Florian Van Acker takes bronze at the G table tennis World Cup
Florian Van Acker traveled to Spain as the big top favourite, because he is the number one in the world in category eleven for athletes with an intellectual disability. His biggest competitors and regulars such as Palos, Creange and Takemori all fell in the eighth and quarterfinals. The way to the final was open.
Two South Koreans and a Spaniard fought with Van Acker for the world title. Florian, the defending champion, faced Kim Chang Gi in his semifinal. The West-Flemish narrowly lost the first two sets with 9-11 and 10-12. In the third set he took the upper hand with 11-7. The Korean took the match in the fourth set and won it 7-11.
Immediately after the game, Van Acker was disappointed with his game, especially his block. “Normally that’s one of my strong points, but this time it didn’t go well. I struggled to get my blocks on the table. That’s why I changed my game and kept fighting for every point.