Esteban Dorr and Florian Bourrassaud mark the history of French table tennis. By qualifying this Thursday for the semi-final, the tricolor pair ensures a world medal. It will be the first since 1997, at the time with Jean-Philippe Gatien and Damien Éloi. Only downside after their feat, Esteban Dorr hurt his knee by celebrating.
How did you experience this twist match?
Florian Bourrassaud: It's too many emotions, too much. The proof of celebrations may be too excessive. Me personally, as soon as we won the match, I had stars everywhere. I no longer knew where I was, where I lived, I shouted as strong as possible. I thought about the little celebration we said, but it was too late. We have written our name in the French list, I hope it is not over. But what a match, the match was hard, a lot of tremblies, a lot of stress necessarily. But we managed to win at the end. I have no words, it's exceptional.
In addition, at the start of the match there was a lot of noise with the Chinese supporters who watched the other table …
Florian Bourrassaud: It was super hard. It was too hard. Esteban I find that he stayed calm, he managed to stay in the match. I had a lot of trouble, because during the exchange there was a lot of noise. It hurt me even in the ears. It was complicated to be concentrated. We played but as if we did not master too much what we were doing.
Esteban Dorr: The guys opposite (Romanian Eduard Inoeescu and the Spaniard Alvaro Robles) are used to these big events. From this hubbub, they dust it. They were super well adapted. Florian had a little trouble getting into it. I find that I have a good start to the match. I really try to put Flo on the line, because I felt pretty good. Flo I think he knew how to take the momentum in the middle of the second, he takes confidence with his counter and I think it launches him in the match. It was great. After that it is the flat calm, it is the two of them two with Patrick (Chila) with the baguette as I want to say. It was better and better.
And you are Esteban, the emotions must be contrasted after this match?
Esteban Dorr: OUF emotions. At the start of the competition I have my grandmother who was hospitalized. It was quite hard, she is not really at the top. I hope she is fine and she could see this match. It was hard, hard. I celebrated, I left my knee. But hey, it's great. As he said, we have written our name in the list of French ping. So it's exceptional.
And can you tell us what happened?
Esteban Dorr: I got on his knees and when my buttock touched the heel, I felt that it slammed, it didn't make any noise. I felt that it was blocked a little. I was afraid, we did the tests so they are not the crusaders. It's already good. Here we ice, we see what it gives. We once offered tomorrow. I leave myself in the hands of the medical staff and we will do everything to be there on Saturday. We will still celebrate a little bit, because it is the semi-final of the world championships.
All this is even stronger together …
Esteban Dorr: Yes for sure. We start from our first double set in October 2023. And there in May 2025, at least, semi-finalist of the world championships. It's great.
Florian Bourassaud: There are no words. Two and a half years ago, I won a few games in Pro B. The French team was far away. There today, in doubles, we managed to qualify, to make a first competition. A second big with the French team. We have prepared ourselves like never before. We did the maximum with all the staff, everyone trusted us. And we get there in a year and a half. Obviously we will savor this. And we're going to try to play something.
