upset
Mixed Doubles
The big shock came in the opening round as Jong-sik/Kum-yong (North Korea) beat Harimoto/Hayata (Japan) in five sets. They did the same against Karlsson/Karlberg (Sweden) but they were taken to seven against Wong/Doo (Hong Kong) overcoming the seventh set 11-6. That left a final matchup of the sixteenth seed against the top seed. Chuqin/Yingsha (China) made their way through to the final, dropping two sets in each of the round prior to the final. It was Jong-hoon/Yu-bin (South Korea) who they beat in the semi final, having cruised through to that stage in straight sets. It was again a win in six sets for the Chinese pair in the final. The South Korean pair also continued their trend of straight set wins to seal bronze.
🥇Wang Chuqin/Sun Yingsha 🇨🇳
🥈Ri Jong-sik/Kim Kung-yong 🇰🇵
🥉Lin Jong-hoon/Shin Yu-bin 🇰🇷
If I could have called the North Korea upset in the opening round, I may have been able to get this correct.
Comentarios