After their defeat in the semi-final against the Chinese favourites, the Lebrun brothers and Simon Gauzy won bronze on Friday at the end of the fifth decisive match against the Japanese, themselves bronze medallists in Tokyo.
:quality(50)/2024/08/02/anna-rond-66acce9e5c607347056112.png)
Published
Updated
Reading time: 2 min
:quality(50)/2024/08/09/000-36cz6t3-66b5f79dd8c8c621671644.jpg)
A great way to end the table tennis tournament. After being soundly beaten in the semi-finals of the men’s team event, the French team made up for it on Friday, August 9, during the small final by beating the Japanese 3 to 2 to win a beautiful bronze medal. The second trinket for French table tennis, after the one of the same metal won by the youngest member of the team, Félix Lebrun, in singles last Sunday.
Paris 2024 – Table tennis: Félix Lebrun and France snatch bronze
The match nevertheless offered its share of twists and turns. If the Simon Gauzy-Alexis Lebrun pair had launched the Blues perfectly, by winning three sets to one (11-5, 11-7, 5-11, 11-6), Félix Lebrun, 5th in the world, got very scared against the Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto, who was four places behind him in the rankings. It took him five sets (11-13, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10) and three match points to break and hand over to his brother at 2-0.
Paris 2024 – Table tennis: Félix Lebrun is immense
This is where the trouble started for the Tricolores. Alexis Lebrun, powerless in the face of Shunsuke Togami, was heavily defeated three sets to one (8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11), systematically caught on his diagonals and gradually losing his nerve. His doubles partner, Simon Gauzy, followed the same path in the face of Tomokazu Harimoto (8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 12-14), despite several comebacks throughout the match.
The fifth and final decisive match was more complicated than expected for the French, with Félix Lebrun coming out against the lowest ranked of the six players present at the Arena Paris Sud this Friday, Hiroto Shinozuka, 42nd in the world. After sweeping his opponent aside in the first two sets, the youngest player had doubts in the third, before concluding in extremis at the end of the fourth (11-7, 11-7, 12-14, 13-11). At 17, the youngest member of the team saved the day and allowed France to win a 55th medal.