Portugal isn't a nation one thinks of when thinking table tennis, as traditionally East Asian nations have captured the major hardware in recent years. In fact, East Asia occupies 5 of the top 7 spots in the team world rankings. But those other two spots - at #'s 2 and 5 are held by Germany and Portugal. Their quality was on display this week in Lisbon, where Marco Freitas of Portugal lead the host team to a victory over 6x defending champion Germany in the European Team Table Tennis Championships. The world ranked #12 defeated two players in the final, including world #9 Timo Boll in the last match to close out the tournament with a 3-1 win.
The Portuguese women couldn't match the men - world #9 Germany triumphed for their second title in a row. In somewhat of an upset final there, the world #9 beat world #15 Austria in straight sets for the championship, while #7 Romania and #8 Netherlands both lost in the quarters.
But that women's competition, combined with the Portuguese men's victory, is helping lead the way for showing the rest of the world that there can quality table tennis outside of East Asia. Portugal finished in the quarterfinals at the 2012 Olympics, and on the shoulders of Freitas and his teammates, can look ahead to building on their European success in subsequent years. As always, I'm a fan of the increasing diversity and globalization of sport, so here's hoping there's more to come from them and the rest of Europe.
The Portuguese women couldn't match the men - world #9 Germany triumphed for their second title in a row. In somewhat of an upset final there, the world #9 beat world #15 Austria in straight sets for the championship, while #7 Romania and #8 Netherlands both lost in the quarters.
But that women's competition, combined with the Portuguese men's victory, is helping lead the way for showing the rest of the world that there can quality table tennis outside of East Asia. Portugal finished in the quarterfinals at the 2012 Olympics, and on the shoulders of Freitas and his teammates, can look ahead to building on their European success in subsequent years. As always, I'm a fan of the increasing diversity and globalization of sport, so here's hoping there's more to come from them and the rest of Europe.
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