Sweden fought back from a two-match deficit to beat fourth-seeded Japan in a men's team table tennis semifinal at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday, securing a medal.
Japan opened with a 3-1 doubles win, before Tomokazu Harimoto added a valuable point by defeating singles silver medalist Truls Moregard.
Sweden, though, did not give up. In two 3-1 games, Kristian Karlsson defeated Shunsuke Togami and Moregard overcame Hiroto Shinozuka, putting the onus on teammate Anton Kallberg, who faced the higher-ranked Harimoto in the fifth match.
Harimoto won the first two games with scores of 11-5 to put Japan just one game away from the final but then Kallberg made an unexpected and strong comeback. Playing aggressively, he took the next two games to level with Harimoto.
In the deciding game, Kallberg capitalized on some unforced errors by Harimoto during intense backhand rallies. At 9-9, Kallberg prevailed, taking the fifth game 11-9, as the 21-year-old Harimoto sank to his knees.
"We all gave it absolutely everything and I don’t know if we just ran out of gas. But without doubt we tried our best and, result aside, I think we played the same way we’ve been doing for several years now," said Harimoto.