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Swedish veteran Waldner creates new miracle
Swedish veteran Jan-Ove Waldner scored yet another miraculous win in Athens Friday evening as he delivered a stunning upset to European champion Timo Boll and gained himself a place in the men's singles semifinals of the table tennis tournament of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The Galatsi Olympic Hall in northwest Athens witnessed a grand celebration as thousands of spectators all rose to their feet and applauded the victory of Waldner, who won the match 4-1 at 11-7, 13-11, 6-11, 11-7 and 13-11. Waldner also stayed on the court for about 15 minutes, holding up his arms to salute his enthusiastic supporters, among whom the Swedish royal family. "I think experience played a vital role in today's match," said Peter, coach of Waldner, in a very excited voice. "Both players appeared nervous in the match, but I think Boll was the more nervous one." "The second game was a turning point for the whole match," said Waldner himself. The Swede had come back from 5-10 behind to win that game. This was the third "unbelievable" victory for the 39-year-old Swede, following two wins on Wednesday against three top-seeded Chinese paddlers. After co-working with his old pal, 38-year-old Jorgen Persson to disqualify Chinese pair Kong Linghui/Wang Hao 4-1 in the men's doubles last 16 playoffs, Waldner also shut China's world singles No.2 Ma Lin out of the singles quarterfinals with a 4-1 win. The Swede, who had participated in five Olympic Games and was singles champion in Barcelona 1992 and silver medalist in Sydney 2000, claimed that his goal for this Olympic tournament was just "one medal in singles or doubles". However, both Waldner and his coach had claimed that he is now in an excellent form which he had not had for years. "The last time I played so well in doubles was some 7 to 8 years ago, and for singles it is about 3 to 4 years," he said. "Waldner today played again very good, the same as (when) he played against Ma Lin," said Boll after the match. "Maybe he is not physically the best, but he can do some very small things (in the match) very good," he added. Waldner's victory over Boll, who is 16 years younger than the Swede, has once again stirred up speculations on whether this aging table tennis legend could historically seize the Olympic singles title again, after a long gap of 12 years. The Swede himself was quite modest, repeating what he said after his Wednesday wins. "I don't know, and there is still a longlong way to go." But his coach Peter, who predicted one week before the Olympic Games that Waldner "could go very far in the tournament", was obviously more optimistic. "There are four good players in the semifinals, and he can be the winner, it's possible," he said. |
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