On the evening of August 4, Beijing time, the peak showdown of table tennis men's singles at the Paris Olympics was held between China's Fan Zhendong and Sweden's Moregard. After 5 rounds of fierce battles, Moregard lost 1-4 to Fan Zhendong and won a silver medal. But the young player has shown a lot of quality.
As a high-profile rising star in European table tennis, the 22-year-old Moregaard is tasked with reviving the Sweden men's table tennis team, and his serve and defense make people see the shadow of Sweden legend Waldner, who is considered the hope of European table tennis. Moregard stood out at the 2017 World Junior Championships, defeating China's Xu Haidong and Niu Guankai at a young age, and finally lost to Chinese table tennis player Xue Fei in the men's singles final and won the runner-up. At the 2019 World Junior Championships, Moregard won the runner-up again, step by step towards a higher goal.
Moregaard is a player who has a lot of playing ability and plays with his brain. He often doesn't play cards according to the routine, and the main thing is to do whatever he wants, which has the meaning of "punching the master to death". At the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, he shined in his first participation, overcoming many strong opponents and reaching the men's singles final. Despite losing to Fan Zhendong in the end, the runner-up also set the best record of his career.
In order to improve his skills, Moregard joined the Lexuan Sports Group Club as an external player and played in the Chinese Table Tennis Club Super League. As the only foreign aid in the table tennis super league, he has earned enough popularity, gained friendship, and at the same time has comprehensively improved his skills and playing style. Moregard said that it was one of the best experiences of his table tennis career, and he hopes to have the opportunity to play in China.
At the Paris Olympics, Moregard's "masterpiece" was a 4-2 victory over Chinese player Wang Chuqin in the men's singles round of 32, which shocked the entire international table tennis world. Since then, his astonishing performances have not stopped, and he has won back-to-back strong opponents to reach the final. This time he fought against Fan Zhendong again, and Moregard played extremely fiercely, creating a lot of difficulties for Fan Zhendong, and he was quite passive for a while. Moregard once joked that he was the "vice champion of the World Table Tennis Championships", and after this battle, he also won the title of "Olympic vice champion". Speaking after the game, Moregaard said: "It was a disappointing result but I tried my best. I don't know if I can do better, I made all kinds of efforts in the game and Fan Zhendong did really well today. ”
Fan Zhendong also praised Moregard's overall performance: "Moregaard is a very respectable opponent, from the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston to the Paris Olympics, we have met twice in the final, which is enough to prove that we are both part of the current super-first-class players. ”
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhou Xueshuai
Editor/Xu Zhao