Table tennis at the Paris 2024 Olympics: France of the Lebrun brothers and Simon Gauzy qualifies for the quarter-finals and will face Brazil

Les Bleus continuent. KMSP – CNOSF

The French men's table tennis team of Félix and Alexis Lebrun and Simon Gauzy won their first match of the team tournament against Slovenia (3-0) to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Les Bleus will face Brazil on Wednesday, an opponent of another caliber that includes Hugo Calderano in its ranks. The world number 6 will certainly be driven by a spirit of revenge since “Féfé” beat him soundly (4-0) to win the bronze medal on Sunday in singles.

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The day after this superb performance that made him the youngest Olympic medalist in individual history at just 17 years old, the Frenchman did not have an easy time defeating Darko Jorgic (11-8, 8-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9).

After a first set that he easily won, the world's 5th player suddenly lost the thread in the next one, to the point of dropping his racket in frustration. He even gave up the third round, still annoyed with himself.

Alexis folds the case

But, carried by the crowd at the Arena Paris Sud doing everything they could to wake him up, he found the resources to get back into his match and win it, not without giving himself some final scares by missing four match points along the way.

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What about his older brother Alexis (20 years old), who had put the team on the right track with Simon Gauzy, by beating without trembling (11-9, 11-7, 11-7) the pair Deni Kozul/Peter Hribar, took charge of finishing the job. The elder of the Lebrun lost a set on the way, the second, a little by loss of concentration, but he then played his game, much too powerful for Kozul modest 126th in the world (11-8, 6-11, 11-4, 11-5).

The Blues held their rank, as expected. Wednesday from 3:00 p.m., the slope will steepen quite a bit against the Brazilians, but behind there is a door to open for a last four offering two new possibilities of medals and quite a few emotions to live. Since Sunday and the historic bronze brought home by Félix, the France of “ping” knows this only too well.