| Ian Marshall, Editor of Table Tennis Illustrated | |
| A Better Day For Loïc | |
 |
Eighteen year old Loïc BOBILLER of France lost the closest match played so far in the Brazilian Open in Rio de Janeiro this week when, in the first round of the Men’s Singles, he lost 14-16 in the seventh game to Korea’s CHOI Hyun Ju; however, one day later success has come his way, he has reached the semi-final stage of the Under 21 Men’s Singles. |
| BOBILLER, playing in the Brazilian Open for the first time in his career, overcame the host nation’s duo of Bruno ANJOS and Gustavo TSUBOI in the opening two rounds of the main draw to book his semi-final place against Faazil KASSAM of Canada, the latter having beaten Korea’s YOON Jae Young and France’s Christophe BERTIN. `He is a good player, I’ve played him before and lost’, said a delighted BOBILLER after beating TSUBOI. Undoubtedly, BOBILLER has benefited from playing in the hotbed of European table tennis; the standard of play in Brazil is most certainly improving but South America cannot match the strength in depth that is available in Europe. The French boy acknowledged that in Hugo HOYAMA, Thiago MONTEIRO, Gustavo TSUBOI and Cazuo MATSUMOTO, Brazil had a group of fine male players and most certainly they are very worthy opponents. BOBILLER is a determined young man who has to balance studying with table tennis training, he clearly wants to do well and with the leading French players now approaching the twilight years of their careers opportunities for BOBILLER may well arise. `I want to play in the Olympic Games and gain a top ten World Ranking, a tough objective but with effort and determination who knows what he may achieve. Meanwhile, in the other half of the draw in the Under 21 Men’s Singles, another Frenchman was in fine form, Dany LO. He beat Hungary’s Dániel ZWICKL in the quarters and will now play Brazil’s Cazuo MATSUMOTO, the latter beating Canada’s Bence CSABA to reach the penultimate stage. |
|
| First Previous More-stories | |