Farewell Paris

Polcanova/Gardos miss out on Olympic qualification in the mixed event

Sofia Polcanova and Robert Gardos are only spectators in the table tennis mixed competition at the Summer Olympics in Paris. The duo are ranked 18th in the new world rankings published on Tuesday, but would have had to be in the top 16 to qualify for the Olympics.

 The 16-team field of participants was also confirmed by the International Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday. Polcanova/Gardos reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Smash tournament in Jeddah.

The pair made it through to the quarter-finals of the two million dollar tournament with victories over Ng Wing/Eric Jouti and Dora Madaras/Nandor Ecseki but, as expected, lost 3-0 (-8,-9,-9) to the number three seeds Hina Hayata/Tomokazu Harimoto from Japan on Tuesday.

Off to Sarajevo
In the doubles, Polcanova and her Romanian partner Bernadette Szöcs lost to Tatiana Kukulkova/Natalia Bajor in the first round. In the singles, Austria's number one will fight against Qian Tianyi from China on Tuesday evening for a place in the round of 16.

In the men's singles, Daniel Habesohn was knocked out in the first round against Liang Jingkun from China 0:3. For him, it was the last test for the Olympic singles qualifiers that will take place in Sarajevo on May 15. In the doubles, Habesohn and Gardos lost 3-0 (-7,-5,-4) to the favored Swedes Kristian Karlsson/Anton Källberg in the round of 16.