Almost the end of the mixed doubles championship. A few observations.
42 countries sent their teams to compete for Olympic points in the mixed doubles category. Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary get nothing despite being among the hot favourites. On the other hand, the Slovaks, the Austrians and the Irish take a few points. From Group E, which we were in, there are three teams ranked within sixth place (one is in the final, one is fighting for bronze and another is in the game for fifth place), which means we clearly had the toughest group of all. Both of our players are individually up to seventh place in their respective positions. So we have mixed feelings. We played well and gave nothing away for free. But the result is miserable and we know it could have been better. On the other hand, we are not the only ones who paid the price for the group placings. At the coaches and team leaders meeting, some adjustments to the current system were suggested, which is due to the fact that the Olympic status of mixed doubles was only decided during the season. An amusing insertion was Victor Kim's request for larger timing screens, with the justification that he has seven diopters and therefore cannot see the other side. The Russians, to whom the Americans sadly gave the win, and China, who were better than the Scots, go into the final. The Estonians will challenge Canada for fifth place and Finland and England play for seventh.
rnphoto by team and coach