He is now in the last four. Thanks to his close victory over Taiwanese Yun-Ju Lin (11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-6), Frenchman Félix Lebrun qualified for the semi-finals of the Olympic table tennis tournament in singles, Thursday, August 1, at the Arena Paris Sud.
An epic match. The two players delivered a very tight battle. Each time Félix Lebrun won a set, the Taiwanese caught up with him straight away. As a result, the two players were separated in a seventh decisive set. “It was very tactical, because Yun-Ju Lin made adjustments compared to the last times we played each other,” confided the youngest of the Lebrun brothers to France Télévisions after his victory.
A final round flown over. Encouraged by the crowd, Félix Lebrun was transcended in the last set. From the start of the set, the Frenchman chained points, quickly leading 7-0. He finally won the set 11-6, without having been threatened.
Towards a big shock in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Félix Lebrun (world number 5) will face the winner of the match between the Chinese Fan Zhendong (4th) and the Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto (9th). If he were to then win a medal, the young table tennis player could end a thirty-two-year drought. Jean-Philippe Gatien, silver at the 1992 Olympics, is the last Frenchman to have won a medal in singles. The semi-final will take place on Friday, August 2, at 11 a.m. or 2:30 p.m.