Tokyo (AFP)
French table tennis pair Emmanuel Lebesson / Jian Nan Yuan lost Sunday in the semi-final of the mixed doubles at the Tokyo Olympics to the Chinese favorites and will play a bronze medal match on Monday.
World number seven Lebesson and Yuan lost in four dry innings (11-5, 11-6, 13-11, 11-7) to Chinese pair Liu Shiwen / Xin Xu, world number three.
They will try to win bronze on Monday at 8:00 p.m. local (1:00 p.m. French) against the Taiwanese pair, world number one, beaten in the other semi-final by Japan, for the first Olympic mixed doubles tournament.
The tricolor table tennis has not won an Olympic medal since the bronze of the men's doubles Jean-Philippe Gatien / Patrick Chila (now coach) in 2000 in Sydney.
"It's a moment to live in a career, we knew that the task would be very difficult against the best in the world. We did not overplay, we played at our level, the gap was too large, we did not has no regrets, "admitted Emmanuel Lebesson in the mixed zone after the meeting.
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Lebesson and Yuan had managed in the morning to get rid of Hong Kongers Chun Ting Wong and Hoi Kem Doo at the end of a breathtaking quarter-final (four sets to three).
They then both qualified for the third round of the individual tournament in the afternoon.
© 2021 AFP