Even if he struggled, Félix Lebrun ended up winning against the Japanese Shunsuke Togami in the 1st round at the Las Vegas Table Tennis Smash. Lilian Bardet released Chinese Liang Jingkun, 5th in the world.
A victory in pain. Félix Lebrun suffered to beat Japanese Shunsuke Togami 3 sets on Sunday in 2 in the first round of the Grand Smash Table Tennis in Las Vegas (United States) where his compatriot Lilian Bardet released the Chinese Liang Jingkun. Lebrun (18, 7th in the world) had to work against Togami (25th) (9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 4-11, 11-8), which put it under pressure by winning the first set.
The bronze medalist of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris in Simple took place at the start of the 2nd set and then in the 3rd set, before sinking at the start of the 4th set, without being able to hide his annoyance, then largely dominating the 5th decisive set to win on his 3rd match ball on a failed right -stroke of his opponent.
Félix Lebrun “Happy”
“I know that Togami is very strong. I am happy to have this victory. During the first set I made a few mistakes but I played well, I just wanted to continue like this,” said the younger of the Lebrun brothers at the organizers' microphone, winner after 33 minutes of match. Félix Lebrun will face another French in the second round, Simon Gauzy (32nd), a Australian femor Aditya Sareen (45th) 3-0 (11-5, 11-3, 11-3).
Lilian Bardet's feat
The big performance of the day came from another tricolor, Lilian Bardet (24 years old, 85th in the world), from qualifying, against Chinese Liang Jingkun (5th), bronze medalist from the last worlds which he dismissed 3 sets at 2 (5-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5). The Frenchman Jia Nan Yuan (39 years old, 25th in the world) also shone by dominating the Romanian Bernadette Szocs (13th) 3-2 (10-12, 11-9, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5). At the start of the day, Simon Gauzy and Prithika Pavade had crossed the first round of the mixed double against the Egyptians Mariam Alhodaby and Youssef Abdelaziz (3-1).
