Mixing up players of table tennis benefit at YOG
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Though adjusting to a new partner was not easy in the table tennis mixed event at the First Youth Olympics, athletes who had paired up with players of the opposite gender said the benefits still outweighed drawbacks.
A new competition format was introduced in table tennis events at the Youth Olympics, which allowed that boys and girls from different countries (regions) and continents to be able to form continental or intercontinental teams, and played under the Olympic flag, if they were the only representative of an event from their sports delegation.
"It was very special and also a lot of fun," said Swedish Hampus Soderlund who partnered Bernadette Szocs of Romania on Wednesday.
The language difference was no barrier for the so-called "Europe One" team, which won all three of its doubles matches in the first stage.
"She speaks a bit of English, maybe not so much and also communicates in other ways, like smiles, gestures, this kind of things," the Swedish commented on his partner.
Though it was fresh to some players, this kind of format had been a feature of junior and senior competitions in Europe for a long time. Therefore, "Europe Two" team's Maria Xiao of Portugal and Emilien Vanrossomme of Belgium felt familiar to each other in Singapore.
"We paired last year at the European Championships. He's better than some Portuguese boys so that's why I chose to play with him," Xiao said.
Juan Maria Revelles Pares, a coach from Puerto Rico, agreed that the format allowed other players to aim higher.
"It's an interesting combination because the strongest players will not necessarily do as well as they did in singles," Pares said.
"Now it depends on the balance of the team and how they'll do in doubles too. It gives the opportunity to other players to aspire to a medal," he said.
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