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Today there was a day planned to be close to home:
morning table tennis and afternoon volleyball, both at the Paris Sud Arena
(different arenas), according to the guide at one metro stop. In reality I
discover that it was not so on the doorstep: arriving at the indicated stop one
had to walk almost 2 km, it was closer to walk directly from the hotel. So I
arrive at the entrance that it is already 10 o'clock, the start time. The bag
checks are also the most thorough, and consequently long, that I have encountered
so far: they even examine my umbrella. What's more, my arena is the furthest
away in the venue (or rather, its entrance, I will discover on the way out
that the other side was much closer): there would also be a treadmill, but it
doesn't work, and my sector is the furthest from the entrance. Passing by,
Chinese fans are handing out cards cheering for Fan Zhenyong, No. 2 on the
scoreboard, who is playing at 12 o'clock. I get into the grandstand and
struggle to find my seat and need assistance, as the numbers are on the inside
of the seats and when they are occupied they cannot be seen.
As soon as I take a look at the coiurts, I realise that it will not be easy for a neophyte like me to understand them. I had already seen the final of the 2022 European Championships, but as a final, it was a single match, this time there are four of them side by side: you often hear shouts and the problem is to understand which match they are associated with. Even the scores, of course, are not told: there are scoreboards next to each court (but the far one doesn't always read well) and there is a summary one next to my sector, but the courts are not in the order we see them (I later find out that they are in order of court number, and courts 1 and 2 are the middle ones).
I am all on one side of the arena, so I can see a match
very well, but for the one further away you need binoculars. From closest to
farthest for me, the matches are between a Korean and a Hungarian, a Japanese
and a Hong Konger, a Chinese and a Swede and a Briton and a Slovenian. At first
I think I only look at the one closest to me, but you can't, the shouting from
the other courts distracts you too much. Soon I realise that most of the
shouting refers to the match between Chinese Wang (who I later find out is the
No.1 seed) and Swedish Moregard, who is surprisingly ahead. The Chinese has the
support of the many countrymen present, the Swede that of the rest of the
audience, not just the Swedes, who are also quite numerous. After all, I too
understand that it's the match at a higher level. The British cheer for their
player also makes itself felt. The other three matches end almost all at once,
although they were one in 4 sets, one in 5 and one in 6: we can concentrate on
Wang-Moregard, then won by the Swede in 6 sets. The winner takes a knee and the
whole audience applauds him.
Out go the last two players of the first turn,
in come those of the second turn. Hardly anyone leaves their seats, so I don't
either. Here the most popular match is between the Iranian Alamiyan and the
Japanese Morimoto: both have a lot of fans in my block, probably the Iranian
more, but those of the Japanese (including my neighbour, who is not Japanese)
are very vocal. The Iranian is funny: he has unorthodox strokes and makes great
recoveries, but he also makes a lot of mistakes and finds himself down 3-1. In
the fifth set he recovers, but ends up losing 4-2. I also try to have a look at
the women's seed no. 1, China's Sun, who dominates a Luxembourger also of Chinese
origin: 4-0. with only the third set hard-fought. Especially in the breaks of
the others, I also take a look at the match furthest away from me, that between
the Indian Akula and Zeng from Singapore: the Indian, favourite, finds herself
down 2-1, but then wins 4-2. Like many I think, I will instead follow very
little the match closest to me, that between Dane Lind and Pole Redzinski,
which also, from what we can glimpse, has some very spectacular moments. It
will only get attention when, by now in the 7th set, will be the only match remaining;
the Dane will win.
Third round of matches, where there is the highlight for most spectators: the Frenchwoman Yuan against a Canadian also of Asian origin. Only now do I realise how the French are still clearly in the majority, despite the strong international presence, especially Chinese. They will support their player not only with the usual 'Allez les bleus' chorus, but also with 'whoever doesn't jump is not French' and during the fourth set, with the game in progress, they will start singing the Marseillaise (after all, this is not tennis...). I too mainly follow the Frenchwoman's match, both because it is the one closest to me and because it is the one that elicits the most reactions from the public, but it is certainly not the most spectacular: monotonous play, diagonals close to the table until someone makes a mistake. There is also Fan, playing against a Hong Kong player, who dominates two sets, loses one and then dominates again: 4-1. I also try to follow the match further away from me, where the Egyptian Meshref resists the no. 3 seed, the Japanese Hayata: it ends 4-0, but three sets are very hard fought, the first one ending 15-13. The most interesting match is the one between the American Jha and the Greek Goumis: the Greek has very peculiar strokes, which look more like tennis than table tennis. He loses the first three sets, however, but then wins two and so their match remains the last. A few Frenchmen left after their player left, but most stayed. It ends 4-2 for the American.
I go back and forth from the hotel, and around
5 p.m. I am back in the area. Incidentally, Arena 1, where the Serbia-United
States volleyball match is taking place, is even a little further away than
this morning. Had I known beforehand that there was all this way to go, I would
have considered staying in the area, but I would have had to bring my PC and
then I don't know where I could have settled in. I decided to leave my backpack
at the hotel, so at least I'll go in straight away, without any checks. Entering
the arena, I feel a chill, as I did this morning, but fortunately in the stands
the temperature is more normal. It takes me a moment to find my seat, but for
once it is an aisle seat.
There are many Americans, certainly more than
Serbs, but many nationalities are represented, perhaps the most international
audience I've seen here (but maybe that's just an impression because the
French, not being involved, didn't make themselves heard). At some point they
ask us to show the flags, and we see flags from many countries: after the
American and the French, perhaps the most present is that of Mexico, certainly
more than the Serbian.
In the first set, after a balanced first part,
the Americans took a 22-14 lead, partly on their own merit, but much thanks to
errors by the opponents, then they closed 25-17. It was a similar story in the
second set: Serbia made a few good moves and took the lead, but then began to
make mistakes and the Americans took the lead, winning 25-20. In the first two
intervals between sets a dancer-contortionist performs. In the third set the
level goes way up: out of 45 points, only eight will be due to errors. There
are many long and spectacular rallies, Serbia shows what it can do and wins
25.20. When Serbia takes the lead, for the first time the cheering of the
Americans can be heard. In the fourth set Serbia's dominance was even clearer,
the Americans seemed to not know what to do to stop them: it ended 25-14.
So we arrive at the fifth set which, as I said,
is the only one where you can hear the cheering at every point, especially that
for the USA, but also that for Serbia, not only of the Serbs: my neighbour
supports Serbia, but she speaks English. Even the speaker will ask to cheer for one or
the other. In the first half of the set Serbia is almost always ahead, up to
8-5, then the USA come back, overtake on 9-8 and take the lead, with Serbia
seemingly unable to defend. They reached 14-11: the crowd was on its feet for
the three match points, but Serbia cancelled the first two, and the third was
wasted by the Americans with a mess in defence. At the fifth match point, on
16-15, twice the Serbs recovered when it seemed done for the Americans, but in
the end they sent out a spike, thus ending 17-15.
On the way out we cross paths with the audience
of the following sessions in the different arenas, after dinner I meet a
procession of Polish fans. who are going to the next volleyball match,
Poland-Kenya.
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