Someone forgot to tell Austria that both their men's team and their women's squad were supposed to lose in the first round of the team table tennis tournament.
One day after their women's team pulled a Round 1 upset, the men's team used the same trick, stunning Portugal in the first round of the team table tennis tournament, taking down the Portuguese 3-1. In the rest of the first round action, #11 Britain also pulled an upset, as they took down #7 France in a thrilling five-game matchup. Top-seeded China cruised in an expected romp over Nigeria. Sweden, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, and Germany also advanced through the first round.
Austria and Great Britain surprise with victories
Facing Portugal, a team that made it to the quarterfinals in 2012, Austria didn't have a lot of trouble in securing the upset, as they needed just four out of the maximum five games to knock off the sixth seed, although it took a whopping 3 hours and 14 minutes to win the match. Robert Gardos gave Austria an early lead by winning a grueling first singles match in five games, 11-6, 3-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9. The exciting match came to a conclusion after Gardos rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the fifth and final game to take the 11-9 victory.
Portugal got their lone victory in Game 2, turning to their top paddler in Marcos Freitas. Freitas won the first two games, but Austria managed to give him a scare by battling back to even the singles match at two games apiece. Freitas responded to the challenge with a dominating victory by the score of 11-2 to even the teams at 1 win apiece.
However, Freitas was the lone bright spot in a bleary outing for the Portuguese squad, who dropped the next two matches to suffer an early exit out of Rio. The doubles match was really what eliminated Portugal, as they certainly should have had the victory in a five-gave doubles match, but they coughed it up to suffer a demoralizing defeat.
After a back and forth four games in which the duo's split the results, sending the doubles match to a deciding fifth game, Portugal rallied to earn a 10-8 lead, and two game points. But they couldn't land the critical point. Austria won the next four points to take a victory right out of the hands of Portugal.
After nearly getting the victory against Freitas, Stefan Fegerl of Austria was given another chance in singles, playing Game 4 for the underdogs. Fegerl responded with three straight victories after dropping the opening game. Each game was close, but Fegerl broke open late-game ties to seal the deal, finishing the match with an 11-7 victory.
Britain's upset was more grueling and more shocking than Austria's four-setter over Portugal. Down 2-1 in match play and 2 games to nil in Game 4, Britain's Liam Pitchford responded for three straight shocking victories over Tristan Flores to even the match, setting Britain up to polish off the stunner in the deciding singles match. The thriller was about as good as it gets, with each match going the maximum five games, the preliminary round taking 3 hours and 44 minutes to complete.
France got the early lead on a singles victory as Simon Gauzy trumped Pitchford with victories in Games 1, 3, and 5. The Brit had Gauzy pinned on game point in Game 3, but Gauzy responded to score several points down the stretch and take the pivotal Game 3 that kept Pitchford on the defensive. After four tight games, Gauzy ran away with an 11-5 victory in the deciding game.
Paul Drinkhall rallied from a 2-1 deficit to avoid putting the Brits in a 2-0 hole in the match, winning his singles match in five games. In another chapter to the tale of wasted opportunities for the French. Drinkhall won the opener 11-4, but he dropped consecutive 11-8 decisions, putting himself on the brink of a loss in Game 2. However, Drinkhall responded in excellent fashion, grabbing 11-7 and 11-6 victories to grab the victory that evened the match.
Game 3 was actually a wasted opportunity for Britain, one of the few they had in the match. The British duo in the doubles match raced to a 2-0 lead, but they dropped the next three games in rather quick fashion to give France a 2-1 lead in the round.
The arrival of Game 4 meant it was time for Pitchford's heroics. After dropping the first two games, Pitchford cruised in Game 3. The opponents traded off points in Game 4 until the Brit pulled away at the last moment for a 12-10 victory. Game 5 saw Pitchford hold off a late run from his French opponent, taking the 11-9 victory.
Game 5 was even more heartbreaking, if that was possible, for the French. Britain's Samuel Walker faced Gauzy, the man who opened the match with a victory for the French. Walker led 2-1 but dropped Game 4 to set up the deciding Game 5. Gauzy took a 10-8 lead with 2 match points to work with. It looked like Walker would cough up the match for the British, but he had something to say about that. Walker, facing match point against Gauzy's serve, shocked the arena by sweeping Gauzy's serve to knot up the game. Walker served the next point and took the lead, setting himself up for match point. Unlike Gauzy, Walker would capitalize and send the Brits into the next round.
Other Games: Favorites advance, as China cruises
Facing #14 Nigeria, China had virtually no problem in advancing to the quarterfinals, as they continue their march for a third straight gold medal. Xu Xin picked up the easy victory in Game 1 in a clean sweep, followed by a four-game victory from gold medalist Ma Long over Quadri Aruna, a rematch from the men's singles quarterfinal matchup between the two paddlers. China cruised in the doubles match, surrendering just 16 points in the three-game sweep.
In their debut in the men's team tournament, USA looked awful in losing 3-0 to Sweden, each loss coming in straight sets.
South Korea swept the host nation in Brazil, losing just one of ten games in the three-match round.
Japan nearly suffered a shocking upset, as Poland took the Japanese to five matches, before falling short. Jun Mizutani saved Japan with two singles victories in the match. Mizutani, the bronze medalist, won the clincher 3-1 after Poland had rallied from a 2-0 hole in the round.
Hong Kong and Germany were also victors on Saturday, each nation having little issue in securing the victory. Hong Kong was a straight three-match sweep and a perfect 9-0 overall record in the games within those matches. The Germans were taken to four matches by Taipei, who gave the favorites some fits but ultimately lost. Timo Boll gave the Germans an early lead, although he needed to comeback from a 2-1 deficit to do so. They took a 2-0 lead after another singles victory, but they saw their lead halved after they lost the doubles match. A Match 4 sweep secured the victory for Germany.
The quarterfinals will be played tomorrow.