Assar won the match 4–2 in sets (11–6, 3–11, 4–11, 11–9, 11–7, 11–9).

After the match, the 2021 World Championship silver medalist stood still, looking blankly straight ahead, barely seeming to understand what had happened. And that's exactly how it was," he told SVT Sport the day after the loss.

"The feeling is as always when you lose such big games: It feels very unreal at first. I don't have so many big losses like this, it hasn't happened that many times. So it was unreal at first, while I had to reload for a mixed match a few hours later, so it was a shady day," says Möregårdh, who together with Stina Källberg lost the quarter-final against a couple from Hong Kong later in the evening:

"I still think it went well anyway. Medal matches are not played that many times, so I wanted to play my best table tennis. Me and Stina make a good match, but the Hong Kong pair did a fantastic mixed doubles match and were too good.

"Become very different"

A year and a half ago, it was a big blow that Möregårdh won a silver medal. Now he "only" reached the round of 16 final, and that was defined as a big disappointment. Completely different from 2021, that is.

"I come into the World Cup with a different feeling now. Then I was the "underdog" in all matches, if I had beaten Omar in the last World Cup, everyone would have been very happy. Now all of a sudden it's a super bang that he beats me. So it has become very different in my career, he says, and thinks further:

"So it's been super different. I think I coped with the pressure very well the first spring after the World Cup and went up as third in the world ranking and probably only had a few presumptions – like against Mattias (Falck) at the European Championships. But the last few months have been harder. Everyone is playing at their absolute best level because I have so high in the rankings and have not been able to control it in a good way.

"Of course I'm disappointed"

Möregårdh's disappointment is clear.

"Of course I'm disappointed that I'm playing so badly. It was a nervousness and a new feeling that I had no idea how to handle.

However, Möregårdh will get a chance to take championship revenge already in a month, when it is the European Games in Poland.

CLIP: Truls Möregårdh fell unexpectedly in the 16-round final

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Truls Möregårdh was eliminated already in the 16-round final of the World Table Tennis Championships. Photo: Manfred Schillings/Bildbyrån