Portugal enters to win the men’s table tennis team world championship

Portugal came out on top today in the men’s table tennis team World Cup, defeating Romania, 3-0, in the first round of Group 8.

In Busan, South Korea, the most renowned Portuguese Marcos Freitas, 19th in the world rankings, found it difficult to give Portugal the first point, beating Eduard Ionescu (76th), 3-2 (7 -11, 11-3, 8-11, 14-12 and 13-11).

João Geraldo (41st in the world) gave Portugal 2-0, defeating Ovidiu Ionescu (96th), 3-0, with scores of 11-9, 11-9 and 12-10.

It was up to Tiago Apolónia (49th) to complete the Portuguese triumph, with a victory over Iulian Chirita (221st), by 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-6 and 11-7).

Portugal currently shares the leadership of Group 8 with Iran, who defeated Thailand, also 3-0, with the two teams facing each other on Saturday.

The Portuguese team faces Egypt on Sunday and Thailand on Monday.

The Portuguese women’s team, formed by Fu Yu (55th), Jieni Shao (63rd), Matilde Pinto (254th) and Inês Matos (270th), will only make their debut on Saturday in Group 6, against to Austria, facing Hong Kong, Australia and Kazakhstan in the following days.

The first placed teams in each group qualify for the round of 16, with the second and third placed teams having to compete in a preliminary round.

The Busan World Cup qualifies the eight teams present in the quarter-finals for the Paris2024 Olympic Games.